How to Build Without Burnout: Working Sustainably
While developing Pilea, I noticed that founders experience some common traits that put them at high risk of mental health disruption, burnout, and difficult relationships. We hear stories of founders living on $1/day, sleeping under their desks, working 23 hours per day, and sacrificing everything to win. But winning at all costs often means the severe loss of quality of life and leadership from self-neglect which—in the worst of cases—can lead to the loss of a founder’s life by suicide.
What is Burnout?
Burnout Syndrome is commonly defined as a process with four stages:
Enthusiasm
Over-investment
Disillusionment
Burnout
To make the risk of burnout in startups even greater, the first and second stages are enthusiasm and over-investment—characteristics that are both hired for and cultivated within a startup environment. In fact, startups cannot succeed without people willing to throw their whole selves into work.
Each stage of the burnout process is characterized by physical, emotional, mental, relational, and organizational features. As you read, take notice of the statements that apply to you so you can begin practicing habits that prevent or reduce burnout.
Stage 1: Enthusiasm
Some theories of burnout suggest that idealistic and highly motivated individuals who are dedicated to their work are more likely to burnout (Büssing and May, 1997). However, having the predisposing factors DOES NOT mean that you will develop burnout. You can stay in enthusiasm indefinitely if you care for your physical, mental/emotional and relational wellbeing.
Enthusiasm might look like:
PHYSICAL ENTHUSIASM
Willing to sacrifice sleep to finish work
Beginning the work day early and ending late
Working quickly and efficiently as if on a sprint
EMOTIONAL/MENTAL ENTHUSIASM
Thinking and talking about work outside of work hours
Beginning to take on work problems as personal projects
Identifying with your role or workplace
RELATIONAL/ORGANIZATIONAL ENTHUSIASM
Investing heavily in work relationships
Stepping in to understand and solve interpersonal problems at work
Significant emotional energy spent comparing yourself to others
Strategically aligning yourself with key leaders and adopting workplace culture as your own
Suggestion: If you identify at this stage, try an energy audit.
An energy audit is an opportunity to explore where you get your energy and what takes away your energy.
Stage 2: Over-investment
Just like having your money over-invested, over-investing at work can put you in a precarious position. Over-investment is where the behaviors that lead to burnout start to take hold and become habits. In this phase, most of us are starting to feel dissatisfied or recognize that things aren’t working. Many high-achieving people redouble their efforts at work, seeking recognition or trying to justify their lack of balance. This, of course, results in the early stages of Burnout Syndrome. Many of us live here for years and years. The more an over-investor invests in work the less they notice all of the factors missing in their lives. This stage can be characterized as “one-chapter living.” This essentially means that instead of having multiple sections, priorities, and areas of interest in your day, you just focus on one: work.
Over-investment might look like:
PHYSICAL OVER-INVESTMENT
Tired at the end of workdays and non-workdays
Sleeping problems including difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or getting too little sleep
Engaging in escaping behaviors like a “wind-down” drink after work or zoning out to television
Eating poorly (too much, too little, or the wrong things)
Totally neglecting exercise or active recreation
EMOTIONAL/MENTAL OVER-INVESTMENT
Desire to “check out” or “zone out”
Lack of desire to engage in non-work activities
Feeling numb, tired, wired, or jittery when sitting still
Losing touch with friends, family, and not making time for intimate connections
Getting a great feeling over being a “hero” at work, balanced with disappointments or imposter feelings
RELATIONAL/ORGANIZATIONAL OVER-INVESTMENT
Irritable with colleagues, friends, and family
Noticing or actively seeking “role-creep” and taking on more than one person can/should do
Identity is totally wrapped up in work
Start reacting to work being thrown at you rather than designing your days and contributions
Suggestion: If you identify with this stage, try to fill out your wheel of life.
This activity is intended to help you reflect on what's important in your life and how you are attending to all of your values.
Stage 3: Disillusionment
Disillusionment is the third stage of burnout, and the actual symptoms of burnout appear here. Folks often complain of feeling physically uncomfortable; seeing stress manifesting in headaches, stomach aches, and musculoskeletal discomfort. Most of these symptoms are the early warning signs of habits and chronic stress starting to take hold. In the third phase of burnout it is necessary to create space for multi-chapter living and adequate sleep, diet, exercise, and social engagement. Many people benefit from working with an integrative doctor who can test cortisol levels and a therapist or coach who can support healthy habit change.
Disillusionment might look like:
PHYSICAL DISILLUSIONMENT
Headaches
Gastrointestinal problems
Sleep issues
Over reliance on coffee and alcohol (or other drugs) to speed up and slow down
Weight-loss or weight-gain
Getting sick more often
EMOTIONAL/MENTAL DISILLUSIONMENT
Fatigued, especially in the afternoons
Low mood, negative self-talk, and lack of motivation for previously enjoyed activities
Irritable at work and home, often feeling hurried or anxious
Loss of optimism or hope, becomes despondent about the outcomes of effort
Imposter syndrome and doubting one’s abilities
RELATIONAL/ORGANIZATIONAL DISILLUSIONMENT
Isolation, loneliness, or neglect of significant relationships
Desire to stop working, maybe increased absenteeism or fantasy of taking days off
Decreased attention to detail, loss of focus, increased disorganization or confusion
Intermittent hatred or dislike for work, and disconnection from the mission and vision
Suggestion: If you feel like you may be in this phase, consider taking a burnout assessment. The Maslach Burnout Inventory is the gold standard for workplace burnout research. You can find this test online here. Also, reach out (contact info below) for an introduction to Pilea’s Integrative MD to help you understand the ways chronic stress is impacting your body and how to fix it.
Stage 4: Burnout
If you took the burnout assessment, many of the factors of burnout are represented there. By the time people get here, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Leaders I have known end up in the hospital with stress-related disorders, ongoing sickness, and autoimmune disorders (also related to stress). Others become so numb or anxious that they simply cannot make it to work another day. Burnout is a condition that requires support and space for healing. If you're reading this, you do not have full-blown burnout: a) you wouldn't be at work and b) you couldn't concentrate long enough to get through this article. This is great news! In every stage prior to this one, burnout is preventable and symptoms are reversible with some self-awareness and intentional practice.
If you somehow made it here and believe that you are experiencing burnout, please reach out immediately because Pilea can help.
WHAT NOW?
Here are some things you can do to make your workplace or team burnout free.
Offer team members autonomy in creating their work processes
Recognize others for their contributions and notice their sacrifices
Support one another in great self-care by asking about sleep, exercise, diet, social lives, and meditation practice regularly
We are all responsible for setting up sustainable lives that support our values.
CONCLUSION
There are two pieces to constructing a life resistant to the symptoms of burnout:
1) Reflect on your values and life-giving & life-sucking activities to create a life design using our energy audit activity.
2) Develop psychological and physical resilience by attending to each piece of your wheel of life.
Both of these require significant self-reflection and self-knowledge. Knowing yourself, what you need, and your greatest ways to contribute sets you up to be enthusiastic in your work for a long long time.
This is where a coach can be helpful. Book a free coaching consultation with us to get matched with a coach that’s right for you. You can email hello@joinpilea.com with any questions.