Just a Tough Week or a Burnout?
"Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
Yeah, no. Anyone who has worked can tell you some glaring problems with this quote:
- Even work you love has stressful or tedious tasks you don't enjoy.
- External factors like pay, job security, and work culture impact job satisfaction.
- Passion can lead to overworking, which can lead to burnout.
Even a job you love can leave you feeling drained or stressed. So, are you just having a tough week or is it something more serious?
In this article, we will explore how to differentiate a tough week and a burnout, and what we can do about it.
A Tough Week or A Burnout?
If you've felt drained and unmotivated at work for months, there's a high chance that you are headed for burnout.
Unfortunately, most people ignore these signs and keep pushing forward until they can't.
Why? There are a few reasons:
- It can be hard to identify what aspect of your work is causing your dissatisfaction. We've all seen videos of office workers having a meltdown over a printer issue – of course, the printer is not the actual problem.
- Psychologists label a traditional career path most people follow as the linear career model: Get a job, stay there (even if unhappy), and switch only when a job with better pay or fancier title comes along.
Although it can be an effective career model, it does not work for everyone. I wish I learned about different career models much earlier because I would have taken action to improve my job satisfaction a lot sooner.
We'll explore different types of career models in a subsequent article. (Sign up for the Sunday newsletter so you don't miss it!) For now, let's focus on how you can assess what is good and what is missing in your current job.
Am I Truly Happy With My Current Job?
To answer this question, you need to know the theory of what motivates people to work.
Two-Factor Theory of Motivation
Herzberg is a renowned psychologist who proposed two different factors that drive people to work:
"Hygiene factors" such as good pay and job status alone do not give you lasting job satisfaction. Research has found that CEOs report a similar level of happiness as their white-collar employees!
However, inadequate "hygiene factors" can make you dissatisfied in the long run.
Optometry in Ontario was the lowest-funded in Canada for many years until our province-wide strike a few years ago. Being underpaid for so long made many good doctors deeply unhappy with their work. Loving the work you do, by itself, is not enough for long-term job satisfaction.
Likewise, a high-paying job without intrinsic motivators will also lead to unhappiness.
Therefore, both factors are necessary to have lasting job satisfaction.
The above table shows some examples of two factors, but what's most important to each person will vary. When I was faced with a difficult career choice, I compared what was good and what was missing for each option:
This helped me see that taking the new job in Manitoba would bring me better job satisfaction.
What is an ideal job (and life)? Only you can answer that question.
Bias to Action
If you've been feeling unmotivated or burnt out at work, have a bias to action. Write out the relevant factors and identify what's good and what's missing in your current job.
Once you've identified a problem, put on your designer hat and brainstorm solutions.
You will spend a lot of time working (90,000 hours on average!). So even a small improvement at work can have a far-reaching impact on your well-being.
Join me on a journey to redesign life, one step at a time! 👊
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