Ready to quit? Maybe you should – here’s how to know…

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

To quit or not to quit – that is the question…

 

In my last blog I offered you the opportunity to understand the importance of adopting a daily recovery strategy.  This strategy will help you to recharge after the daily, draining demands of your job.  Not engaging in an active plan to recover is like making daily purchases on your debit or credit card but never adding any money into your accounts.  Eventually the bank will shut you down and you will risk bankruptcy and maybe even exposure as being fraudulent in your practices.

 

Yes – the effects of draining job demands are cumulative.  It’s a debt that racks up and eventually it manifests as health issues (exhaustion, susceptible to common infections such as colds and flus, gastro-intestinal problems, back/neck/shoulder pain, panic and anxiety disorders, depression – to name a few), if left unaddressed.  The truth is you can recover and heal from the daily affects of your job – especially if you are going through a tough time that you know will soon pass.

 

But what if your not so sure this tough time at work is a passing phase?  Do you have this unsettled feeling about your job?  Are the demanding conditions an expected way of life (and it’s not what you want for your life)?  Is your fight or flight instinct is kicking in?  Are you wanting to run (quietly and quickly) or stirring up a heap of trouble due to feeling backed into that same corner where all the other “misunderstood and undervalued” employees are hanging out (are you fighting with some poor souls who deserve it – and even some who don’t)?  Maybe the time has come to make a drastic move – right out the company front door.

 

(Almost) convinced you’re ready to quit?  Maybe you should – here’s how to know…

 

2 factors that matter greatly for deciding if you should stay or go -even without another job lined up are:

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Feel like everyone else’s agenda runs your day and you can’t get anything done at work? You can break this cycle – here’s how…

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

Do you feel incompetent, insufficient, discouraged or powerless to get done what you need to or want to accomplish?  Welcome to inefficacy.

 

How much would you agree with these statements:

 

  • I accomplish the things that really matter every day at work.
  • I have the resources I need to get my job done.
  • I feel supported and encouraged at work by my colleagues.
  • I value my contributions at work.
  • Others value my contributions at work.
  • I feel qualified to do my job.
  • I feel I can handle anything that may come up in my job.
  • It’s ok to contribute to others in my unique way.
  • My job matters.
  • I play an active role in addressing issues that come up related to my work or workplace.

 

If your degree of agreement with many of the statements above is low, you may be at risk for experiencing a feeling of powerlessness at your job which can lead to disengagement and eventually burnout.

 

Feeling powerless at work is especially concerning because it can directly affect the quality of your work.  We all know when the quality of your work falls, we stand out – and not in a good way.  In my experience, management tends to tolerate a degree of cynicism from workers who are still producing strong results – and everyone can easily empathize with exhaustion because we all experience it from time to time.  But when you don’t produce – your boss isn’t producing – so it’s a problem that quickly gets noticed.

 

Although there is a lot an organization can do to improve an employee’s ability to recover more quickly from inefficacy – but often it’s left to the individual to “shape up or ship out.”  It usually goes down something like this “It might be a tough time/situation, but your _____________________ (fill in the blank with some negatively perceived quality you may have – i.e. anger, complaining, lack of confidence, unwillingness to participate, etc.), isn’t helping.”

 

The organization often sees feelings of powerlessness as the employee’s problem to fix – not theirs.  Organizations tend to do their part by starting performance counseling – a “talking to”, poor reviews,  written documentation, demotion, etc. or threats of those things come your way to put you on notice that you need to improve.

 

So, do you feel like everyone else’s agenda runs your day and you can’t get anything done at work?  You can break this cycle – here’s how…

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Feeling crabby at work? Don’t focus on things changing in your job to restore your mood – focus on this…

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

How dedicated would you say you are to your job?  How dedicated would you say you are to your customers, your co-workers or your supervisors?  When it comes to job satisfaction did you know that how you feel about the people you interact with has more to do with how you will feel about your job than the tasks you have to perform?

 

But getting along with people can bring problems.  As we all know, we are not meant to please everyone all the time – and everyone is not meant to please us all the time (although we often live like this is how life is supposed to be).   With that, we experience cynicism from time to time.  Someone will do or say something that makes us contort our face into the same shape it would make if we smelled something really foul and offensive and a cartoon bubble might appear over our head that reads “WTF?” and emotionally we respond with some form of fear (anger, hurt, shame, confusion, etc.).

 

Hopefully our norm is to forgive and move forward.  But sometimes it builds up and we respond to that person or similar situation with a degree of reserve expecting a similar pain we experienced in the past.  Consistency in that thinking eventually leads us to develop a negative attitude as our norm or to just withdraw altogether.  This is how cynicism evolves.

 

So, are you feeling crabby at work?  Don’t focus on things changing in your job to restore your mood – focus on this…

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Do you feel emotionally drained after your work day? There is a way to get your energy back!

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

Confession:  I slept a good part of the day away yesterday.

 

I’m battling my usual seasonal allergies plus I didn’t sleep well the night before. I thought “It’s understandable – I’ll take an allergy pill, a long nap and I’ll be fine.”  And I was – for the most part – I wasn’t 100% – but I was able to pull myself together, shower and enjoy a family dinner and birthday party later that afternoon.

 

This feeling reminded of how I would often feel this way when I worked in corporate earlier in my career.  The truth was, I felt this way pretty much every day AND I did not have confidence that anything could help me to rally and get productive or feel energetic.  Can you relate?

 

  • Do you feel tired before you go to work (even if you slept well the night before)?
  • Do you anticipate that you will be drained physically and emotionally by events that will surely come up at work each day?
  • Do you doubt you will have the energy to deal effectively with your work each day (no less accomplish a few goals)?
  • Even if you had the energy, do you doubt that your energy and efforts would make a difference?
  • Do you feel emotionally drained after your work day?

 

There is a way to get your energy back!

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1 Thing You Can Do To Prevent Or Recover From Job Burnout

By Gina Calvano | Leave a Comment

I am so excited! Today I sent my first draft of a new ebook I am working on to my editor.  My new book doesn’t yet have a title but it was inspired by blogs that I wrote about factors related to work that can have health implications – so earlier this year I began writing about job burnout.  So my new ebook is about things we unwittingly do that can increase our risk for experiencing job burnout.

This ebook is not about what employers do or can do to help employees recover from job burnout – it’s about what YOU can do to help yourself – to become more aware of subtle behaviors that may diminish your connection with your work and with your confidence to give what you can do for others as fully as you can give it.  This ebook can help you to to understand these subtle behaviors and ways of thinking and therefore nip them in the bud.  It will also offer tips about how you can reduce your risk for experiencing job burnout or to cope with and recover from it if you think you are already experiencing it.

If you think you are burned out, the first and most important thing to do is to consult with a medical professional.  You want to be sure that any serious, physical health threats are under control.

In the meantime, I’d like to give you all a sneak peak into the #1 thing you can do to recover from or safeguard yourself from job burnout…

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