How To Deal With Burnout & Overwhelm

Today I want to talk to you about burnout.

So many of the leaders that I'm working with in engineering businesses ands o many of my engineering coaching clients are suffering from burnout and they're really overwhelmed because they just don't know what to do. They don't how to manage themselves to deal with this overwhelm and this burnout that they're experiencing.

You might be suffering from burnout or feeling overwhelmed about your work load and all the things you have to do. So, in today's post I really want to highlight to you why you might be experiencing burnout and some things you can do to start to alleviate what you're going through.

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Hello everyone, Josh here.

Today's video I want to talk to you about burnout. So many of the leaders that I'm working with in engineering businesses so many of my engineering coaching clients are suffering from burnout and they're really overwhelmed because they don't know what to do.

They don't how to manage themselves to deal with this overwhelm and this burnout that they're experiencing. So in today's video I really want to highlight to you all. You might be suffering burnout or feeling overwhelmed about your workload or all the things you have to do. Why you might be experiencing burnout and some things you can do to start to alleviate what you're going through.

Now typically when we look at burnout and for me and the  way that I coach I always look at the underlying pattern of why what's going on why are you experiencing these symptoms. And that's that's how I coach always help my clients understand the why behind what's going on for them.

So typically when it comes to burnout there is a number of patterns at play. One is the people pleasing pattern the desire to have people like you. And the other is the inability to set boundaries or to say no.

So I'm going to explore those two with you today and some ways you can start to if that's resonating with you and it is something that you're experiencing ways you can start to alleviate and shift those patterns.

So when we look at the people pleasing pattern you know this  part of our personality the people pleasing part of our personality really wants people to like us and it wants the best for us and it wants the best for our team.

So when we have team members coming to us who are like I just need your help with this fee proposal I just need your help with this technical report, the people pleasing part of our personality always says yes.

Yeah sure I can help you with that because you know part of us knows that if we help that person they'll be able to get that report out or get that thing to the client hit that deadline and that part of your team and your projects is moving.

So we say yes to that person and then another person comes along we say yes to that person and then another person comes along and we  say yes to that person. So the people pleasing part of our personality will always always have us saying yes to please others.

And that might be a good thing but it also means that if it's leading to burnout and overwhelming you're getting to the end of the day and you've constantly said yes to your team and everyone around you but you've constantly been saying no to yourself, it means that you've got this massive pile of things to do and you've given yourself no time during the day to do it. So you stay back late you work extra hours you burn the candle at both ends leading to burnout.

The second element is the inability to set boundaries. So staying with that example, again the inability to say no and the inability to set boundaries means that we're constantly going to be feeling burnt out and overwhelmed and so many of my coaching clients like, Josh I can't say no to my team what will they think of me.

I've got to keep all of these balls going and I've got to keep all these things going so that we can hit the deadlines for our clients and our projects and it's working out and so what we say to them it's working out the way that you can set boundaries most effectively. It's working out nice ways to say to your team members look I'm just really in the middle of an incredibly important email an incredibly important proposal, can you find some time in my calendar later and we'll sit down for half an hour uninterrupted.

Or I'm really sorry I can't right now we need to find some time tomorrow. That will feel awkward and uncomfortable at first because if you're really used to saying yes to people all the time that will feel awkward and uncomfortable at first.

And you're changing the agreement that you have with your team meaning your team's used to you being available all the time. So it's going to take a bit of time for you to practice getting good at setting boundaries and letting go of the people pleasing part of your personality.

Another really good tool and technique that I tell my clients is just get out of the office. If the office environment is a place where you're constantly being bombarded by questions and you can't get your own space to think properly. Get out of the office.

Again that brings up a whole bunch of uncomfortable emotions for my clients when they think about getting out of the office and spending time for themself uninterrupted on their projects. But it is absolutely necessary if you're going to deal with the symptoms of burnout.

So in summary have a look at the people pleasing element of your personality. Are you saying yes to too many things to too many people? And then does it make you feel uncomfortable setting boundaries? And if it's yes to those questions well that's your work on.

Practice setting functional boundaries you're not yelling or screaming at people get away from me I need some space. Practice setting functional boundaries and over time you will create the space for yourself that you need to get your role done to keep the team below you performing. And you'll alleviate the symptoms of burnout.

Really hope you enjoyed today's video. Love to hear your comments below.

Talk soon,

Josh

P.S: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you  accelerate your engineering career and grow your engineering business:

1. Download our FREE PDF guide–“Your Leadership Style”
   Use this guide to unpack your own unique leadership style and to help you understand your team members main personality styles, their strengths, their work-on sand how to lead them more effectively–Click Here
   
   
2. Book in a free 30minStrategy Session
   This is a free, no obligation strategy session where I work with you to understand your number #1 mindset road block that is currently holding you back from truly accelerating  your engineering career and then develop your own personalised road map to move forward with clarity and focus–Click Here
   
   

3.  Join The Leadership Code our 8 week program

   If you’re serious about getting real results and want deeper and more rewarding levels of success in your engineering career I am putting together a new Leadership Code group next month. If you’d like to work with me and my team to hone and develop your winning work, client relationship, leadership and team performance skills...just send me an email at [email protected] and put “Leadership Code” in the subject line and I’ll get you all the details

4. Have me work with you and your team privately

   If you’d like me to work directly with you and your team and help you add an additional $1m plus in revenue to your business and double your project pipeline...just send me an email at [email protected] and put “Private” in the subject line... tell me a little about your business, your role and your team and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!