burned-out workers leave their jobs; many do not. What most lack is the knowledge and ability to overcome the conditions pushing them into distress. In short, burnout results from the combination of job


stress and job dissatisfaction. If you’re the type who • Expects each sales call to result in the perfect sale; • Thinks of your job success as a reflection of your value as a person;


• Hates to let anything remain undone or put anything off until tomorrow;


• Puts all your energies into your work – to the neglect of everything else;


• Feels the 24 hours in each day aren’t enough for you to finish all you want to accomplish; and


• Thinks of each day on the job as a battle in which you have to be the winner


...then you may have a burnout-prone personality.


Fighting Back You can defend yourself against the harmful effects of stress and burnout in three ways: monitoring, managing, and maintaining. Monitor your body’s signals of distress so you can pick up the early warnings that you’re heading for trouble. When you catch yourself on edge, take a break. Stand tall and stretch, walk around, and close your eyes to picture a sunny seashore for a moment or two. Make it a habit to pace yourself – the amount of work you do, the demands for perfection you place on yourself, and the ways in which you try to please all those around you.


Manage your health and life so you will have the energy


to resist the stress you will naturally encounter on your job. A nutritional diet can go a long way in keeping your body healthy and trim. Exercises, sports, hobbies, and crafts can help you unwind and provide you with a pleasant balance after difficult days in the office or on the road. Consider learning one of the dozens of techniques that can help you routinely and systematically reduce your stress (biofeedback, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, etc.). Finally, manage your time and be stingy about giving it away. Don’t be afraid to say no – even to family and friends. Be friendly but firm, gentle but assertive, and avoid the extra demands on you that can mount to an impossible load.


Maintain yourself in a position of competence and sta-


bility. Begin to express your feelings openly to co-workers, friends, and family rather than allowing your feelings to build up inside you and wear you down. Work to improve your selling skills, but remember to do so with self-confi- dence and self-esteem – not self-doubt and worry. Perhaps most importantly, remember Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong will go wrong.” Learn to expect the tiny setbacks we all experience every once in a while. All of us go through periods of success and failure. What matters is that you take your failures and your successes in stride.


After all, only Superman flies and walks through brick walls. Burnout is not inevitable, but it is a serious and growing


problem for anyone who works. By monitoring, manag- ing, and maintaining, you can make sure burnout never becomes a deadly problem for you.


Are You Burning Out? At the heart of burnout is an increasing inability to handle


stress – and mounting dissatisfaction with your job and yourself. While all of us have occasionally been unhappy with our lives or jobs, the problem of burnout goes much deeper and is more prolonged. After three years of conducting burnout and stress man- agement workshops for sales representatives and others in the work force, we have found the following self-test useful in determining just who may be burning out. Ask yourself these questions:


YES NO


Do you feel you’re working harder and accomplishing less?  


Are you unhappy during work hours and irritated with fellow workers?


 


Do you feel powerless or helpless to change the situation?  


Are you using more of your sick leave or other kinds of leave to stay away from work?


 


Do you find yourself frequently saying, “I don’t give a damn anymore,” “I just can’t keep up,” or, “It doesn’t ever really matter what I do – it will turn out the same anyway”?  


Do you find your relationships with others – family and friends – more agitated because of the frustrations of the job?  


Do you find you’re ignoring (or angry at) your buyers because of your work-related tensions?  


If you’re answering yes more often than no, you may be a candidate for burnout. Some people are able to cope with their job frustrations and stress, but this might be the time for you to take stock of where you are in your job, where you’re heading, and what you would like to change for the better.


A person has to decide what is creating stress and how best to handle it. While you may try to change your orga- nization or company, it might be easier and better if you change your attitudes, work habits, values, goals, and how you spend your time.


SELLING POWER DECEMBER 2019 | 23 © 2019 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.


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