boredom Burnout Resources:

Believe it or not, you can get burned out from boredom. Just think about - how much energy and effort does it take to engage yourself with work that doesn’t engage you? It’s exhausting AF, isn’t it?! That’s why boredom burnout can be such a silent killer…

Boredom burn out - or “bored-out” as coined by two business dudes, Rothlin and Werder, in 2007 - refers to a massive imbalance between the time and volume of work on a task and your interest in it, intellectual stimulation by it, and the meaning and value of it in furthering your career. Ya see, if we are going to dedicate a shit-ton of our time to a meaningless task that we’re not interested in or intellectually stimulated by and that task doesn’t even help us further ourselves, it’s really hard to engage. It can also refer to there being no work or way too little of it.

Boredom burnout is basically the opposite of overwhelm burnout. From my perspective, it’s basically the lack of stimulation by the work you’re doing, and us high-achievers? We like stimulation. We thrive in it. So, bored-out can be a really big problem.

Now, I’ll be honest, this is an under-studied type of burnout. There have only been a few studies on it and therefore many people might look at this more as a “faking it” issue, but I don’t think that’s the case because for high-achievers, I know how much meaningful work, worthiness, and feeling valued mean to us. So, I think this is important to consider for us…

Things to try to overcome boredom burnout - aka. “bored-out

As best you can, don’t disengage. Just because you’re bored doesn’t mean it will serve you to disengage from your work. If anything, all it will do is burn bridges and I’m sure that’s the last thing you want to do. Hell, you’ve put in the work here for how many years? Don’t just check out. That’s going to do more harm then good...

Focus on learning something new at work. Honestly, we all get bored when we’re doing the same shit day-in and day-out. I had an old client who was struggling in his job and felt the need to quit, but really all he needed was to learn some new skills. I ran into the same thing in graduate school - I got bored of repeating the same experiment. So, I incorporated a new topic into my work - mathematical modeling. I know - nerdy! But it sustained me when the bored-out was at it’s peak.

Focus on learning something new outside of work. Maybe it’s not actually about boredom at work! Maybe work is great in lots of ways, but you’re bored in a number of other aspects of your life. Well, then what can you incorporate into your life to add a new dimension to your outside-of-work life? I’m an avid reader. This is something that helped me stay in my former positions - and even my current day-job - much longer because it’s allowed me to be engaged outside of work. I had another client who got so much more enjoyment when he added a language-teaching side hustle to his current job. This is also a great way for you to test out a career change - do it on the side for a while…just do it outside of work!

Seek challenge. You’ve probably heard of your “comfort zone”, but have you heard of your “growth” or “challenge" zone? There’s a sweet spot when it comes to challenge. To find it you need to push slightly out of your growth zone and into your challenge zone. Here you’ll find enough challenge to keep yourself engaged - promise!

Get enough sleep. When we’re bored, we often lack energy. Sleep gives us emotional, mental, and physical strength. Maybe your struggles with engaging come from the fact that you’re not resting enough. This is a simple and practical step to overcome bored-out.

Change your environment. Sometimes boredom comes simply from the fact that you’re sick of your environment. I know I often feel that after a week of WAY too much sitting at my desk! So, what can we do? Switch up the environment in which we’re working. Try sprinkling some color around your desk or office space. Another thought - especially mid-pandemic as many of us are still working from home - is to switch up where in your house you’re working as best you can. If I can, I’ll work on my couch or on my balcony instead. I also love working with a view so I’ll try to switch things up so that I can work in front of a nice window with a view!

Remind yourself why you wanted this career/job/thing to start with. I love this point. I think it helps us revist the meaning in what we do, but simultaneously, I think it helps us set expectations around what we wanted out of this job. Did we want this job for the prestige or the paycheck? Or did we want it because we were passionate about the mission that got lost somewhere along the way? If the luster and the thing that drew you to the job to begin with isn’t there anymore, maybe it really is time to move on. But if the reason you took the job in the first place is still there, maybe your expectations are the thing that need the adjustment.

Develop your self-awareness and “emotional intelligence” (EQ). This is a big one! It can be really easy to blame our job when we’re riding the struggle bus. Hell, it’s easy to blame the people at our job, but maybe we need to take some responsibility. Maybe part of our boredom is because we’re not self-aware of what’s making us bored, what would improve the situation, etc. Shit - our superiors have a lot on their plate too. Maybe they’re not utilizing you and your strengths because they don’t know what they are. So, take an opportunity to get self-aware, learn some of those things for them, and then ask for what you need. And if your self-awareness leads you to the realization that youre job isn’t the right place for you - okay! At least you have answers…and those answers can be implemented to lead you to something better. For more on EQ check out this podcast episode and the journaling prompts below…

If there’s Boredom Burnout in your Organization.

At an organizational level, boredom burnout can lead to a lot of turnover, particularly in younger generations. Here’s what I recommend you do:

• Leverage cross-training. You can keep someone you don’t want to lose by giving them something new, different, and out of their comfort zones to spend their time doing.

• Encourage multiple sources of fulfillment. This is particularly important for your younger employees, who can sometimes expect their job to be their security, their paycheck, their passion, their fulfillment, etc. This is actually NOT a good idea. In fact, I recorded a whole podcast on why that is.

Questions/journal prompts to think about:

• What is boring you about your current job? Or your current life? Why?

• What new responsibilities, knowledge, or deviation from the norm sounds appealing and interesting to you?

• What are some new things I can learn outside of work?

• What are some hobbies or interests that sound exciting that you’d like to explore?

• Do you feel you’ve outgrown your job? Or the activities in your daily life? Or your relationships? Why?

• Do you think you deserve a promotion? Why? How would this help?

• Do you find yourself regularly searching the internet for jobs while you’re at work? What are you looking for in these positions?

Other things to try/consider:

• Consider networking. Maybe it’s not a change in activities so much as a change in personality or culture that you need.

• Work with a coach to uncover new ways to build meaning, interest, and passion back into your work. This is possible no matter where you’re employed. Apply for a call here >>

Articles:

• You’re not burned out, you’re bored-out - Inc.com

• Little Known Cause of Burnout - Psychology Today

• The Best Ways to Handle Boredom at Work - Forbes

boredom | physical | overwhelm | emotional

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