How To Be Proud Of Your Work Ethic Without Burning Out
Written by: R. Richardson
Website Link: https://www.supportiv.com/work/how-to-be-proud-of-your-work-ethic-without-burning-out
When you thrive, you can help your team thrive. So how can you proudly show your work ethic and how much you care–without burning out?
It’s easy to feel like you have to give everything you have in order to demonstrate a good work ethic. However, taking care of yourself is also a major component of being a go-getter.
As we’ve all heard the concept of putting on one’s own oxygen mask first, sometimes doing your best means *not* giving your all. If you burn out, you can’t be helpful to anyone. And, it takes a long time to recover from burnout. Better not to get there in the first place.
So how can you showcase your work ethic while staying happy and healthy?
“There is a difference between good work ethic and commitment, and pushing too hard to the point of burnout.” –RealAgriculture
How can you tell you’re pushing too hard in the name of “work ethic”?
Others judge your work ethic based on your productivity and positivity. So if you push yourself to burnout just to show your work ethic, it simply won’t work.
How can you recognize that this is happening?
You feel overloaded and unable to give 100% to each task
Are you feeling more than a little stressed over your work? Has just completing the job become more important than putting in a thoughtful effort? You may not have enough internal resources to devote to work, but you feel irreplaceable and have expectations only you can see through–so you keep working toward burnout.
You are trying desperately to please
Sometimes we push ourselves toward burnout in order to receive the praise we feel we need. However, external praise cannot be relied upon if we hope to have a healthy relationship to our work. Continuing to grind in this way is a sure recipe for burnout. Instead, we have to take pride in ourselves.
You’re finding yourself irritable and impatient despite best intentions
Perhaps you have expressed irritability or impatience when dealing with customers or co-workers. Giving time and respect to your loved ones, friends, strangers, even yourself is becoming a nuisance, because you simply don’t have the emotional bandwidth. If this is the case, it may be a sign you are pushing your work ethic too hard.
You’re feeling unexplained pain–physical or emotional
Oftentimes, our bodies give subtle hints when things are not quite right. Your body may be presenting unexplained physical symptoms such as stomach problems, headaches, or shooting pains.
Alternatively, your use of drugs or alcohol might have escalated to numb emotional pain. Has using one of these substances to make it through another day become your routine? Feeling like you can only concentrate, feel comfortable, or accomplish a task when you have indulged in substance use, may be a sign of pushing too hard at work.
Your sleep or eating patterns have changed
Possibly you are struggling to eat regularly and are having a loss of appetite for food or are consuming large amounts of food in a short amount of time.
Have you been experiencing constant fatigue or exhaustion? We are not talking the kind of tired where all you need is a good long nap to feel refreshed. Your sleeping patterns may be off. Perhaps you are sleeping way more or way less than usual. Either way, it’s not sustainable.
An unrealistic work ethic harms productivity
When you push too hard to show that you have a good work ethic, you can cause yourself to burn out. Then, burnout makes it impossible to work quite so hard–and your work ethic suffers. Wouldn’t it be nice to work at a more sustainable pace, so you can be consistently proud of your work ethic?
How to take pride in your work ethic while preventing burnout
While striving to be the best employee and person you can be, it is imperative to remember to check in with yourself from time to time. Here are some suggested strategies you might use.