Feeling burnt out in your IT executive role?

I had burnout several times, and therefore did some research on the topic. 🤓 The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)📝 is a useful tool for measuring burnout levels. Additionally, the JD-R Model is worth exploring as a preventive measure against burnout.

I think this step is very crucial. Many of us, might be facing burnout, but we don't acknowledge or accept that. As as Software Engineer, we are very passionate about our work and most of the time, take that as a challenge on our own and sometime its the managers who are responsible. In any case, we will see some early signs like: contant fatigue, a feeling of uneasiness, lack of sleep and anxiety. When we say we don't have any time for person commitments or a simple phone call of 2 mins, understand that this is a serious issue. Now you are basically, indulged in your work so much that, you don't have any personal life. So, first of all acknowledge this, accept the fact that you are in an early stage of burn out. Things may get worse later.

Seeking support with the right person is important. It can be your life partner, a friend, parents, a close relative, or even colleagues. But be wise to be able to make this decision of choosing whom to share this with. The other person should have empathy to be able to understand your perspective. Some will say, "It is the only way to success", others will say, "I can understand, but will you leave your job, how will you live?". However, there might be one among them, who will tell you to first, fix your schedule, maintain a disciplined life, for health, go to the gym or exercise or walk daily, sleep early - wake up early, try to communicate the problem with your team or manager, see whether they can help somehow. Find a person to vent out

☝️ I would add that one should not be afraid to be vulnerable. As managers, we often pretend to be rock solid, but the truth is that everyone has ups and downs. If you admit this fact and have the strength to be vulnerable, it will be much easier to accept support from others.

Discipline and Health both goes hand in hand. If you are not disciplined then there's a high chance you are unhealthy. We often have neglected these boring topics in our teenage. However, its time for us to rethink and understand how important our health is. When we hear health and fitness, we think about hitting the gym. But its not necessary, go for a walk/run, weekly you can go for swimming or cycling, you can also go for trekking. In case, you can't go outside, do exercise at your place. Eat healthy. You might miss the activity on a certain day, but don't worry, consistency is not about being a perfectionist. Its about again and again gaining that momentum. You health is your #1 priority no body or nothing can replace that num 1 spot.

This is an important skill that we have to acquire ie. to be able to delegate some task to team members. For this, we first need to be good at communication and breaking a task, down to smaller chunks, and then assigning them to other team members. This is the case when you are managing a team. If you are an individual contributor and new in the industry, probably you need to communicate well and make your mentor or manager understand the "how much" and "why" of your ETAs. This way you feel better about your workload and it will be distributed among your team.

In song writing, they have something known as writers block. And when someone is in that state, they usually spend some time away from work and watch movie or read some books. This way it helps them to think in different dimensions and also, they see everything from a bird eye's view. We can correlate it with our IT Industry. We are so much into our work that we sometimes forget to breathe fresh air, go to mountains, feel the grass with barefoot, do trekking, or simply sit in silence and do nothing. I think most us can't sit in silence doing nothing, this is the reason why we need breaks and to understand ourselves better. To bring a fresh perspective and to figure out are you going in the right path or not.