Want To Ease Burnout? Build Grit

A Prevention Strategy to Consider

Another post about burnout?

I can't help it because I have just watched the Springsteen Road Diaries on Hulu, and the interview of him and his band on the Stern Show and it struck me how Bruce Springsteen embodies grit like no other. Despite numerous challenges, his unwavering dedication to his craft over decades serves as a powerful example of how passion and perseverance can propel us forward without succumbing to burnout. Springsteen's journey reminds us that staying true to our long-term goals, while navigating the ups and downs, is key to sustained fulfillment. I can attest, after 150+ Springsteen shows, whatever it is that we are all experiencing at one of his shows is not burnout!

Burnout and the topics of retention, turnover, productivity, workforce shortages, and engagement are all related and are top of mind concerns for all healthcare services businesses, especially #physicaltherapy.  I started writing about this in 2013 post about the Current State of Healthcare needs “Cares More” Initiative with the thesis Compassionate care has been supplanted by institutional care. Some of my recent writings include a 3 part series: All Things Burnout #physicaltherapy, a recent piece on AI and burnout, and a 2024 prediction update, amongst others.

Building Grit: A Pathway Out of Burnout

In my previous posts, we've explored the background issues including a study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (2020) which found that physical therapists experience high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Another study in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy (2021) revealed that work-related stressors, such as high workload and time pressure, contribute significantly to burnout in this profession. These findings underscore the importance of implementing strategies to prevent and manage burnout among physical therapists. What has also evolved is the real culprits of burnout—productivity demands (over-emphasis), billing pressures, and how we feel about the ethical environment at work. Today, I want to shift our focus to a powerful tool that can help us navigate these challenges: Grit.

Grit isn't just about sheer determination; it's the combination of passion and perseverance toward long-term goals. Recent research highlights how grit can serve as a protective factor against burnout, but it's not a silver bullet. Let's unpack this a bit.

What the Latest Research Tells Us

A study I came across recently sheds light on the nuanced relationship between grit and burnout:

-Grit as a Protective Factor:  Individuals with high levels of grit tend to cope better with day-to-day challenges. They show lower rates of emotional exhaustion because they're more resilient in the face of setbacks.

-The Limits of Grit: However, grit alone isn't enough when we're dealing with chronic, unmanageable stressors. If the demands consistently outpace our resources—be it time, energy, or support—even the grittiest among us can hit a wall.

- Grit and Adaptability: Interestingly, those who are highly gritty might sometimes push themselves too hard, ignoring signs that it's time to adjust their goals or set new boundaries. Adaptability becomes key here.

- The Role of Self-Compassion: Pairing grit with self-compassion creates a more sustainable approach. Being kinder to ourselves when things don't go as planned allows us to recover emotionally and bounce back without burning out.

Organizational Support Matters:  Grit thrives in supportive environments. Workplaces that promote realistic expectations are centered around their PT’s and define the organizational DNA, values, and bedrock principles. They win in the marketplace and more so  in preventing burnout.

Practical Ways to Build Grit

So, how can we cultivate grit and build this antidote to burnout? A good first step is simply to get your grit score as developed by Angela Duckworth who literally wrote the book on grit (and who I was fortunate enough to have as a professor at UPEN!). Keep in mind the rationale and intention to do these ways is to effect an outcome: More grit mitigates burnout.

1. Set Long-Term Goals: As part of professional development, setting, tracking, and supporting the long term goals of your employees. For physical therapists, these long term goals are crucial as specialty board certifications and manual therapy fellowships take awhile which is a challenge coming out of PT school where many are already burned out. These long term goals typically start with clinical excellence (mastery) and often progress to leadership, management, and ownership. Every individual is guided on their own path and these long term goals and the mentoring, supervision, and resources to oversee them are an organization “must halves.”

2. Embrace Challenges:  This is the ability to see obstacles as opportunities to grow rather than setbacks. Ever seen productivity couched as a challenge to meet demand and ability to impact lives vs. a metric?

3. Practice Mindfulness: This practice takes many forms ranging from understanding calcification/decalcification, implementing macro, meso, and micro-breaks (it’s own antidote to burnout), to techniques that enable the ability to stay present to manage stress better and maintain focus.

4. Develop Self-Compassion: This is the ability to treat yourself with the same kindness you offer others or your patients. Dr. Kristin Neff is the authority on this topic.

5. Seek Supportive Networks: Surround yourself with colleagues and mentors who uplift and inspire you. For physical therapists, this is a trusted tribe of colleagues linked together in communication. Network effects are powerful and speak to the need for community that is strived for by the most likely current crop of physical therapists- millennials or Gen Z.

Let's Move Forward

Burnout is a complex issue, but by building grit—alongside adaptability and self-compassion—we can better navigate the stresses of our profession and build in what is necessary-a proactive, prevention strategy for what has really become amongst healthcare workers-an epidemic.  For grit, it's not just about pushing through tough times; it's about growing through them with support and kindness, both from ourselves and our organizations.

Anybody building grit in their organizations? If so, how?

@physicaltherapy

larry

If you enjoy this post from All Things #Physical therapy, consider subscribing to my Substack and recommending it, sharing, posting, and tweeting it to friends. For a treasure trove of past, check out EIM’s blog, where over 350 posts await your eager eyes.

Lastly, 100% of all proceeds from my book Called to Care: A Medical Provider’s Guide for Humanizing Healthcare goes to The Foundation for Physical Therapy Research

**References**

- Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). *Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals*. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101.

- Ericsson, K. A. (2008). *Deliberate practice and acquisition of expert performance: A general overview*. Academic Emergency Medicine, 15(11), 988–994.

- Goodman, M. J., & Schorling, J. B. (2012). *A mindfulness course decreases burnout and improves well-being among healthcare providers*. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, 43(2), 119–128.

- McDonald, G., Jackson, D., Wilkes, L., & Vickers, M. H. (2013). *Personal resilience in nurses and midwives: Effects of a work-based educational intervention*. Contemporary Nurse, 45(1), 134–143.

- Ozbay, F., Johnson, D. C., Dimoulas, E., Morgan, C. A., Charney, D., & Southwick, S. (2007). *Social support and resilience to stress: From neurobiology to clinical practice*. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 4(5), 35–40.