Last month, we launched a poll asking our LinkedIn followers what their biggest barrier to career advancement was. While the results were very close across the poll options, the winner was "lack of energy".
This lack of energy is not surprising considering the constant stream of changes that we have all faced in the past few years. Between a global pandemic, supply chain issues, workers resigning leading to staffing and retention issues, markets in flux, and most recently with tech companies downsizing. Throughout all of these, most of us are being asked to do more, with less support and resources, which is leading to a global burnout crisis.
Burnout is considered a clinical condition and the World Health Organization defines it as
"a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed."
Burnout leads to physical and mental exhaustion, cynicism, disconnectedness from others, and low overall energy.
While companies are starting to take measures to address burnout in the workplace with a focus on the employee experience, this is also something that you need to be mindful of for yourself - and for your team members.
The best path to avoiding burnout and having that energy to continue to grow your career is to focus on wellness as the priority, not just performance at work, etc. To be the very best versions of ourselves (same for our colleagues too), we must find harmony in ALL areas of our wellness, including:
Intellectual Wellness: the ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences that can be applied to personal decisions, group interactions, and community betterment
Emotional Wellness: the ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges that life can bring
Occupational Wellness: the ability to get personal fulfillment from our jobs or chosen career fields, while still maintaining balance in our lives
Environmental Wellness: the ability to recognize our own responsibility for the quality of the environment that surrounds us
Financial Wellness: the ability to identify your relationship with money and skills in managing resources. An intricate balance of the mental, spiritual, and physical aspects of money.
Spiritual Wellness: the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives
Physical Wellness: the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life without undue fatigue or physical stress
Social Wellness: the ability to connect with other people in our world
When you are feeling low energy, unmotivated, lacking focus, etc., especially when it comes to your own development and growth, I encourage you to take a good hard look at your wellness wheel and assess each category. Which area of wellness is suffering for you right now? Which area is flourishing? With a little more attention in a certain area, would you better realize that harmony in your wellness and regain energy, strength, and focus to move yourself and others forward?
A Quick Exercise:
For each of the 8 categories below, rate yourself current levels of harmony and satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being highly dissatisfied and 10 being highly satisfied).
Spend time reflecting on each of these areas and assess what might bring greater harmony for you across the wheel. Or if there are 1 or 2 areas that are really low versus the rest, what can you do to help boost your satisfaction in those areas that will allow you to feel more well-rounded and healthy?
I encourage you to consider health and wellness for yourself so that you continue to grow, develop, and be the best possible version of yourself possible.
I also encourage you to take this tool and apply it to your team members, your peers, your supervisors, etc. We all need to take a hard look within from time to time to ensure that we are doing the best for ourselves so that we can in return give the best to others back. Similar to the oxygen mask analogy on a plane - we have to help ourselves before we can truly help others.
If you are struggling with harmony in your life, integration of your work/life, or if you are burned out and exhausted, the WeInspireWe coaches are here to help you get through this. Schedule a FREE call with any of us today to begin the process of healing and recovery to increase that energy!
Tami Chapek is the CEO, Founder and Head Coach at WeInspireWe. Tami believes in community and positive change and has dedicated her life to bringing these concepts together. By empowering one, we empower many - and she believes that answer starts within. Click here to book a free strategy session with Tami today.