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In order to avoid burnout, you must be able to recognize the symptoms. When you can’t identify what is happening to you, the chances you’ll be able to protect against the effects of burnout decrease.
Recovering from this condition can be difficult, so understanding what some of the signs and symptoms are—as well as what can be done to alleviate them—is a good place to start the battle against burnout.
On the Lookout
As you get more comfortable in your business and find ways to effectively market your services, your client list will grow. Taking on more clients will demand more of your time and require you be able to sustain your energy and mental stamina.
Massage therapists can quickly become fatigued with the continual demands of a growing massage business, particularly if you are a sole practitioner who attends to the multiple aspects of the business above and beyond massage, including marketing, office management and accounting tasks. Such demands can seem relentless, particularly at peak periods. There is risk of losing motivation as these stressors dilute your original passion for the massage therapy profession.
Letting these feelings build can lead to burnout-a deep exhaustion caused by prolonged periods of excessive stress. If you experience burnout, problems can seem insurmountable and everything looks bleak. You may have a hard time drumming up the energy to feel concerned or take interest in daily activities. Many times your perception of things changes, too, making tasks that were once easy and interesting more difficult. Unfortunately, once these symptoms set in, many massage therapists feel it is easier to simply walk away from their business.
As you might imagine, burnout can reduce your productivity, and you might find yourself letting important details slip. You might also begin feeling depressed. Other psychological and physical symptoms of burnout include: helplessness, desperation, emotional tiredness, indifference, loneliness, irritability, annoyance, feeling trapped, anguish, pessimism and apathy.
Getting a Grip
When you begin feeling overwhelmed, a good place to start taking back control is by determining how you are spending your time. When you force yourself to account for your time, you might find your days are out of balance and you are expending more energy than you realize.
In today’s busy, fast-paced work environment, many people feel pressure to do everything themselves and are left with the feeling that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Being constantly busy, however, most often means you aren’t using your time effectively, or giving yourself enough downtime to regenerate and revive your spirit.
A simple way to get an overview of how you spend your days is to fill in a timetable (see examples). Use different colors to represent different activities. For example, purple for hours dedicated to work; green for relaxation; put day-to-day tasks in blue; mark time you spend on personal or business relationships in yellow; health and fitness is dark blue; and orange for activities that promote self development.
If accounting for your time in such great detail seems daunting, you can also diagram your time using broader life categories (see examples). The point is to get an idea of how you are spending your time and where you might need to make some changes in order to bring yourself into balance.
Once you’ve completed the exercise, analyze how you spent last week and pay close attention to how your time is distributed. Then, think about these questions: Are you seeing a pattern emerging? Do you find your time is spent heavily geared toward one aspect of your life? Are there aspects of your life that you might be neglecting?
This exercise can be very helpful when you find you feel “under the gun” a lot of the time. Having a visual representation of where your time is going will quickly make clear where you might need to improve balance. For example, if your timetable is covered in red, you’ll know it’s time to take some moments for yourself and find enjoyment away from your work.
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American Massage Therapy Association®
