I first wrote about job burnout five years ago in 2019 [1]. I offered some valid advice, and the bottom line was, "Work to live rather than live to work." This advice still stands. Compartmentalizing your life preserves your mental and physical health, but it's not enough, and five years later, I've realized the shortcomings of that simplistic analysis. Burnout is far more complex than I ever imagined and dealing with it alone has given me new insights that I hope will also help you.

Burnout has many origins: stress, repetitive tasks, the feeling of no end in sight, the need to keep your technical skills sharp, negative feedback, no feedback, low or no salary incentives, no job ladder or promotions, and the feeling that people see you as a one-dimensional nerd who lives to solve problems.

First, you must realize and affirm that what you do is not who you are. Your job is a job and not a personality trait or disorder, as many believe. You are not your job. The job is a thing you do. When you get up from your desk, leave your job and the problems there. Your quality of life will improve if you separate your work from your non-work existence. Identifying yourself as your job will lead to burnout, depression, and other mental and physical ailments.

Second, you're never done, no matter how well you do your job. Tomorrow brings more outages, failures, mistakes, errors, and problems to solve. Solve today's issues and realize that even if you were to work 24x7x365, you'd never solve every problem. Do your best and be content with accomplishing everything you can on your shift. Working too many hours leads to mental and physical disorders that may manifest themselves as job burnout.

Third, you're only one person – a single cog in the great corporate wheel. You're not superhuman, and you have your role to play. You can't solve every problem for everyone. Give help when asked, but remember that you have your own goals and tasks to accomplish. Don't be the person who does everyone else's job except yours. Your reviews will be poor, although you feel you've achieved a great deal and contributed tremendously. Poor job reviews add to burnout and harm your self-esteem and overall mental health.

Fourth, if you're not the company owner, you are not the owner of the problems. You are hired to do a job. The company doesn't own you or 100 percent of your time. You're paid to perform tasks while you're at work. As someone once told me, "Don't trade your life for this job; it's not worth it." No truer words were ever spoken to me. Of course, being young and "motivated," I ignored them. I gained nothing by being obsessed with that job. Ultimately, the owners sold the business to a larger corporation, and I became less significant and less relevant than I already was. My only accomplishment was to alienate the person who gave me that advice. Being obsessed with work is exhausting and will cause relationship problems and exacerbate your job burnout.

Fifth, and finally, take care of yourself. Take your breaks, especially your lunch break. Do not eat at your desk. Leave your desk and your work setting, if possible. Staying in one place too long leads to burnout. Get up from your desk during the day to take a short walk, collaborate with a colleague in person rather than by instant message or headset, or go to the gym and spend some time on the treadmill. Yes, I know that's boring, but it's a change of pace (no pun intended). Protect your physical health as well as your mental health. Plus, doing something physical will help your mental health. Be sure to get some sun because vitamin D deficiency is linked to an increased risk of mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and suicide [2]. Studies have shown that vitamin D supplementation can improve depression and other mental health symptoms. Burnout and depression are often symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency.

You can't always prevent job burnout. We're all susceptible to it. Change is often the great healer, and please realize that job burnout might be part of a larger mental or physical health problem. If you're experiencing burnout and exhaustion, visit your doctor or a counselor. Just like the computers you support, you need regular maintenance.

Ken Hess Senior ADMIN Editor