burnout

REFLECTION: Few of us would borrow money unless we had to. So, it’s one of life’s great puzzles, that so many of us insist on borrowing trouble.

So far in Saskatchewan, it’s been an awesomely mild winter. Instead of enjoying the sunshine and mild temperatures, I hear people warning, “March and April are going to be a kicker – cold and miserable! Just wait and see. We’ll pay for this later!”

An item someone’s been longing to purchase goes on sale. Instead of joyously heading to the shop to pick it up, I hear that person predicting, ‘They’ll probably be all out of them by the time I get there!”

Employees respond to the announcement of a change in a process at work as if the devil himself had crafted a dastardly plan to max out the daily quota of torment and tedium.

Well … maybe March will blow like a blizzard from one end to the other. Maybe the longed for item will be out of stock. Maybe the new process will end up being as cumbersome as predicted. If so, we’ll deal with it!

Or … maybe March will be every bit as mild as the winter so far. Or, maybe the shop will have the item in stock, in the right color and size, with an additional 10% Wednesday only in-store discount. Or, maybe the change in workplace process will end up saving tons of time and energy – and turn out to be the best thing ever. If so, we’ll deal with that, too.

I know, I know…if you don’t get your hopes up you won’t be disappointed! Still, dragging a wet blanket and a storm cloud everywhere we go makes the journey tougher and darker than it needs to be. Must dodging a bullet of disappointment be the only route to happiness? (more…)

REFLECTION: “I’ll just eat lunch at my desk, save a bit of time, save a little money, and catch up on my email.” Have you ever said that to yourself or heard that from someone else?

A 2011 survey by the American Dietetic Association found that 62% of workers eat lunch at their desks and 50% snack there through the day. In the world of ‘nose to grindstone’ this might seem to be a positive approach. But, really – not so much!

Foregoing a lunch break cheats us of a chance to rest our brains and return to our problems with fresh minds and new perspectives. Staying stuck behind the keyboard, prevents social interaction that could lift our spirits and lighten our load. Eating while working means we may be less aware of how much goes in our mouths, making it way too easy to overindulge. And, more sitting, is of course, more sitting! Recent studies emphasize the health risks of spending too much of our day chair bound and not enough of our day moving around.

Still, if you need any more evidence to build a case that would have you pushing away from your desk for lunch, this just might do it. The same survey noted above found that only 36 percent of respondents clean their work areas—desktop, keyboard, mouse—weekly and 64 percent do so only once a month or less. (more…)

As February unfolds I will be giving away 29 copies of Press Pause…Think Again. One book a day. These books will go to people YOU want to inspire and encourage.

You probably know that February is heart month. It’s not only a time for people to tend to their physical heart health, it’s a time for us to tend to the emotional heart health of those we care about. I want to help you with that cause. Here’s how it works.

Think of someone in your circle of acquaintance who may be struggling or disheartened – someone who could use a little more balance, perspective or appreciation in their everyday life at work or at home. Email me that person’s name and postal address along with a thought or two about why they could use a lift and a gift. Put these words, 29 Gifts, in the Subject line. You can find my email address in the Contact Us area of the Pauseworks Website Home Page.

Each day I will draw the name of one lucky recipient from the entries received. When your nominee is chosen, I will mail your honoree a personalized complimentary copy of Press Pause…Think Again as a gift in your name – and let you know it’s on its way.

Send as many entries as you wish. All entries received will be included in the draw bucket right through to the end of the month.

I’m excited to be helping you help others to ‘Press Pause…Think Again’. A Happy Heartfelt February to you all.

REFLECTION: Noting any burnout in your workplace or yourself? I’ve been dipping into a bit of recent research on burnout that suggests this phenomenon is not just a one trick pony – that there are at least three different forms that burnout takes.

The shorthand descriptions look like this. The Frenetic push hard and wear down. The Underchallenged grow bored and go numb. The Worn Out become discouraged and give up. Here’s a profile for each.

Frenetic folks are challenged by high expectations and limited resources – ambitious by nature. Those who respond in this way keep pushing themselves and others harder – redoubling efforts, refusing to acknowledge failure or limitations, neglecting health and personal lives, growing more anxious and irritable as time goes by. Recognize anyone like this?

Finding the work to be less than challenging, and experiencing very little personal growth or professional development because of it, the Underchallenged end up simply going through the motions. They don’t feel overburdened, just empty, and devoid of enthusiasm. Recognize anyone like this?

Noting a huge gap between effort invested and rewards received, and sensing they have little control or influence over the situation, the Worn Out back off on effort to match the disappointing level of reward. They believe that what they do doesn’t make much of a difference, and may appear apathetic and cynical. Recognize anyone like this? (more…)

Thought you might appreciate knowing about recent newspaper coverage of the pause message and the latest book, Press Pause…Press On.

Irene Seiberling of the Regina Leader Post, wrote a great article that appeared in the LP on Wed, January 18: Take Time To Pause, Re-Energize. Irene has been such a great encourager of my work over the years, and has covered every single one of my five books published. It’s wonderful to have such a long-term supporter who so generously uses her platform to share and shape the news.

If you know of others who really need to hear the Pause message, be sure to forward a link to this post to their attention, too.

Enjoy! Paus-atively Yours, Pat

REFLECTION: Welcome back, everybody. The holidays are now behind us; and, on reflection, I realized a thing or two about a very helpful practice known as savoring.

I now know why, on Christmas Eve, my grandson is so eager for Santa’s arrival that he can barely contain himself. I now know why my mother’s Christmas gifts sit at her feet unopened while she watches the rest of us rip into our parcels. I now know why I leave the Christmas tree lit up for an extra week after the new year has arrived.

It’s because we’re all, in our own ways, savoring the experience: the anticipation of magic, the excitement of watching a recipient’s face light up in delight, the soft glow of the lights against the January darkness.

Research by positive psychologist, Dr Fred Bryant, shows that those who regularly and frequently savor are happier and more satisfied with life in general. They are more optimistic; and they are less depressed. Who wouldn’t want that?

Savoring is about marveling, basking, admiring, appreciating, and luxuriating. It’s about paying attention, tuning in, soaking it up.  Savoring is emphatically not about multitasking, rushing, hurrying, and speeding on to the next. (more…)

Feeling squeezed by the pressures of this crazymaking world of ours? Unless you’re in the end stages of childbirth (a rare occurrence for most of us), don’t simply bear down and push harder. In everyday experience, that leads directly to crash ‘n’ burn or blur ‘n’ endure.

If you want better outcomes, make better choices. Stop overloading and start rightloading your life.

Here are five ways to move in a more positive direction for the year ahead:

1. Shift how you carry the load. Step away from your work and responsibilities every 90 minutes or so to do something renewing. See frequent pauses as an investment in being able to continue – not a reward for being done.
2. Watch how you define the load. Stop creating discretionary burdens. When you don’t know how something will turn out (and we rarely do), assume the best. Refuse to wallow in worry. See meltdowns as optional – not inevitable.
3. Learn to control the load. Negotiate expectations – speak up about overloading, multi-loading and perpetual loading. Monitor the place of technology in your life. Set your own rules for when you are connected and unplugged.
4. Make time to celebrate the load. Relationships and opportunities come with demands and expectations; they also deliver rewards.  Some things that we complain we ‘have to do’ we are actually lucky we ‘get to do’. Give an unreserved ‘Yes’ to invitations that will enrich your life.
5. Put speed in its place. A fast answer is not necessarily a good answer. Every request is not an emergency. There’s no need to constantly pepper our conversations with the word, quick: a quick word, a quick trip, a quick lunch, a quick visit. Conversations, lunches and connections are all legitimate uses of time.

Calm down. Slow down. Take it easy.  Press pause…think again!

PS – For more helpful action-prompting suggestions on this theme, get yourself a copy of my latest book (Press Pause…Think Again) and nab a copy or two for others who share your dilemma. Start a Press Pause support team and create a more sane and satisfying environment in the year ahead. Happy New Year!

In a world awash with media headlines, advertising slogans, bumper stickers, FB status updates, Tweets, and abbreviated OMG emoticons, it’s a wonder that complete thoughts still mean as much as they do.

If reader response to my ‘Quote of the Week’ section is any indicator, we continue to experience pithy ideas uttered or written by others as an opportunity to pause and ponder.

Earlier this month, I turned the tables, asking Pause readers to share their favorite quotes on balance and perspective with me. They did not disappoint.

And so, as promised, I share this contributed collection of inspiration – this bricolage – of words of meaning. A bricolage – my new favorite word – is something that is made or put together with whatever materials happen to be available. That’s a pretty apt description of all those quotes and phrases that hang on our refrigerators or bulletin boards, frame our computer screens, and adorn the tail end of our email messages.

I’ve chosen a baker’s dozen to share in the body of this e-zine. And, this link will take you to the complete collection of contributions. (Where sources were provided I’ve included them with the quotes.)

Thanks to all of you who took the time to dip into your collections and share your favs with the rest of us.

This will be my last Pause message of the year. I’m taking the week between Christmas and New Year’s to pause, relax and celebrate with family.

I’ll be devoting the first week of the New Year to a couple of specific creative projects. And, so, your first Pause e-zine of 2012 will appear in your In Box on January 11.

In the meantime, I wish you and yours the very best of the season – a time of warmth and fellowship. May you gather close and set aside your lists of things to do while you experience and remember what matters most in this wild and woolly world of ours. Peace, love, joy, hope and pause to you all.

PS – Here’s a link to our 2011 Katz Family Photo Review, if you care to take a peak.

***

A Bricolage Of Inspiration

Via Alvina F:

Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.

Via Mo K:

Live so that they won’t have to lie at your funeral.

To put everything in balance is good, to put everything in harmony is better. – Victor Hugo

Via Dawn M:

The world is wide, and I would not waste my life in friction when it could be turned into momentum. – Frances Willard

Via Cheryl W:

I can’t be happy every day, but at least I can be cheerful !

Via Stacy M:

Patience in the present, faith in the future, and joy in the doing. – George Perera

Via Lou M:

Work when there is work to do. Rest when you are tired. One thing done in peace will most likely be better than ten things done in panic. I am not a hero if I deny rest; I am only tired. – Susan McHenry

Via Sherrill M:

I believe that for each of us, the presence of our being is the greatest gift we can give. Truly accepting and loving ourselves has a ripple effect beyond comprehension. – Courtney Milne

Via Susan E:

Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears.

Happiness consists of living each day as if it were the first day of your honeymoon and the last day of your vacation.

Via Allan P:

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Via Janice T:

You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

Via Debbie W:

Have a wonderful festive season and may your gifts of togetherness with family and friends be wrapped up with ribbons and bows!

Once again, here is the link to the complete collection of contributions .  Enjoy!

REFLECTION: It took a while to scan the listing of special events in Saturday’s entertainment column of our local newspaper. Five minutes later my head was spinning!

The first weekend of December offered a veritable frenzy of theatre productions, band concerts, choir performances, art and craft bazaars, light tours … and the list went on.  They’re all good things of course. The question is how much room is there in our lives for even the best of things?

The weeks leading up to Christmas, Hannukah and other end of year celebrations are a welcome time of entertainment and celebration – reconnecting with friends and family and remembering the reason for the season. It’s a time when it’s way too easy to overeat and overspend. And it’s equally easy to overbook – loading up the calendar so heavily that even good things end up feeling like one more thing we must squeeze in.

ACTION: Here’s an approach that can help to keep the season light. (more…)

REFLECTION: What do you care most about in your workplace? And what are the chances it might be the same things that others care about?

This is a question endlessly researched by organizations everywhere as they do their best to keep their people happy.

Results from a survey released in October of this year by Mercer, one of the world’s leading HR consulting firms, tell a familiar story about what motivates Canadian and US workers and helps them feel more engaged at work.

Drum roll, please. In order of importance, employees are affected by:

1. Being treated with respect
2. Work-life balance
3. Type of work they do
4. Quality of people they work with
5. Quality of leadership in the organization

Although the results may not be surprising, what is surprising is that measures of what’s most important continues to remain similar even in the face of economic downturns and challenges.

ACTION: So what do these results suggest about the way we treat each other in our organizations? (more…)