Beyond Burnout: Recognizing & Navigating Your Career Tipping Point, Part I

I recently sat with a client who reported feeling stuck (for our purposes, we’re gonna call him Dave).  Dave had been passed over for a promotion (to a position he had helped create).  His compensation package was good enough that he didn’t think that he should leave, despite not enjoying the daily tasks of his work.  Dave’s personal values were not really connecting to his job or his employer (which was a larger healthcare corporation.)  And yet the momentum of life largely kept him in place.  He shared that he didn’t feel vested in the success of his company, but he also didn’t know what else to do.  He had no drive and was left feeling stuck.

Feeling stuck can lead to depression and ultimately burnout.

Personal change requires a tipping point.  A fulcrum upon which the prospect of a potentially better future outweighs the force and heft of the status quo.  I asked Dave what he would need to feel engaged and positive about his current job, and what he would need to leave and start a new chapter in his career.  And as we worked to explore both those areas, he was unable to come up with some clear delineators.  After a bit of thought, however, he was able to start articulating what would make him feel better about the job he had.  He wanted to feel valued by his boss and leadership structure.  He wanted to use his personal strengths and he wanted to be able to help people.  Dave was far less sure about the things that needed to transpire before he would actively feel the need to move on.  And that was why he was feeling stuck.  He wasn’t happy, with a little thought he knew what would make him happier, but—and here’s the important part—he didn’t know what his tipping point was.  Dave had no sense of his threshold of discomfort which robbed him of the opportunity to make a decision.  When we are informed, big life choices (like switching jobs) become easier to tackle.  And in Dave’s case, not understanding his threshold of discomfort—essentially not knowing what his tipping point was—kept him from making any decision at all.

By the end of our session, Dave had a sense of the promised land he wanted to go to.  He knew what would make him feel more fulfilled at work.  It also seemed that he had not yet reached his tipping point—even though he didn’t have a sense of what it was.  (To be sure, we often don’t know our limits until we reach them.)

Burnout occurs when we continue to push forward despite the fact that we have left tipping point in our rear view mirror.  The difficulty is that the forward momentum that essentially holds us back is often so powerful that we don’t realize that passed our tipping point long ago until its too late.

There are methods to better understand when its time to make change—especially if we are not able to think clearly.

Because of the burnout risk involved in missing one's tipping point, I shared with Dave a technique that he could employ to help him notice where his tipping point truly is.  We discussed those rare aspects of his job that he can connect to—those moments where he gets to help people, moments where he gets to constructively collaborate with co-workers that he enjoys, and the fact that ultimately, his work contributes to the good health of patients receiving care at medical centers.

We explored the areas of his job that triggered frustration, apathy, or negative emotions and discussed ways in which he could reorient and redirect himself to the positive aspects of his work.  He began to employ some mindfulness practices while on breaks and before and after his work day to help cultivate some spaciousness within his mind—which helped him catch his triggers.  As he got acclimated to noticing his triggers, we added another layer to his efforts.  I tasked him with making a mark on a piece of paper each time he had to redirect himself towards more positive thoughts—each day counting anew on a fresh piece of paper.  After a few weeks, I had him bring all the papers to our session and we added them up.

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Check back for part two, coming soon!

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