As the Broadway musical Annie (and now even Mini Me in the Austin Powers movies) reminds us, “It’s a hard-knock life!” In order to get along and in order to provide for our needs, most of us have to work—and that can put us at great risk for anger due to burnout.

The second half of the last century and the beginning of this one have born witness to tremendous change both in terms of technology and in terms of society itself. Since World War II, America in particular has experienced revolutionary change in the way people work and in the way they think. American society, once very personal, has become almost anonymous. Doors stay closed and shutters stay drawn. Everyone minds his or her own business for the most part. Everybody is so busy just trying to get the job done and to accomplish what needs to be accomplished that little time is left for us to replenish ourselves and get our needs met. It’s no wonder people get angry and frustrated. It can be tough out there!

Within one generation almost all the rules went out the door. Rules governing behavior and morality that were once well established morphed or disappeared altogether, and expectations regarding performance and competence skyrocketed. People who grew up believing in the Ten Commandments are now faced with rock and gangsta rap filled with violence and disrespect. People who once believed in the notion that if you work hard, you will achieve your goals, have come face to face with athletes and entertainers who rake in the megabucks for what appears to be less than the usual effort. People who grew up outside on playgrounds now have kids growing up inside with play stations. All this change and seemingly contradictory values, plus all those good old parental shoulds, create quite a setup for falling victim to very angering, crazy-making double-binds. So it’s not a surprise that burnout can take its toll on you and make you considerably more anger prone.

Welcome to the New Millennium

It’s an information technology world! Just to maintain our footing in the workplace these days, we need to continually learn new techniques and excel in what we do. Information and technology have become a religion of sorts for many people. Better keep your computer updated, otherwise it might not be able to read the new software that’s constantly being generated. You’d better get yourself out there and buy a couple new TVs, too, because by 2006, analogue signals are set to go digital. Pressure from the outside world bombards us with higher and higher expectations.

In order to apply structure to our lives and avoid information overload, we are forced to become selective. We learn how to compartmentalize—we have to. Who wants to spend time and energy worrying about all the awful stuff that could happen? We are forced to screen out the excessive information and stimulation, and erect barriers to protect ourselves. The awful stuff gets buried, sure, but at some level it’s still there and it’s still working on us. This denial and maintenance program is a difficult one and can create more stress and anger. In order to maintain these barriers, we expend a lot of negative energy and may also squelch our ability to maintain close relationships, find ways in which we can rejuvenate ourselves, and explore how we are feeling.

Although we may have achieved affluence and prestige, we might have given up the people part of the equation. We may have lost the feelings of connectedness that we need in order to feel good about ourselves. Eventually, we may bow under the weight of this frustration, and then the anger and frustration we are experiencing in the workplace comes home with us. And we are not even aware how it got in the front door. It’s important, then, in dealing with your anger, to explore the role the stress known as burnout is playing in your current situation.

Who Gets Burned Out?

Many different types of people can be at risk of burning out. It’s not just the “A” type superachievers who are at risk—although they are certainly high on the “at risk” list. Others on the list include people who heard a lot of those funky little shoulds from their parents. Specifically at risk are people who were indoctrinated with the type of shoulds that provided them with impossibly high standards or shoulds that addressed their achievement, perfection, competence, and tenacity. Parental talk like, “Whatever you start, you should stick with and finish,” or adages like, “There’s no point in doing something unless you do it right,” can really make people feel lousy if they don’t measure up.

Another group of people at risk for burnout are those in the helping professions, such as nursing, social work, teaching, ministry, or counseling. In many of these professions, the pay is quite low considering the scope of the work. With the exception of nursing and certain other segments of specific professions, many of these professionals are regulated by bureaucracies or by government entities that make getting things done more tedious and individual recognition hard to come by.

The population many of these people deal with is usually a needy one. After awhile, rather than feeling the joy and satisfaction of helping others, many individuals in the helping professions experience the frustration of working against impossible odds, while carrying bottomless responsibility. Often times they have to bear the burden of failure. Many of the people within the populations who come for help are ready to take what they need from the person working with them and then move on without providing their “helper” with any type of positive reinforcement. The helpers never get the chance to discover if what they are doing has mattered in any significant way. It’s no wonder so many people working in the helping professions feel so unappreciated and angry that they eventually burnout and leave their professions because they end up believing what they do is really a meaningless and thankless task.

Another segment of the population that suffers from burnout consists of regular people who work in large bureaucracies. You can probably understand how this could be the case. Large business entities become stratified and anonymous. Within bureaucracies, there’s no room for personal achievement, and mediocrity is fostered. Rules and regulations do not allow for the growth of the individual. There are no rewards for novel concepts and solutions, and thus, as with the helping professions, there is little chance for personal positive reinforcement. People become discouraged and disgruntled and eventually may give up trying to be creative.

People with charisma also can easily become victims of burnout due to the expectations of other people. Charismatic people possess a certain type of magnetism that attracts people to them. Other people just plain feel good around people with charisma, and others attribute all sorts of abilities to charismatic people. Always expected to shine, to do more, and to be better than everyone else, these charming people burn out trying to live up to those unrealistic expectations.

A final category of people at risk for burnout and the anger it produces includes just about everybody else. People who are goal oriented, idealistic, dedicated, tenacious, and talented make great candidates. Burnout can affect anyone who is committed to what he or she undertakes.

The following exercise will help you think about where you fall on the burnout continuum. Are you getting what you need from your job? Is your career providing you with adequate challenges and rewards? Take a minute to think about how your shoulds are affecting your work. Look for any family of origin principles that mediate the way you behave in the workplace. Look for messages from the past about the way “We” do things.

EXERCISE

How My Shoulds Affect My Work

Examine principles such as: “We put the family first” or “We sacrifice everything for the job” or “We don’t trust outsiders to do it right.” Jot down any principles that may be operating on your present behavior and may be causing you problems.
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Look back for any family myths that might be affecting you. These myths could include items like, “Old papa was a poor immigrant who never gave up trying” or, “Grandmother single-handedly held off three robbers and saved the family fortune.” How have these myths affected your attitude or behavior?
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Family principles and myths can cause us to attempt to behave in unrealistic ways that can also contribute to burnout and subsequently to self-angering. Once again, in protecting ourselves and taking care of our needs, awareness that something isn’t right or that something just feels wrong is the first step toward good management.

Red Flags for Burnout

There are several red flags for diagnosing burnout in yourself or in a loved one. And, because burnout results from stress, you’ll notice that many of the red flags for burnout are the same as the symptoms of stress. See if any of these symptoms of burnout apply to you or someone you love:

• Has anybody mentioned that you or a loved one seems stressed? Listen to family members or others you know care about you or your loved one when they voice their concerns.

• Do you or a loved one have the four Ds—disengagement, distancing, dulling, and deadness?

• Have you noticed that you or a loved one seems more remote than is usual?

• Do you or a loved one appear uninterested in doing things you formerly enjoyed?

• Do you or a loved one seem to be unable to focus as well as you normally can?

• Have you noticed yourself or a loved one displaying a flat affect; that is, your mood seems to lack its normal little ups and downs?

• Have you or a loved one lost direction? Are actions you take directed at a goal or just action for action sake? If there is no goal behind the action, you may have lost your direction.

• Do you or your loved one seem to have lost interest in life? Does life energize or deplete you? Are you involved or detached? Are you feeling enthusiastic or cynical? Do you feel you have a purpose in life or are you just wasting time?

• Do you or a loved one deny your situation in life? Failure to examine reality can be dangerous to yourself and others.

• Have you or a loved one become uncaring toward others? Someone who is stressed out may not take adequate care of him- or herself and may be thoughtless in regard to others.

• Do you or a loved one show signs of clinical depression? If you are depressed, disoriented, and paranoid, you should seek professional help. These are serious symptoms and more than just simple burnout.

Basically, burnout results from anger and frustration over unrealized hopes and dreams.

Smokey the Bear

As Smokey always told us, “Only you can prevent forest fires,” and the same goes for personal burnout. Only you can combat it. Once you know the red flags, you’ll be ready to take charge and combat burnout. You obviously can’t quit working, but there are things that you can do to add some zip to your life.

Communication is important in combating your burnout for a number of reasons. Even if the workplace provides you with little reinforcement or too much stress, having a close confidant you can talk with about the situation can take the edge off the problem. Just getting some feedback is good. Sometimes just hearing somebody say you’re not going crazy or that you’re doing a good job can be quite helpful. Also, in sharing your disappointment or frustration with another human being, you unload some of the negative energy that depletes your spirit.

If you didn’t get the credit you felt you deserved at work and you’re feeling a little angry or disappointed about it, don’t just suck it up. It will just add to your resentment and fuel your burnout. Try to find someone with whom you can share your feelings. It will help.

Humans work best and are most productive when they work in small groups. If you work in a bureaucracy, see if there is any way you can interact with a few other people who are working on the same type of thing as you are. Reach out for connections in any place that you can. Colleagues who work on faceless, splintered, monster projects become so stratified that even when they are told what’s up, they may not understand what’s going on. They may not ever feel like they fit in. They are likely to feel their work is irrelevant.

It’s one thing to feel like a cog in a wheel, but it’s ultimately more devastating not even to know where the wheel is heading. Without having a destination or a sense of completion or achievement, it’s impossible to feel pride in what you are doing. You’ll learn more about what’s going on if you can collaborate, even if it’s only one little snippet at a time. Each person can then help consolidate the acquired information.

When you have more information about what’s happening, you’ll feel more in control and more a part of things. You will perhaps gain some insight into the “big picture.” This, then, can provide you with a better understanding of your particular bureaucracy’s goal. You’ll then have a better idea of what your organization is ultimately trying to achieve. With this in mind, you’ll have rationale for what you are doing. Having such a rationale can help provide your job with more meaning.

Here’s another thing to remember about bureaucracies. The more competent the worker, the more the worker is at 120 risk for developing an “I don’t care” attitude. This type of apathy is functional burnout generated by the system itself. The larger the organization, the greater the tendency for the organization to place more emphasis on the appearance or outward signs of work than on the actual work itself.

This situation means there’s bound to be a lot of pencil pushing and micromanaging going on. This pseudo-efficiency can have a very negative effect on individuals who consider themselves to be self-motivated self-starters or entrepreneurs. Such a job culture presents a competent person with a serious double-bind. If he ignores the system, its logbooks, and its checks and double checks, and just goes ahead and does the work he’s supposed to do, he exposes himself to two dangers. First, he may be seen by cohorts as uncooperative and not a team player. They may “dis” him. Secondly, if he decides to go along with the gag, he’ll probably find himself engaged day after day in a seemingly endless supply of meaningless paperwork and red tape. This predicament is a guaranteed recipe for burnout.

Bureaucracies are a wonderful place to observe the Peter Principle in action. Because bureaucracies tend to have job ceilings, a Catch-22 for sure, competent people may be passed over for promotions. Imaginative people simply don’t fit very well into bureaucracies. Subsequently, incompetence rises. Colorless or politically oriented bureaucrats tend to do well and climb the ladder. This creates a conundrum for the more motivated people—should they work under an inferior, someone who is less motivated to achieve than they are, or leave the system? Rugged individualists get angry, give up, and tend to leave rather than stay in positions where they believe they are inadequately compensated.

Bureaucracies aren’t the only hot beds of burnout. Regular office situations can have their pitfalls, as well, for a couple of reasons:

1. The organizational structure of a particular corporate environment can produce burnout.

2. Certain personality characteristics of people attracted to certain businesses can create their own burnout. Frequently, perfectionists are attracted to careers that place unceasing and unachievable demands upon them.

The goal of most all organizations is to put the interests of the organization in the forefront. Why have a company if not to produce something? It’s just the nature of the beast. So, even if the organization isn’t a bureaucracy, it still is a self-perpetuating machine with its own self-interests at the top of the agenda.

One out of ten people suffer from anger-producing burnout in the workplace, so it’s a good idea to take a look at some of the forces at work creating it. If you believe you may be at risk, consider the following issues and see how your work situation measures up. If your job doesn’t measure up, think about what you might be able to do to improve the situation. People are at less risk of burnout in organizations that are attentive to the following issues:

• People experience a better attitude in companies that provide their employees with a sense of personal responsibility for the company’s fate. Employees want to feel as though they are making a meaningful contribution to the company.

• Workers suffer from less burnout in businesses that offer salaries that are appropriate and commensurate with the work being done.

• Companies that can offer advancement opportunities to employees report lower burnout than those companies that set ceilings.

• Companies that provide their workers with feedback— both negative and positive—are more comfortable workplaces. People need to know how they’re doing, and they need to know when they are appreciated.

• Companies that provide their employees with clear job descriptions and companies that guide rather than dictate to their employees create fewer burnt-out workers.

• Companies that provide their employees with a good understanding of the corporate vision and those that can negotiate flextime schedules are less stress- and anger-provoking environments in which to work.

• Companies that offer challenge and choice encourage professional and personal growth and give employees a chance at succeeding. People who enjoy a challenge do well in this type of environment. They are not pigeonholed into rigid ways of performing their tasks. Companies that achieve this type of business climate are not likely to micromanage their employees to death.

In addition, there are certain personal traits that burnout-hardy people possess that help insulate them:

• Workers who can focus have the ability to see their varied tasks through to completion. They don’t get sidetracked by e-mails, unforeseen demands, and irrelevant meetings. They tend to have clear expectations of what needs to be accomplished and what can be accomplished, and don’t place unreasonable demands upon themselves. While focus is a personality trait, it is best achieved in an environment that allows employees to stay on task and does not insist on unreasonable demands.

• Employees who have energy to get the work done are much more productive. Being more productive, they feel good about what they accomplish and have good self-esteem that shows through in what they do. Energy is a personality trait, but organizations can go a long way to enhance those traits by furnishing employees with challenges and choices.

• Productive workers know how to reenergize themselves. They find ways to reduce their stress levels through stress management techniques such as exercise, meditation, hobbies, and social support networks. (Chapter 8 contains many examples of these techniques.) By conserving and restoring their energy, productive employees keep themselves from becoming discouraged, overwhelmed, and disengaged. Disengagement can lead to anger, anxiety, uncertainty, frustration, and alienation, and job performance will suffer. An apathetic attitude can sabotage the chance of getting any rewards that might keep an employee interested in work and happy with him- or herself.

• People who are happy in their work situation don’t procrastinate. Oftentimes, people procrastinate because they feel insecure or because they fear that they’re likely to fail at something. This is a setup for more failure. The more someone procrastinates, the more likely that she’ll run out of time to do a good, or even adequate, job and she will indeed fail at what she’s trying to accomplish. Failures are the seeds for growing more insecurity!

• People who are comfortable in their jobs can concentrate and avoid distractions. Distraction is another setup for problems because distraction leads to mistakes due to a lack of concentration on the task at hand. Some organizations unfortunately amplify this tendency toward distraction by encouraging or demanding frenetic activity. Watch out!

Your Own Worst Enemy

Finally, due to their personality styles, certain individuals are just plain at higher risk for burnout than others. Top performers who work in fast-paced, demanding businesses are especially at risk. Frequently, that type of aggressive environment is just the kind of place in which many of these people find themselves employed. Paradoxically, peak performers can create their own systems that can lead to stress and anger.

High performers with strong self-management skills require little supervision. They are usually counted on to know what to do and how to do it. The downside of having these admirable traits is that, for these folks, successes can become a drug. These individuals develop a “tolerance” for their stressful workloads and require more and more projects and more and more successes to get a “fix.”

Successful people can be their own worst enemies by believing they’ll feel better about everything and able to relax if they can just finish that one project or make one more big sale. They reach their goal and then the high wears off. They start all over again, only they need higher levels of work and challenge to obtain the desired effect. The more they succeed, the more they need to succeed— achievement becomes its own reward. It’s not surprising that managers tend to heap never-ending projects on the neutron star employees. Eventually they’ll destroy themselves trying to reach new goals. They’ll go supernova. Burnout can occur for these individuals when a nagging little fear creeps in and whispers that they can’t achieve more and the jig is up. They may then disengage or become depressed and cynical and even resist taking on new challenges.

If any of this feels a little familiar and you’re not likely to change your career, it may be time to make a few changes in your life to compensate. Some good old stress management tips can help.