More and more people now face the problem of professional burnout—even if they love their job. This is especially a concern for programmers and managers.

People start feeling tired on a continual basis. Employees soon lack initiative and begin to become indifferent towards things happening around them. Specialists lose confidence in their knowledge and skills and feel like what they’re doing doesn’t matter that much anymore; they may be disillusioned with everything.

Job burnout is a special type of job stress—a state of physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion combined with doubts about competence and the value of work.

The main cause of the burnout may be settling down into a routine of work and sleep. This is known as the “Groundhog Day Effect”—doing the same thing over and over again for the business and within the life and simply getting nowhere. For software developers and engineers, continuous learning may also have a dark side. It is quite exhausting to keep your skills and knowledge up to date with the high pace at which web and mobile technologies grow and change. Perfectionism also may cause job burnout. Usually programmers are meticulous and strive for flawlessness in coding. They work overtime or on weekends without taking a break.

To stop and prevent this burnout, people should regain passion—both personally and for the business—and this can be as easy as following these four effective tactics.

Travel

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.- Henry Miller

Traveling enables the worker to experience many new things, get out of their comfort zone, meet new people, and create lifelong memories. It is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling activities.

Learn

Gaining new skills and learning something new always is effective for combating job burnout, especially if a new interest is not connected to the current profession. Communication with people from another industry, new skills, and new knowledge inspire and help the person to look at things from a different perspective.

Participate in Sports

Alteration of mental and physical labor is the key to productivity and efficiency. Physical exercise has positive effects on brain function on multiple fronts, ranging from the molecular to behavioral levels. It increases heart rate, which pumps more oxygen to the brain. Aerobic exercise, in particular running, has an antidepressant effect, according to a study from Stockholm.

Organize Your Workspace

Organizing is a process of arranging things and keeping them in order. Organizing physical things will help you to organize your thoughts and reconsider your priorities in life. A messy and cluttered workspace can have a negative impact on your goals and your sense of empowerment.

Sincerely,

Itera Research team