Marketers and Burnout
In the 21st century, the work pace is so intense that many workers get completely overwhelmed. Marketers are no exception. They fully experience the full range of negative factors that lead to burnout syndrome and even depression. Overtime hours, stress, the need to always be on our toes, and the difficulty of calculating productivity, which is not always accurately measured by employers, are our constant companions. You can get out of burn-out playing games. Online games are various and for example, BetLabel offers you the chance to entertain and relax while enjoying games such as poker, slots, blackjack, and many others.
Let’s add to this the influence of external factors. The work of a marketer is just one link in a complex business system. No matter how talentedly we promote the services of a massage parlor, a new employee or product can in a matter of days destroy what has been built for months.
Burnout at work is a natural result for most professionals. It can be recognized by many signs, including:
fatigue from the moment you wake up;
increased irritability;
anxiety and panic attacks;
headache;
inhibited perception;
drowsiness;
reluctance to communicate with people;
decreased appetite;
alcohol and cigarette abuse;
aggression;
apathy.
If you do not take action in time, these feelings will intensify and flow from one to another, poisoning your personal and professional life. First, it’s worth determining the presence of the syndrome; online tests will help with this. But it would also be useful to consult a specialist – a psychologist or psychotherapist.
Causes of Burnout
Burnout syndrome can affect both a novice marketer and a professional with extensive experience. It doesn’t matter how much they love the work they do, since there are many factors that provoke stress and bring a specialist closer to burnout.
Competition
Just 10–15 years ago, to get a marketing profession, you had to go to an educational institution and spend 4–5 years learning the basics. Today, online courses for future marketers, targetologists, brand managers, and designers graduate many times more specialists than universities alone could. Competition is growing, and ambitious and more technically advanced newcomers are hot on the heels of marketers.
Isolation and Lack of Proper Rest
Many specialists never left remote work, continuing to work from home. Even if work brings pleasure and a deep sense of self-realization, without a change of environment and live communication with colleagues, fatigue quickly accumulates.
In addition, we are used to spending vacations away from home and completely rebooting. Today, even those who can afford to take 2-3 weeks off from work do not go on vacation to the places they are used to. And most marketers have been caught up in the economic crisis and continue to work, spending dozens of hours a week in the same room.
Clients Are Stressed Too
Business continues to suffer from the pandemic, which directly affects the mood of executives. Advertising campaigns are canceled, contracts are terminated. The remaining clients react more sharply to problems and minor problems. The overall tone of communications increases, provoking the marketer’s anxiety even for minor reasons.
Moral Component of Work
A marketer is a person who often has to make deals with his conscience: for example, in order to make good money, promote alcohol, cigarettes, low-quality goods and services. But if this contradicts the specialist’s values, then he may be overwhelmed by a feeling of internal dissonance.
This is only a small part of the factors that can cause professional burnout syndrome. A person may be resistant to some of them, but especially sensitive to others. Therefore, there is no single recipe for combating negative conditions.
Recovery Methods
Let’s imagine that an online test shows a high probability of burnout, and the symptoms become difficult to ignore. If it’s not possible to go to Thailand for six months, then we begin to fight with more accessible methods.
Physical Work and Hobbies
Baking, painting, knitting, gardening, biking… Workaholic marketers will look in surprise at this list of mundane hobbies. However, physical labor has always distracted humanity from worries. Any unusual activity creates new movement patterns, activates unused areas of the brain and calms the nervous system. To get out of the state of burnout, bead embroidery is also a good place to start, if it gives you pleasure.
But the more actively a burnt-out person spends his free time, the better. Gradually, calmer activities should be supplemented with physical activity such as brisk walking, swimming or any other activity that will slightly increase your heart rate. If mental work begins to alternate not only with lying on the couch, but also with more active breaks, this will help restore internal balance.
Delegate Routine
It’s better to delegate everything that causes boredom. This applies to both work and everyday life. If your workload increases, it is better to hire an assistant who can do technical and monotonous work. And you will leave organizational issues behind.
If it is difficult to delegate work, you can at least free yourself from everyday problems. The value of meeting friends or doing a hobby will be higher than the cost of a couple of hours of work as a cleaner or nanny. Your head will stop getting clogged with small daily tasks. But you will have the opportunity to breathe out and devote time to what you really like.
Working With a Psychologist
The advice to consult a psychologist seems trivial, but this is one of the most effective ways to get out of burnout. The most difficult thing is to find a professional who is suitable both in methods and in character. Unfortunately, people endure until the last minute and delay making an appointment with a specialist, worsening their condition. While even a couple of consultations with a psychologist could help at the initial stage of burnout.
Define Values and Find Balance
Ideally, work should be profitable, enjoyable and socially rewarding, but this is very rare. To find meaning in what you do, you need to sort everything out.
To begin with, we choose businesses that bring profit and allow us to maintain our usual standard of living and comfort. For balance, we supplement the main activity with something that brings a feeling of self-satisfaction, gives joy and good emotions. And in the end, we try to remove from life everything that does not bring money, joy, or benefit.
If there is a lack of things that bring a sense of satisfaction or pride, you can start working on projects with a social component or with partners who protect the environment or fight poverty.
Unfortunately, if you try to realize your social mission in your main job, the likelihood of failure will be high. But working with a feeling of hatred for your work is not an option. If the issue is acute and a balance cannot be found, then it makes sense to move on to the next point.
Change of Course Or Profession
If your soul asks for change, then you can start by looking for new clients or markets. For example, if you previously successfully promoted a network of gas stations in your region, try to enter the national or even foreign markets. You can change the topic, try yourself in promoting an unusual product or service. And even if you want to radically change your profession, with online training it will only take a few months.
Take a Break
If possible, you can take a break for a month or more. It is important during this period not to come into any contact with the topic of marketing and everyday responsibilities. It’s worth switching completely: starting to study something, mastering a new sport, going hitchhiking around the country. Getting out of your usual work environment is likely to bring back your enthusiasm and strength.