If you push and push without taking a break, eventually your body quits… and that is one of the biggest signals you need a change.
High achievers often struggle to say no, and as a result will push themselves as hard as possible to get a result. In some cases that may mean working late nights, foregoing meals, and generally putting work first in the list of priorities that must be accomplished. Combine this with the adrenaline that comes from each buzz of the iPhone and the increased heart rate that comes from one more energy drink and sooner or later your body is going to fail you.
When your body quits…
The problem is so bad that most people can point to at least one person who they know directly or indirectly who has worked so hard they gave themselves a heart attack. The Japanese even use the term karoshi for working oneself to death.
Personally, I once worked with a client who had been working so hard that he was hospitalized after having a heart attack… or so he thought. In fact, after a ride to the hospital in an ambulance and a thorough workup by the emergency room doctor they found that he had not had a heart attack. –But his body had simply had enough and shut down. He hired me a few days later and we worked together to reframe his corporate role in a way that would position him for success.
This may be an extreme example, but most of us have had the experience of pushing ourselves hard towards achieving a deadline, only to get sick a day or two later as the stress and adrenaline wears off.
Bye-bye vacation…
In short, we tend to assume that our capacity for work will simply increase as the demands on us increase. Yet if we look around we know that obviously this is not the case. People were meant to pulse with energy: to work for a period of time and then take time off to recover and begin work again. In other words, we perform at our best when we take vacations and other time off to unplug after moving mountains.
Sadly, vacations are going away in the United States. The clever way that most companies are doing this is by offering “unlimited” vacation to their more senior professionals. The idea is that you can simply take as much time as you want off as long as you are delivering results. In fact, what that means in practice is that you can work remotely from the location of your choice several times a year. This is the type of policy that leads to you taking conference calls while on the beach in Hawaii with your family (I’ve done it and it is miserable).
Signs…
Regardless of the direction the workplace is going, the key thing here is to focus on what your body is telling you regarding the way you are working. If you aren’t sleeping enough, aren’t eating the right foods, and are generally always on, you will start to feel it. It may show up as:
- Getting sick more often or taking longer to recover from colds, etc
- Having trouble falling asleep or getting enough sleep
- Experiencing high levels of stress in the morning or evening
- Needing caffeine to get going in the morning and alcohol to bring you back down in the evening
Aside from these examples, which are relatively common, I think it is also worth pointing out that for now, in the workplace, getting time off for a medical issue is still accepted. Unfortunately taking a few days off because you are physically and mentally exhausted from the stress you are under is seen as admitting defeat (or being unreliable) in most workplaces. It seems like only when your body quits in a more dramatic fashion do you “earn” a break. The lesson is clear: if you need a break, you need to take it.
If you’re thinking this…
I point this out because I recall one of the earliest signs I got that I needed to move on from a job early in my career. I had been working 70-90 hour weeks for several weeks in a row and I was exhausted. As I was walking to my office in Boston, I had to cross Boyleston Street, an extremely busy thoroughfare. I recall one morning thinking to myself, “you know, if I got hit by one of these cars… not real badly, but enough to break a bone or something, I would probably get a few days off from work and that would be fantastic.”
Now that is one messed up thought! However, I shared that thought with a few people and I wasn’t alone in thinking it. I never did jump in front of a car though… instead I left and joined another firm a few months later.
The point is this: your body will give you signals that your current situation is not working for you. At that moment you have to choose between either developing strategies to deal with it (which I will talk about later) or moving on and identifying another opportunity.
The key is ensuring that you don’t end up in the same place after your move.
Looking for career coaching / executive coaching in San Diego or nationally? Let me know how I can help.