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Workaholism and Burnout

In western culture it is easy to get caught up in the fast paced hype of current trends. It seems that there is not enough time to do that which we set out to do. Our tasks lists are longer than our meals with our families. Sitting down to enjoy our families or nurture ourselves is becoming a thing of the past. Unless we stop, look, and listen to how we are really doing or feeling deep inside. I am a single mother of a teenager and I know from first hand how to be an over responsible workaholic. Being a single mom puts me in a position of being the super woman. I have to cook, clean, organize, pay bills, go to work, take care of my daughter, be the absent father, among other things I am suppose to be or do because of my position of being a single parent. I dove into my career as an entrepreneur twelve years ago. I am in the service oriented business. My passion was to meet the needs of my clients and for twelve years I did exactly that. What I did not plan on was over working led me to burn out. I was forced to work so that I can provide and live a good life for my daughter. I thought that money was easier if I worked hard and was never home. I even worked two other jobs to make ends meet. What I found out is that my body can only do that for so long and then I got some sort of illness. This is when depression set in for me and it seems to be the highest emotional illness among single parents. I wanted to be the tough mom and the one who could "do it all" and prove to the world that I can do anything! Well, that was all wrong. The workaholic and burnout came together and I crashed. I hated my every day life, and I hated going to work, and I hated what I use to love to do. Personally and professionally I thought I had it made. Wrong again. My focus was on meeting the needs of my clients and I neglected myself and everyone else around me, including my daughter. She did not deserve that but I felt I had no choice in the matter. we all have choices and I finally took a long look at what I had been doing with my life and how it affected the lives of those around me. Yes, I would have done things differently, but I guess it was my time to learn that over working and burnout became a blessing. Why was it a sign of a blessing? Well, once I realized that I was an over doer, I took that break I needed and realized I am a better person for having gone through all what I did. I want to help others who work too much and I want them to get the help they need before they feel guilty or regret some of the things I did. My motto: "Live with No Regrets". My advice to avoid burnout is to read articles now before it happens. Look for the signs written. If you have lost your lust for life and you are negative every day, get some help. Depression either has set in or you need to get help for your depressed thoughts. When you are depressed it affects others even if you do not think it does. My only wish is that whether you are a single parent or not, over working and burnout usually go hand in hand please do not wait until its too late to get the help you need. Stop, look, and listen to the real you on the inside. Above all remember there is a higher power that cares enough about you that, "this too shall pass."


Impactful Interviewing - Don't Make Assumptions

This is a good piece of advice to follow in life, but it also has a special place in an interview setting. You want to be viewed as someone who understands what is necessary and can deliver the expected results - more than just in the interview room - and making assumptions will not guarantee you will be viewed like this.


Displaced Middle Mangers Job Search Suggestions

 

The unemployment rate for large company middle managers is increasing but worse the term of their job search is also increasing with many extending to over a year.

 

The news isnð€™t getting better, a survey in June by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, reports that 52% of companies will employ fewer people than they did before the recession began. One third of the 179 U.S.-based companies polled indicated they still anticipate further layoffs, although this is down from 46% two months ago. "While many companies are planning to reinstate or reverse some of the cost-cutting actions made to HR programs over the past 10 months, most do not believe that things will go back to "business as usual,"" the survey states

 

The numbers aren"t encouraging. According to the U.S. Department of Labor"s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 14.7 million people were unemployed (9.5%) as of June 2009 compared with 14.5 million in May (9.4%) and 8.7 million (5.6%) one year ago. The number of long-term unemployed -- people without work for 27 weeks or more -- increased from 1,621,000 in June 2008 to 4,381,000 in June 2009. Meanwhile, approximately 6.5 million jobs have been lost since the recession started 19 months ago. And the "underemployment" rate -- which includes those too discouraged to look for work as well as those working part-time because they can"t find a fulltime job -- increased to a staggering 16.5% in June compared to 10.1% a year earlier

 

A generation ago, says Wharton management professor Peter Capelli director of Wharton"s Center for Human Resources, "layoffs at this level were temporary. Not now." Even if an equivalent job were open at another company, that company will most likely not fill the position or will hire from within. In addition, Cappelli notes, in the 1990s, the economy experienced a "big wave of startups that would take on corporate people who had lost their jobs or bailed out of them. These days, we don"t see those smaller companies on the horizon."

 

Many displaced managers and executives are turning to starting their own businesses, some for the right reasons and some out of desperation.

 

Going our out on their own for whatever reason can be challenging for many of them. Middle management experience at a large company does not necessarily transfer to being a top executive at a small of startup firm. I remember clearly when I made the move from a Fortune 500 executive position to founding a startup. My boss trying to convince me how foolish and risky it was told me, I ð€Çdidnð€™t even have   P &L experienceð€Ý.  I remember thinking what a desperate comment that was, I had a huge organization and a budget of over $40MM dollars, what was he saying?

 

Years later I remembered that comment and how far I had come. I was lucky my startup was successful and grew to over $40MM in sales, but it was a steep climb. I really had no idea how much I had to learn in the ð€Çreal worldð€Ý. I had no experience with cash management, strategy, hands on marketing and sales, raising capital, handling lenders and investors, the list go on and on. All of this was done for me at some level of corporate organization.

 

Later on as I became a business coach I learned that many small company owners and top managers were doing what I did, learning the hard way, even many that had been in business for years.

 

The message to middle managers going through the job search or thinking of going out on their own is put aside the egotism everyone seems to leave a large company with and learn what smaller company needs are. It truly is a different and hands on world.  Small and mid-sized companies are sorely on need of strong leadership, but youð€™ll have to be able to prove youð€™re the real deal. The issues are so common across markets and industries I wrote a book on them, positioning it to be a leadership manual for success. How do I know what those needs are? I learned them the same way I learned all the skills I needed to run a $40MM company, I learned them the hard way over a twenty plus year period or running my own businesses and coaching others.

 

The more knowledgeable you are about the situation of small and mid-sized business when you walk in the door, the better chance you have of walking out with an opportunity.

 

 

 






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