What causes burnout in healthcare? Many times we are quick to jump to the external circumstances that lead to our burnout.
It’s my boss who expects so much out of me.
It’s the ridiculous hours I have to work.
It’s this graduate school program that is impossibly difficult. I have to study nonstop just to keep up.
And yes, our external circumstances can definitely contribute to feelings of burnout. Especially in the healthcare system there are so many factors that make it harder to care for patients.
But have you ever stopped to consider that there many be individual factors contributing to your burnout.
And this isn’t to blame you and say that it’s your fault that you are feeling burnt out. This is actually an empowering truth because it means you have the ability to start making changes to recover from burnout.
Our beliefs influence our behavior
One concept I’ve been learning about ever since I started studying human psychology and personal growth, is that our thoughts and beliefs have a big influence on our behavior.
For example, if I believe that the world is a dangerous place, I may stay at home as much as possible, limiting my exposure to these potential dangers. I probably wouldn’t travel very often and would maybe carry pepper spray with me whenever I left the house.
However, if I believe that the world is a magical and safe place, I would probably spend more time outside exploring. I would travel often to see as much of the world as possible and I would feel perfectly at ease interacting with strangers.
These are examples of how what we believe can drastically influence our actions and behaviors.
So when it comes to burnout, it is often our very own behavior which can lead to burnout. And that behavior is influenced by some core beliefs.
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What causes burnout in healthcare? This belief.
Once you realize our beliefs influence our behavior we can continue to answer the question of what causes burnout in healthcare. One of the core beliefs that leads to burnout is “I’m not enough”.
We believe that we are not enough as is and we have to prove ourselves; prove our worth. We have this twisted notion (thank you capitalism) that our worth comes from how hard we work and how much we achieve.
Over time this leads to burnout.
When we believe that we have to do things to prove our worth, we are in a constant state of hustle.
Our days become all about how productive we can be and how much we can accomplish. We are always striving for the next degree, the next promotion, because we think that once we achieve these external things, we will finally feel a sense of worthiness on the inside. We think all of these things will make us feel like we are “enough”.
We don’t do things like rest, have fun, spend time with friends and family, because these are not productive and seem like a waste of time. Or maybe we think of rest as something that has to be earned.
“I can rest once I’ve finished this project or taken this test”.
“I can rest once I get that promotion”.
We think we have to be deserving of rest by accomplishing certain things, otherwise we are just being lazy.
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I used to feel “not enough” all the time
This feeling of not being enough, is something I was completely guilty of when I was working in medicine.
This belief, or really this fear that I wasn’t enough, caused me to continually ask myself: “what can I do to prove that I’m good enough?” “How can I show people that I am, in fact, good enough?”
One solution I came up with is that I can work really hard. I can achieve my way into success and worthiness. If I study like crazy and make top grades on my exams, other people will see how smart I am which will show that I am worthy.
Because I had this driving belief that I needed to prove myself, and thus prove my worth, I didn’t want to rest. I didn’t want to take time off from studying to go to yoga or take a weekend off from work to spend time with friends. That wasn’t productive and therefore was a waste of time.
But this is not a sustainable way to live and over time it led me to a state of complete exhaustion and burnout.
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What causes burnout in healthcare? Let’s check our behaviors.
A huge first step to recovering from burnout is to simply notice and connect the dots between your beliefs, your behaviors and your symptoms of burnout.
Many of us are not aware of our underlying beliefs, but most of us are aware of our behaviors. So let’s start there.
First ask yourself, what behaviors do I do that may be contributing to my current state of burnout?
- Do I spend every waking hour working?
- Do I not get enough sleep? (Enough is 7-8 hours for most adults)
- Do I sacrifice time with loved ones because it’s not productive?
- Do I delay gratification until I feel like I have really earned it or achieved something big?
- Do I not schedule in time for rest and fun? (We need 3hrs/ day of downtime)
- Do I always keep my phone on in case I get notifications or emails from work?
- Do I work through lunch?
- Do I not take any breaks?
What beliefs are leading to your burnout?
Once you have identified some of the main things you are doing to contribute to your burnout, it is time to connect the dots between your behaviors and your beliefs.
Choose one behavior to start with and ask yourself: what would I need to believe in order to do something like this?
For example, what would you need to believe in order to always work through lunch?
Maybe you believe that you don’t deserve to stop and take a break? That taking a break is a waste of good working hours? That you have too much to do to pause for food?
And then go deeper by asking “why do I believe that?”
I don’t deserve to stop and take a break.
Why do I believe that?
Because I feel like I need to do #allthethings.
Why do I believe that?
Because I need to show my boss that I can handle it. I need to prove myself.
And that is usually at the root of all of it. The beliefs that lead to burnout come from a desperate need to prove ourselves. To prove our worth. To prove that we are good enough.
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Acknowledging the underlying beliefs and behaviors that lead to burnout is a huge first step in correcting and overcoming them. From there, the work becomes rewiring your beliefs and changing your behavior accordingly.
Because think about it, how could your behavior change if you believed that you were already worthy? What would you do differently if your worth didn’t come from how much you achieved or accomplished each day? How could you show up in your work and your life if you didn’t have anything to prove?
