Category Archives for Business Leadership

THE FOUR STAGES OF CHANGE

Are you experiencing change in your life right now?

You may or may not be aware it, but something feels a bit uncomfortable for you. I know this feeling well and I have helped many of my clients through the process of change with ease and grace, rather than pain and resistance.

Where are you? 

We are always in an evolving cycle of change and ultimately expanding as human beings.. Sometimes we welcome this change with open arms and other times we resist with all of our might. It can be helpful to know which stage you’re in, so you can better understand what is going on for you. When you have a better understanding, you can have more compassion for yourself and be better equip to work through this process of change, rather than against it.

STAGE ONE

The first stage of change is dissatisfaction or what I call “feeling the gap”. This is when there is a large gap between where you are and where you would like to be. You might not be completely clear where you want to be. You may just have the clarity that what you are experiencing now is not working for you.

This can be an uncomfortable place to be and oftentimes I have clients come to me and label this stage as “depression” or “anxiety”.  Try to frame the dissatisfaction as information signaling you to grow rather than labeling it as a permanent position - “I will always feel this way–my life never goes the way I want it to.”  How you frame it can change your experience of it.  If you frame it as a signal for growth you will feel empowered and if you focus on it from a state of helplessness you will feel despair.

STAGE TWO

The second stage of change is exploration. In this stage you feel the dissatisfaction, but you don’t quite know what would feel better to you. Or you have a sense of what would feel better, but you don’t know how to get there.

This is the stage where you explore options and “try them on” to see how it would feel or you explore options of how to get where you want to go. It’s important to take your time in this phase to truly explore. People oftentimes feel uncomfortable with the lack of certainty at this point and may try to bypass this by choosing an option to get out of this stage.

Reassure yourself that you will come to an option that feels right to you, just give it time. The other thing to watch in this stage is the opposite, which is exploring so much that you get confused and stuck in considering options. Sometimes people fear making a change and hang out in the exploration stage as a safety zone to not take any risks. Make sure you aren’t doing this either.

STAGE THREE

Stage three is what I call action or visualization. In this stage you have clarity about where you want to go and you develop a plan to get there. Again you may know where you want to go, but you’re unclear of a plan to get there and this is something that can to be finalized in this stage.  

You may have developed somewhat of a plan in the exploration stage and in this stage you will clarify this plan and begin to implement. In this stage it is important to get support in order for you to stay on track with your implementation. Without support the fears that surface may sidetrack you and stop you from moving forward.  

You can share with a close friend or partner and ask them to be an accountability buddy to you. The other part of this stage is to spend time visualizing the positive outcome of your desired change. See it working out in the easiest, magical and fun way. This vision can help keep you focused when your desired change is in process and not quite complete.  The phrase “keep your eye on the prize” is fitting here.

STAGE FOUR

The fourth stage is stepping into the new. Moving into your change can be a gradual process or it could come more quickly (like meeting your ideal mate within weeks of this process or your dream job lands in your lap overnight).  Either way there is an adjustment phase to the new change.

There can be feelings of loss from letting go of the old, even though you were dissatisfied, because it represented the familiar to you. With the new changes may come feelings of having a new identity or parts of you being expressed that have never been expressed before.

Typically people feel more aliveness and vitality in this stage. You can also feel a deep sense of satisfaction that you made a change that was in alignment with your true self and you feel on the right path with your life and doing what you came here to do.

What stage are you in?

How are you framing this stage?

Are you viewing it positively or are you stuck in resisting it?

PROTECTING YOURSELF AGAINST PAIN

If you find yourself stuck in resistance or let's call it fear and you are not able to move forward you might be protecting yourself from pain. When you were little, if you experienced pain and your primary care givers were too caught up in their own world to comfort you or they were the ones causing you pain, then you most likely developed methods to block the pain. 

To feel the pain and have no way to process it or to have someone comfort you is very overwhelming for a child. Kids will begin to block painful feelings very early on if they are in this kind of environment. The part of us that does this is an underdeveloped protective part of us that had to intervene and protect against pain.

We all have different methods of protecting against our pain. Such as, over thinking, overeating, overworking, being obsessed with being perfect, over-focusing on others, daydreaming, watching TV, or reading etc. The last two I mentioned, watching TV and reading can either be coming from an intention to block pain and avoid or they can be a healthy form of enjoyment. For example you can watch a movie to avoid some painful feelings you are having and you want to escape or you want to have some enjoyment and fun by watching the movie, same activity but different intentions.

As an adult, blocking our pain ends up getting in our way and keeps us from moving forward. The methods we use to block pain can also get in the way of us feeling deeply connected to ourselves and our capacity to connect with others.  Our feelings are part of us and if we are blocking them, we’re missing a deep connection with ourselves that allows us to feel happy and content in our lives.

The truth is that as an adult, you now have the capacity to process your feelings, comfort yourself or get support and guidance from those around you. You aren’t alone with your pain anymore. The protected parts of you need to be reassured of this, because these parts of you are locked in the past and feel like what was happening back then is the current environment. As a result, they are tirelessly blocking your pain because they feel they need to for your own survival!  

It can take time for these blocking mechanisms to relax and acclimate to what is truly happening. These protective parts believe that if you feel pain, then it will be overwhelming and that you might even die. Reassure your wise and resourced adult self that you can handle the pain now and you can share with others how you are feeling. You are now fully capable of feeling and processing your pain, both from the past and pain from the present.

You help you through this process you can journal your feelings or seek the support of a licensed therapist ​or transformation coach​ to help you through your process.

If you'd like to schedule a time to speak with Teena you can do so HERE

IMPROVE YOUR LIFE AND WORK SATISFACTION

I teach healthcare professionals simple ways to keep the normal stresses of being in the helping profession - from crossing the line into threatening their career, their marriage and even their life.

It’s tempting to blame others for all of our worries. The causes of burnout are complex for all of us and we each have a pattern of stresses that are as unique as our fingerprints. There are however burnout stressors that we all have in common. It’s important that you look at the stress patterns holistically and root out all causes of stress at work and at home.

The first one is our human blind spots, we don’t learn to take care of ourselves in school. What we learn to do is survive by getting passing grades, making friends, staying out of trouble and graduating to the next grade, rank or level of approval. Self-care principles such as nutrition, rest, exercise and relationship skills fall by the wayside in pursuit of reaching out education and or career goals -  even if we are in the health and wellness industry. We don’t learn to care for our physical and energetic needs until after we experience an episode of burnout.  

I teach healthcare professionals simple ways to keep the normal stresses of being in the helping profession - from crossing the line into threatening their career, their marriage and even their life. 

Let’s face it, life itself is stressful and if our stress is not managed properly can lead to burnout. As human beings we only have so much time and energy to give. There is a difference between stress and burnout. Stress is when you are drained, but you are still able to recover. Burnout begins when you are drained and NOT able to recover between your shifts or work life regime. 

The original burnout researcher, Herbert Freudenberger, describes this relentless downward spiral as, “...an erosion of the soul caused by a deterioration of one’s values, dignity, spirit and will.”

Burnout is the development of a negative balance in your energy bank accounts. It’s a syndrome that has physical, psychological and spiritual components. When you cross the line from the “normal” stresses of being in the helping profession into job burnout you will begin to notice one or more of the following symptoms.

These three main symptoms of job burnout are measured by a standardized research survey tool called the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). They are:

1. Exhaustion -physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion.
2. Depersonalization - usually shows up as Compassion Fatigue, sarcasm, cynicism and blaming your patients or consumers.
3. Lack of Efficacy - presenting as thoughts of “what’s the use”, doubting that your work makes any difference and/or questioning the quality of your work. 

These scales on the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) each correspond to a negative balance in your Energetic Bank Account and you have three.

Exhaustion is your Professional Bank Account; Sarcasm, Cynicism, Blaming is your Emotional Bank Account; and “What’s the use?” is your Spiritual Bank Account meaning your deeper connection with meaning and purpose in your profession.

Your profession requires you to expend physical, emotional and spiritual energy as you work with your patients/clients/consumers. Once you become aware of the three energetic accounts, your job becomes very clear. You need to keep all three accounts in a positive balance to do your job well, with high work life satisfaction. 

I invite you to check the balance in each of your three accounts, by asking yourself the following questions:

Your Physical Account

• How is your physical energy? Are you in a positive balance? 

Your Emotional Account

• How are you feeling emotionally? Are you getting your needs met with regards to your most important relationships?

Your Spiritual Account

• How connected are you to feeling like your work makes a difference and is a meaningful path for you?

The syndrome of burnout is a dilemma that needs a strategy in order to reach, as well as maintain a healthy energy balance in our work life. There are two methods of maintaining the balance we all seek:

• Lower the stress and energy drain
• Increase your ability to recharge

Although it may sound simple, the truth is that preventing and treating job burnout involves a series of simple steps and none of them are easy for a busy professional because they sit in a hug blind spot created by our higher education.

• You were never taught how to lower your stress levels or create work life balance.
• There can be shame and guilt around getting your own needs met.
• You can fall into denial of your need for help, so you don’t ask for support no matter how burned out you might feel, because this would be a sign of weakness. 

There is not a quick fix to job burnout. It’s a series of little steps, done consistently overtime, that collectively produce significant changes in your life. It’s a process that takes some time and will absolutely require you to do things differently. If you follow these steps and apply these strategies you will get back to positive balances without having to quit your current position or change careers.

Here’s how you can get started:

STEP 1: Decrease the Drain to Lower Your Stress 

​Think back over the past month or so and ask yourself the following questions:

• How draining is your day at work? 
• What are the specific situations, people, activities and things that drain you most?
• How can you set yourself up to do LESS of the things that drain you most?
• What are the things you find the most rewarding and enjoyable at work?
• How can you set yourself up to do MORE of those things?

Decreasing the drain begins when you take a good honest look at what you don’t like about work and begin to accept it for what it is. This will get you into a healthier mindset where you stop blaming, complaining, and making excuses so that you can take action towards making some changes that will eliminate some of your stress.

STEP 2: Increase your Deposits to Increase Your Energy

What are your favorite recharging activities? Let’s look at the three bank accounts, physical, emotional and spiritual. 

Physical

• What things do you do outside of work that you find the most restful and rejuvenating? 
• When can you do more of these things?
• How can you take better care of your body through exercise and eating more healthfully?
• Which of these things could you begin to incorporate into your work day? 

Emotional

• What relationships in your life give you the most joy and satisfaction?
• When was the last time you spent quality time nurturing these relationships?
• What makes you feel happy, joyful or gives you pleasure in life?

Spiritual

• What are the things in your life and at work that are most meaningful to you?
• What is your, “why”? Why did you choose the profession that you are in?

Your goal is to develop new habits that maintain a positive balance in all three of your accounts. This doesn’t happen naturally, it requires self-awareness to become more conscious of how you are using your power and spending your time and energy.

STEP 3: Get Started and Get Support 

As you answer the questions above, pick one area and get started. Notice the difference this change makes in how you feel at then end of your first day of trying it out. If you would like additional support in your healing process towards achieving a healthy balance of energy that leads to less stress overall in your personal and professional life, then I encourage you to schedule some time to talk with me.

I will give you 30-minutes of my time for a consultation. No cost, no obligation, and completely confidential. Here’s a the link to my online calendar >>> SCHEDULE HERE 

Teena Evert, MA, LMFT, LAC, PC is the Founder & CEO of Claim The Lead. Teena is a Professional Transformational Coach and Licensed Therapist, Speaker and Podcast Host. She specializes in helping healthcare professionals and organizations prevent and recover from job burnout.

GET ON THE RIGHT PATH TOWARDS RESILIENCE

We live in a time-starved world where many healthcare professionals are stuck in a state of fatigue and frustration as they try to manage their time and energy at work - and burnout has become the norm. The cycle of burnout is a syndrome that has physical, psychological and spiritual components. It shows up as chronic physical exhaustion, cynicism, self-doubt, professional inefficacy and uncertainty about one’s purpose and direction in life.   

Time is a resource that we all have a relationship with and as human beings we only have so much time and energy to give. When we feel like we’re always running up against the clock, with little to no energy to spare, we run the risk of chronic tension, anxiety, depression, and a decrease in the quality of our relationships.

As a result, we can feel overwhelmed and powerless. We lose touch with our aspirations for being a helping professional and we work on overdrive, pushing ourselves to our limits to stay on top of what already feels impossible. The uncertainty of how much longer we can sustain this way of being and working diminishes any sense of hope for change.

GRIT AND RESILIENCE

Before I got into the helping profession, I worked as Fisheries Biologist in Alaska. For 10 years, I lived remote with very little access to technology. The demands of my job were dictated more by the seasons and weather patterns than anything else. I learned important life skills such as grit and resilience and a connection to something much greater than myself that I can’t even explain. This become my inner power source, a true source of strength and inspiration that fueled my career aspirations at the time and helped me manage the physical demands of my job and psychological impact of living remote. 

When I left Alaska and returned to the lower 48 to pursue a career change in healthcare, I had to go through a reintegration process. This process required me to learn how to manage my time and energy in a world where everything seemed to be moving so fast. I no longer felt like I had an an abundance of time and I was being pulled in several directions at once. As result of the increased work demands, I was forced to learn new skills and strategies to survive, so that I didn’t drain my main power source.

Although I believed that every new step was a challenge and an opportunity to be empowered, I lost touch with my aspirations. As result, my main power source got drained and my grit and resilience weren’t enough to keep me from getting caught in the cycle of burnout.

YOUR INTERNAL POWER SOURCE

I’ve been there many times and didn’t even know it, because I thought it was just that I wasn’t strong enough or smart enough or competitive enough to make it work. I thought that simply changing the environment that exposed me to situations where burnout was caused would be enough for me to recover, but this wasn’t enough. I knew I had to find a way to plug back into my internal power source, in order to restore the energy that I’d lost. 

3 STEPS TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF BURNOUT

​Here are the 3 things that I did to begin to break free from the cycle of burnout.

1. The first thing I did was increase my self-awareness so that I could be more conscious of how I was using my power and spending my time and energy. Our self-awareness is the first step towards changing anything.
2. The second thing I did was learn to focus on the right things. Fortunately, I  had a mentor who taught me to focus my attention on only two things in life to be successful. First, focus your attention on what you are really good at and passionate about that adds massive value to others and a generous income for you. Second, when you’re not doing that to completely unplug, relax and rejuvenate so that you can get your energy back. 
3. The third thing I did was learn to eliminate the things in my life that robbed my energy. It can be really powerful to identify the things in your life that are draining your energy. It could be your environment, a relationship or something you feel ashamed of or guilty about. Whatever it is, seek professional help to create a plan to eliminate these things so you can plug back into your power source and fully recharge. 

GET SUPPORT

Breaking out of the cycle of burnout and getting onto the right path towards resilience is essential for healthcare professionals who are stuck in fatigue and frustration from trying to manage the demands of their job. If you are a healthcare professional experiencing signs of burnout, I want to encourage you to get support. 

Get support for JOB BURNOUT

HEALING

Healing begins when we can reclaim our power, own our time and tap back into our greatest aspirations. Then we can do the work we’re meant to do, feeling fully powered up with an improved sense of wellbeing and overall greater satisfaction in our work life.

Teena Evert, Founder & CEO of Claim The Lead she is a Professional Transformational Coach and Licensed Therapist, Speaker and Podcast Host. She specializes in helping healthcare professionals and organizations prevent and recover from job burnout. https://teenaevert.com/

You might also want to read, HOW TO RECOVER FROM THE SYMPTOMS OF BURNOUT

HOW BURNOUT DIFFERS FROM STRESS

If you’re feeling exhausted and have little motivation to get through the day, you might be experiencing some burnout. Burnout is different from stress in that stress happens to all of us. Burnout on the other hand, comes when chronic stress that creates physical and emotional exhaustion.

Are You Experiencing Burnout? Take this quick self assessment tool to check yourself for burnout. It helps you look at the way you feel about your experiences at work, life and relationships, so that you can get a feel for whether you are at risk for burnout. 

The good news is that you can recover from burnout and I’d like to start to show you how. Today, you are going to learn the signs and symptoms of burnout, how it progresses and how to recover from it.

By increasing your awareness around burnout, you can increase your ability to prevent it. Burnout does not happen overnight. Burnout happens when we miss the warning signs along the way. One day we stop functioning like we used to, even if we work harder and try harder to maintain our productivity.

Check in with yourself and reflect on where the level of your function is currently. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate yourself. 1 - extremely poor; 5 - average; and 10 -  exceptional.

Notice how your body feels and how positive or negative your thinking is and what emotions come up for you. Simply having an awareness around this is the first step in recognizing the warning signs of burnout.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL SIGNS OF BURNOUT

To help you understand what is happening within you when you’re experiencing burnout, I want to share some common experiences that you might have with burnout.

Difficulty concentrating on what you’re doing no matter what the task is. It could be constantly procrastinating because you can’t muster up the energy. It could be making careless mistakes.

Even if you aware that you are experiencing burnout, you may not know the common emotions that go with it.

Feeling resentful, annoyed, overwhelmed, powerless. It could be noticing it’s difficult to feel happy and laugh or feeling indifferent about things you should care about.

We live in very stressful times and you are not the only one who’s experiencing these things. Know that being aware of the mental and emotional signs of burnout can help you take steps towards recovering from it.

PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL SIGNS OF BURNOUT

Whether you’re aware that you are experiencing burnout or not quite there yet, it can be useful to recognize some important signs.

Insomnia can be one of the early warning signs and as a result we might feel tired all the time. Other physical signs include persistent headaches, intestinal issues and even clumsiness. Physical signs can warn us of many things therefore, it’s important to use all of your resources, such as going to get a check up with your doctor.

Burnout can lead to feeling socially isolated and alone as well. We can feel detached from our loved ones, especially if we miss important events due to work or health and sometimes when we are with other people we’re not truly present. Remember, that because life can be stressful you’re not the only one experiencing these things.

STOP OR SLOW DOWN

When we start something new, we can be so excited that we give it our all. We are so enthusiastic about what we’re working on that we don’t mind the stress that comes with it. In an effort to maintain a high level of productivity we don’t notice the toll it takes on our mind, body, emotions and relationships, to maintain this high level of productivity. This is how it becomes possible to be close to running on empty and not even realizing it until it’s too late.

One of the best ways to recover from burnout is to stop or at least slow down and get the mental, physical and emotional rest that you need. We aren’t machines, we are human beings and we all need that. You may have already thought about stopping or slowing down and talked yourself out of it. We can always come up with reasons why we can’t slow down or stop.

Recognize that you are taking an important step right now to resolve burnout by taking time to learn about the signs and symptoms so that you can recover. When you help yourself shift away from a burnout state and into a calm state, you’re naturally in a more empowered and energized state of being.  

CREATING A SENSE OF BALANCE

It’s important to understand that work-life balance doesn’t mean that equal time is spent in working and playing. It means that the quality of our play, rest and time for our self, balances out the demands of work.

What is something that you love to do so much that you don’t even notice time passing as you do it? These are activities that we engage in wholeheartedly that time flies and it can help balance out our lives. It puts us into a physical, mental and emotional state that is the opposite of burnout.

As the demands of life shift, the quality of recovery must shift as well. The closer we are to burnout the more we need to engage in these types of activities that support us in slowing down and moving into a state of deep relaxation.

HOW CONTROL PLAYS A ROLE IN PREVENTING BURNOUT

We can easily become overwhelmed by the responsibilities that we have taken on or those that have been put upon us. Regardless of whether or not we have chosen the situation, somethings are simply within our control and somethings are outside of our control. The problem is that the more overwhelmed we feel the less control we think we have. So being able to distinguish between what we can control and what we can’t control becomes really vital to recovering from burnout.

Let go of what is outside of your control. There is no point in spending the time and energy or the focus on trying to control something that we can’t. It can be hard to accept that we simply can’t control something, but we can begin working towards this in order to take our energy back.

GET THE SUPPORT YOU NEED

Having support can make a BIG difference in one’s life. Support can come in many different ways. Some people are best at providing emotional support and are willing to listen and be compassionate. Others are not as good of listeners, but might be better at providing practical support, such as loaning you money, giving you a ride or helping you to fix something. While others can be a source of informational support. These are people you can count on to have specific knowledge on specific topics.

Who are the people in your life that you can count on? Knowing who you can go to for the type of support that you need is a sensible tool for preventing burnout. Visualize your ideal source of support. This will help you recognize opportunities to receive support.

Even if you are someone who doesn’t like to ask for help or get help, it will help you recover from burnout by realizing and visualizing the kind of support that you do need.

ENGAGE IN SELF-CARE

Self-care is an important thing that can quickly disappear from our lives and contribute to burnout. We can get so busy that don’t exercise, we start eating those sweet and salty comfort foods instead of healthier foods, we lose sleep and the list can go on and on.

Think back to a time when you were really taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. What were the things that you did? Perhaps you were more physically active or maybe you liked to read more and spend quality time with friends and family. How would you feel if you could bring back some of those activities?

Unfortunately, when we are feeling highly stressed or in a state of burnout those are the types of activities we often don’t want to do even though they would help us the most. What would it feel like to do at least one thing a day for yourself?

Make a list of the ways you have engaged in self-care throughout your life and add any additional ways you can take care of yourself now. What are the things that you really need right now and simply make a plan to do at least one of these things a day.

Anyone can be susceptible to burnout. It’s not an indication of weakness or something about you. We all have our limitations. It’s when we disregard these limitations that we set ourselves up for experiencing burnout.

Now you know how burnout can happen and by putting together what you have learned so far you also know how to prevent it. Engaging in self care, getting the the support you need, letting go of what you can’t control. All these things can help you stay energized and productive. Know that these things can take time so be patient with yourself through the process.

Take a moment to think about the excitement that you had when you first took on your new job, new role, project, responsibility or even a new romantic relationship. Remember what your hopes and your expectations were and what motivated you to give it your all?

In addition to connecting to this purpose and feeling everyday, remember that a good plan for preventing burnout includes at least one self-care activity, knowing who you can go to for support when you need it and just that practice of letting go of the things we can’t control.  

10 TOOLS TO STAY ENERGIZED AND AVOID BURNOUT

1. Deep relaxation can help you recover from burnout. I love this app Insight Timer

2. Know what your go to resources or power sources are that give you strength and nourishment What Are Your Resources For Support and Stabilization?

3. Create a self-care plan and develop habits for wellbeing Self-Care Checklist

4. Ten Tips To Manifest Your Unlimited Potential Download it here

5. Gain Back Control and Get Your Energy Back  Download it here

6. Join our Private Face Book Community Own Your Power Sisterhood

7. Get coached by Teena Evert MA, LMFT, LAC, PC - Schedule a Free Consultation

8. Take the Self Assessment Tool to check if you are experiencing burnout 

9. Get support for JOB BURNOUT

10. Read BREAK THE CYCLE OF BURNOUT here

Teena Evert, Founder & CEO of Claim The Lead a personal leadership development company. Teena is a Professional Transformational Coach and Licensed Therapist, Speaker and Podcast Host. She specializes in helping healthcare professionals and organizations prevent and recover from job burnout. https://teenaevert.com