SIGNS OF ACUTE STRESS AND BURNOUT:
1) Resistance to going to work, high absenteeism. 2) Difficulty shaking
coughs and colds and other somatic symptoms. 3) Difficulty sleeping and
feelings of exhaustion and fatigue throughout the day. 4) Frequent
clock-watching, boredom, and restless. 5) Excessive anxiety about new
assignments. Filling time with less important tasks. Resistance to input
and stubborn opposition to new plans or concepts. 6) Inability to
concentrate or listen to what someone else is saying. 7) Intolerant of
others’ frustrations and inability to interpret their anger. 8) Quick temper
and feeling either paranoid or omnipotent.
WHO TO BLAME FOR STRESS BURNOUT?:
Many people misplace the blame, and call time the enemy. That is like a peace activist
saying that plutonium is the enemy, not the uses to which it is put. Time is simply
the resource we always seem to be "using up" too soon. Since this resource is both
endless and insufficient, it’s clear that the answer to some of that pressure is time
management - learning how to use the time you have available to better effect.
STRESS & TIME MANAGEMENT:
Stress is either the source or the catalyst for many emotional and physical disorders,
all of which can lead to absenteeism on the job. It is a major factor in the whopping
$125 billion America spends on health care for employees - a figure that will rise 15
percent this year. According to the American Medical Association, it is estimated that
93 to 96 percent of all psychological and physiological diseases and disorders are stress
related. The situation is complicated further by the fact that not all stress is harmful.
Complete elimination of stress eliminates the drive to succeed. The ideal situation is to
maintain the creative stress - realistic deadlines, the chance for advancement and recognition,
the sense of challenge - and eliminate the stress born out of frustration; the undue stress
that saps energy.
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