What is the funnel of exhaustion and how to get out of it

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you don't have enough strength for even the simplest things, it's time to deal with your life.

How time management gets you into a trap

To keep up with everything, we plan things, complete the assigned tasks and try to move towards the goal. So it is advised to do different geniuses of efficiency. For example, business expert, leadership consultant Stephen Covey wrote the book "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and developed his own time management system. According to her, you need to constantly improve yourself and do what brings you closer to what you want.

It is better to put all non-urgent and unimportant tasks under the knife, because it is a pointless waste of time.

Many people follow such advice and plunge headlong into work, and refuse the rest. It seems that this is adult life: you can't just quit, get a divorce and hide from problems. But this approach is dangerous: it sucks into the funnel of exhaustion and causes a feeling of hopelessness.

What is the funnel of exhaustion and how does one get into it?

Professor Marie Osberg of Karolinska University has been studying Marie Asberg, MD PhD, Senior Professor, burnout at work for over 15 years. She found that the constant stress and strain of job duties is like a funnel that drains energy, leaving fatigue and dissatisfaction.

More often than not, the most conscientious and responsible employees get into the funnel of exhaustion, whose self-esteem depends on the results of their work. This is how it goes.

Step 1. A full life

The neck of the funnel is a fulfilling life, when there is time for all things and hobbies. A person enjoys going to work and coping with family responsibilities, meeting friends and finding time for favorite activities. A hobby is the main thing that helps to relax and makes life fulfilling. But there is one problem: such activities seem useless to us.

Step 2. Getting into the funnel

At some point, the responsibilities become more: we are entrusted with new tasks, a project or a quarterly report is on fire. To have time to pass it on time, you need to give up something. The first thing that comes to mind is to cross out non-urgent and unimportant matters, as time management experts advise.

So we skip workout, put aside books and movies, and stop seeing friends. In essence, we give up hobbies - that which energizes and brings pleasure. The diameter of the funnel narrows, as does the fullness of life.

Step 3. Approaching the neck of the funnel

If the influx of business was temporary, life will return to normal. But more often the problems do not diminish, so we give up rest and cut back on sleep. The funnel narrows even further, and almost everything that fits in it is associated with stress.

The person develops a hatred of work and constant anxiety. It becomes difficult for him to carry out work duties, and at the end of the day he feels squeezed out like a lemon.

There are other symptoms: decreased creativity, reduced social circle, difficulty in performing routine tasks (paying bills, making an appointment with a doctor), refusal to be physically active.

Step 4. Exhaustion

In the end, a person finds himself at the base of the funnel of exhaustion - this is an extreme stage that is close to depression. In 2004, wasting syndrome was recognized as a disease and added to the Swedish version of the International Classification of Diseases. Possible Biomarkers of Chronic Stress Induced Exhaustion - A Longitudinal Study is defined as follows:

• Mental energy is markedly reduced. Feels a lack of initiative, lack of stamina, or an increase in the time it takes to recover from mental exertion.
• Symptoms develop due to stress for six months or more. They interfere with work and social life and are not associated with medication or other illness.

• Within two weeks, at least four out of six symptoms appear:

  • trouble concentrating or impaired memory;
  • reduced ability to work under time pressure and perform work duties;
  • emotional instability and irritability;
  • sleep disturbance;
  • noticeable fatigue or physical weakness;
  • heart palpitations, stomach and digestive problems, dizziness, or increased sensitivity to sounds.

How to get out of the funnel of exhaustion

Understand what gives and takes energy

All daily tasks can be divided into those that provide energy and those that take it away. Authors of Mindfulness, Mark Williams and Denny Penman, recommend an experiment: writing down everything you do during the day and noting how you feel at that moment. Cases with a plus sign are those that nourish. With a minus sign - exhausting and annoying.

Actions	Give / take away energy
Communication with colleagues	+
Contract amendments	–
Compilation of a report	+
Meeting	–

This will give an understanding of how everything is now. The ratio of pleasant and unpleasant activities may not be the same. For example, an hour dancing lesson or 30 minutes of running is so energizing that all difficulties at work are forgotten.

Plan your pleasures

To get out and not fall into the funnel again, you need to maintain a balance of enjoyable and unpleasant activities. The best way to do this is by scheduling pleasure. These should not be just intentions, but clear plans with a designated time. For example, when you play sports, when you go to the movies, and when you go to a bar with friends. If you have planned a workout in the evening, then no excuses: get up from the computer and leave work.

Change your attitude towards unpleasant things

We all have responsibilities that we don’t want to do. Such activities are more exhausting than others and make us unhappy. Some don't like meetings, some don't like negotiations with clients, others - edits to texts and layouts. We try to avoid them and get annoyed when it comes to them. In such a situation, you need to understand why we do not like this part of the work so much, and try to look at the situation differently.

Try to approach work consciously: do it not automatically, but as if for the first time, fully living every minute spent.

For example, if you feel angry, then tell yourself, "I'm angry now." If the tension rises, feel the pulse and breathing become more frequent. Thus, you will stop drowning in emotions, you will be able to be aware of them and be less influenced.

Take breaks

Pause after the hard work. This will help you disconnect from the hustle and bustle, collect your thoughts and listen to your body. In Sweden, such breaks - "ficks" - are mandatory. Every two hours for 10-15 minutes, employees drink coffee and communicate in an informal setting.

You can do short meditations: for 1-2 minutes, concentrate on the movement of inhaled and exhaled air. It helps to calm down and relax during particularly stressful moments.

Avoid time-wasting activities

Browsing social networks, reading comments and news, participating in pointless skirmishes on the Internet, playing games on your smartphone - some activities quietly take time and steal energy. Take control of the situation. Instead of flipping through Facebook and watching YouTube in the evenings, do something that will energize you.

Take a vacation

If you feel like you can't get out of the funnel, pause and take a vacation. It is important to recharge and restore balance.

You can find a lot of excuses why you can't do it: “I have a child, a husband and a job”, “I need to finish an urgent project”. But try to look at the situation differently. Perhaps the black-and-white thinking to which you are accustomed to change your life prevents you. The world will not collapse if you devote a week only to yourself, but then you will feel a surge of energy, which will have a positive effect on work and family life.