Okay, I’ve read about it, heard about it, but lo and behold it happened to me. The scary thing is that I became blind; things got too far along before I could reverse them, mistakes were made, co-workers negatively affected and then, bam, the hammer came down. So, next thing I know during a conference call with the design team, my boss announces that there’s going to be a shifting of responsibilities, “cross training” and to “give Pete a break, he’s done a great job.” Now, knowing that things hadn’t been going so well with deliverables I suspected there was more to this than I was hearing, so I called my boss after a few days (we all work remotely) and we talked.

It took time to get to the issue but it became clear in my conversation that I was in her opinion “burning out,” that there needed to be a change. My production manager was complaining that I had lost enthusiasm and I was providing less creative solutions as well as deliverable issues. My boss coached me that deadlines are relative, that “if we miss a deadline, well that’s not good but it’s far worse to make mistakes. They’re remembered.” Less than several months previous I was highly esteemed and promoted, now I was in the veritable dog-house.

What happened? How did things get so bad?

Well, the program that I was the sole designer for, in the short space of one year exploded in size and scope. I was responsible for site wide banners which involved around 35 or so from half page to small in both flash and static. The original workload was thus; at the beginning of the quarter there was about a weeks worth of steady work for redesign and at the end of the quarter verbiage was changed to get people to hurry up and purchase. Then the changes and revisions became constant, the offers very complex, and what were preset standards such as slicing dimensions, copy space for banners were being thrown to the wind as marketing added more and more copy and demanded more metrics performance from ads. …if we miss a deadline, well that’s not good, but it’s far worse to make mistakes. Approved copy would be halted well into the design process as legal decided that words needed to be changed, thus everything needed to be redone. While this workload was increasing, I was working on the other normal projects as well. In my desire to “handle it all” I pushed and pushed myself, I was rushing and getting harried and then it happened; artwork was released that wasn’t fully checked, deliveries were incorrect, mistakes were being made. In the corporate environment that I contract for that’s a deadly sin. What I didn’t recognize but others around me did was that I was becoming short, uncommunicative and edgy. I knew something bad was going on but I was blind to what it was. It took my boss’s re-alignment of my tasks to bring the issue home.

The question now is how to get back on track?

Even if I don’t get back to my prior responsibilities I need to avoid something similar happening in the future for sure. There’s some great stuff online I found regarding burnout, some good humor as well from a student’s post on the MIT website. Even writing this article has been therapeutic.

After doing my own research, there seems to be an agreement that burnout progresses in four successive stages:*

1. Physical, mental and emotional exhaustion – you can get the basic stuff done but your energy/desire for anything else is not there.
2. Shame, doubt. Feeling shaky about the present and loosing confidence about managing the future.
3. Cynicism and Callousness. Grouchiness I’d call it. My being a people pleaser also meant that I didn’t know how to say “no.” Burnout is less that I failed than I gave myself away. Burnout produces a ‘tude.
4. Failure, Helplessness and Crisis. Your coping is unraveling, no matter what you do. Without pacing, fatigue sets in and things start shutting down.

So once burnout happens, what do we do?

This is what I’ve concluded from my research:

1. Awareness. Becoming aware is critical. I found it very difficult to discuss this with my wife(!) But, getting over my initial reticence, once done it was very helpful. She knows me better than anyone and is uniquely able to help me.
2. Exercise. I’ve started a walking regimen.
3. Relaxing Reading. Not professional journals, try a book written over 100 years ago, it’ll give you perspective. I love history too.
4. Vacation. Enough said.
5. Diary. Journaling.
6. Prayer and Meditation There’s enough on this from other sources, no need to elaborate here.
7. Perspective. I gain much perspective by reading the Bible; we need to know that we are cared for and that we’re not just cogs in the wheel of the man, that we have a more important purpose in this life. It helps to see examples of every type of personality complex with their struggles in this life and how redemption occurred for them, the Good Book provides this. Knowing that people have been struggling with similar issues since the ancient days helps us gain perspective on our difficulties.

Assuming that things haven’t progressed too far, I am banking on my team being understanding as well as remembering when things went better (and I was advancing in my career). Also, probably the greatest therapeutic is time; being able to succeed at the second chances given us.

So… off I go toward my second chance.

* Much of the information on burnout stages and other info is from Mark Gorkin, LICSW, “The Stress Doc,”™ and can be found at this link.

I’ve jumped into the water, joining Facebook through the recommendation of my wife and Twitter through the prompting of my employer.

I’m a little reticent about Facebook(FB) - maybe because it takes more time, uploading files and such. Twitter is great in that I the short “bursts” I can do while I work.

But about FB, the amazing thing is both my wife and I have had High School and College friends get back in touch after YEARS of lost contact. In one week I had 3 people I went to high school with (now over 34 years ago) contact me, and I found myself having to go and sit down, it was a little overwhelming! I do have to work on my page there - upload photo’s etc., although available time holds me back.

There is something to communications from friends who put down funny things they’ve been thinking about that day, been noticing, that probably wouldn’t get mentioned in face-to-face or over telephone. It’s almost as if you’re looking into a mild diary of people. I like that. Plus, for family that lives out of the area, it’s a great way to keep in touch. Then, there’s the people you’ve lost touch with for multiple years; all of a sudden you see mentions of what they are doing, thoughts etc. That’s big.

Facebook has more female users than Twitter, 60/40 or so (have to find that link). Twitter is the opposite, more males than females! Makes sense, we guys like to speak in short sentences and get to the point quicker than women do. Twitter is perfect for that.

In conclusion, I think the greatest thing is that it gives the ordinary user the ability to utilize the web to its best advantages without touching a line of code. Upload a photo, post a video, music, voice, write a letter, post your thoughts.

Our world is shrinking in many ways.

Up in this sleepy Central California coastal town, average summer air temp in the mid to high 60’s, average water temperature in the low 50’s, the heat on June 20th reached an astounding 110 degrees.

You may not understand the significance of this unless you could imagine life before air conditioning. Almost none of the shops, homes here have AC. We had temps of 95 degrees in our living room until late nightfall. If you went inland - San Louis Obisbo, the temps reached 115 degrees.

Fodder for the global warming maniacs, I can just hear shouts of “evidence, evidence,” but the real reason was a very large high pressure system directly over Los Angeles and the absence of the normal northernly offshore flow. With that normal offshore flow gone, the natural cooling off of the cold Pacific subsides and the land is vulnerable. The air from the high pressure cascades down, heating up as it does - actually flowing towards the nearest low pressure system. This phenomon explains why it can be hotter at sea level than say a town at 5-6,000 feet above sea level. Fortunately these high pressures, Santa Anna’s, usually only last several days and dissipate.

Back to the issue of Global Warming, why can’t our crazy weather be from our Maker? When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down… Jonah 4:8. Please visit my links to global warming articles on my del.icio.us account. We are called to be good stewards of the gift of nature that God has given us, we should pursue technology that is environmentally beneficial, but let’s not generate a police state in the meantime. It’s time to pursue existing energy alternatives, nuclear, drilling domestically for more oil (why should we purchase oil from sources that don’t care about the environment?), we have the technology and ability to do it safely.

In coincidence, the upside of the hot spell was a swell generated by a storm in the southern hemisphere that hit at the same time. Cayucos is a town with a southwest facing beach, situated to take advantage of swells from that direction. Travelling that distance the swells smooth out and when they break are clean and powerful. Then add the onshore breeze lifting up the face and presto - surfing them you’re making lemonade out of lemons!! So yeah, while others were worrying that our planet is going to die (which it isn’t by a long stretch), I was shreddin some impressive waves and staying warm in 50 degree water. I love life!
PS: I hope the heat didn’t damage this year’s wine crop.