Burnout: When doing it all becomes too much
“Relaxing brings weakness, when done by a muscle; but brings strength, when done by a person.” - Mokokoma Mokhonoana
The Yerkes-Dodson Law is a popular, if not slightly outdated, psychological theory relating the amount of stress an individual experiences to their productivity. The idea - which was established in 1908 by two American psychologists unsurprisingly named Yerkes and Dodeson - is simple: There is an optimum amount of stress that produces maximum performance output. Go above this level and you will find yourself unproductively spinning your wheels in a loop of anxiety, and below it you will not be motivated enough to produce a meaningful quantity or quality of work. The principle can be summed up with a neatly shaped bell curve (pictured below).
Despite many modern-day researchers scrutinizing the validity of the original Yerkes-Dodson law due to the questionable experimental design, I’m sure that any scientist or student has first hand experience with the phenomenon. The right amount of pressure to produce experimental data or study for an exam can put me in an almost flow-state, where my creativity and output are skyrocketing. However, if I’m too stressed to churn out results by a quickly approaching deadline or find myself cramming for a test, I become hyper-focused on productivity and find that both my work output and satisfaction plummet.
The Yerkes-Dodson law is also helpful in explaining an all-too common phenomenon in research: Burnout. Although it is not an official medical diagnosis and the definition of burnout varies between sources, burnout is described by the Mayo Clinic as a “a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.” Common symptoms of burnout include fatigue, insomnia, sadness, anger and irritability, so it is no surprise that burnout is often considered to be closely akin to depression. Burnout can occur when you are operating at the right hand of the graph for too long, teetering towards that high-anxiety zone while also pushing for maximum performance. It is possible to move the curve temporarily so that you are churning out data in an extremely stressed state, but that shift is not sustainable and will likely result in burnout.
I recently found myself experiencing an episode of burnout at my job after directing a 6-week long intensive study that required me to be at the lab nearly every day (there’s no such thing as a weekend for this postdoc!). Prior to this period of burnout I had been absolutely killing it at work: My study was running incredibly smoothly and producing great results, I was exploring new analyses in my free time and making some creative discoveries, and I was drafting papers like a madwoman. As the study wrapped up I was greeted with those elusive feelings of pride, accomplishment, and relief. Ah, the sweet joy of a difficult job well done. The end of the project coincided with the holiday break and I enjoyed a rare and glorious 4 days away from the lab, binging Netflix and eating candy in between naps. I thought I would return to work newly refreshed and rejuvenated, a radiant and productive beacon for scientific progress and hope. However, I greeted Monday morning by groggily pressing snooze half a dozen times on my alarm. Chalking it up to a glut of do-nothing inertia from the lazy weekend, I made it through my first day back by dragging myself through my to-do list, assuming I’d get back into the swing of things on Tuesday. But over the following weeks, I began to dread coming into the lab more and more, an unusual mindset shift since I typically view my work as more of a passion project than job. It felt like no matter how much effort I put in, it would never be enough to finish the looming projects and papers that were piled up before me in an insurmountable mountain of lost effort and dreams. Everything just felt like it sucked.
My mood shifted a bit once I realized that what I was experiencing was not unique. I turned to the internet to find other stories of once-burned out scientists and grad students, and picked up a few of their techniques to make it through the thick swamp of burnout and towards the grassy meadows of productivity and hope on the other side. I came out of this recent episode of burnout a more resilient scientist with a better understanding of my work style and mental health needs. I want to share a few of the most effective tips with you so that you can better avoid burnout in your scientific career, and know how to manage it if it does happen to you!
Consider that your burnout might not actually be burnout. It is important to highlight that many symptoms of burnout overlap with those of depression. If you suspect that your burnout might be something more than a short-term work-related period of stress, seek medical attention immediately. Even if you are sure that your condition is directly related to acute job demands, there is absolutely nothing wrong with consulting a doctor about your mental health and stress. It is always a good idea to get the support of a therapist and/or doctor if you are feeling overwhelmed or depressed. In my case, I could clearly identify the source of my burnout and knew that it was an episodic occurrence, but I have a medical support network in place in case my stress ever becomes overwhelming.
Know that you are not alone. Many principal investigators (PI) and scientists want you to believe that burnout should never happen. It is often treated as a sign of weakness, a clear indication that you do not have what it takes to survive the brutal world of academic grant rejection. It is absolutely true that if your daily tasks cause you to feel burned out ALL the time you should re-evaluate your career path and make sure it is truly sparking joy in your life (see my last tip at the end of this entry). Scientists and students encounter burnout all the time due to the pressures of the field, and it is in no way a sign of weakness or laziness! You wouldn’t feel burned out if you weren’t pushing yourself too hard. So the first step is to take a deep breath and realize that you are not alone, but are brave for acknowledging that you need to make a change in your work style to improve your mental health.
Recognize why you are burned out. Once you recognize the root cause of your burnout, you then have the power to make a positive change moving forward. The source of my recent burnout was clearly identifiable: I was over-stretching my mental capacity while not taking enough time to recharge and relax from the stressors of my demanding experiment. Evaluate what exactly about your work caused you to feel overwhelmed, and clearly identify how you can avoid those triggering work patterns in the future.
Take some time off or lessen your workload/expectations. I am all for taking a mental health day once and awhile to devote to resting and self-care if you really need it. However, be wary that one day of napping and Netflix will not solve your burnout problem long-term. I advocate for making smaller but more cumulatively impactful changes to your work style and schedule, such as protecting your weekend hours when possible and blocking off 10-30 minute chunks of time during your day for regenerative activities like meditation or outdoor walks. You should also be realistic about what you can reasonably accomplish within a workweek. If you are overcommitted, you might need to start turning down reviewer or journal club invites to ensure you have time to devote to the projects that matter most to you. Make sure you have a manageable number of experiments on your plate so that you can fully focus your best efforts on doing good, satisfying science that sparks your unique curiosity.
Create a to-do list of small and medium tasks and intentionally complete them. It can feel like you are treading water in the middle of the ocean when you are working as hard as you can to just stay afloat, but getting nowhere. I suggest starting your work day by making a list of very achievable, small tasks that you can check off as you complete them. Maybe add writing your lab notes, sending an email, reading a paper, or designing a primer set to your list, and after 10-30 minutes of work you’ll be checking items off like the productive badass scientist you are.
Productively procrastinate. Productively procrastinating can trick your brain into thinking that you are avoiding important work while still getting things done. This is perhaps one of my most-loved burnout hacks (and also the one I’m utilizing right now as I devote time to writing this post!). Obviously, it doesn’t always work to avoid the big tasks that you are dreading, and this is not advisable if you are working on a deadline! But this can break the burnout cycle and the accompanying sense of low achievement and uselessness, spurred on by a difficulty in accomplishing normally doable tasks. Diving into normally boring chores like restocking pipette tips, going through old bottles of media, or making buffers can give you something useful and easy to do while you’re in a period of overload. Maybe you are sick of research and truly need a break, so you can try taking a LinkedIn Learning course or similar online module in a useful “soft” skill.
Practice being gritty. Even though scientists are often portrayed as being constantly passionate and enthusiastic about their projects, the truth is that our excitement and motivation can come in waves. During these times it can be immensely helpful to shift your focus away from being productive to being gritty. Showing up every day to do the next step in the scientific process is the only way that cumulative successes occur, and I think that one of the most important things you can learn during a scientific career is grit. This skill takes practice to hone,and may help to make moving through this stagnant period your sole work objective. It doesn’t matter if your PCR reaction worked, just that you showed up and did it. Take your time to do thoughtful, careful experiments, but make the process of science more important than the outcome. This reframing can help you take small but productive steps while things seem overwhelming, and ultimately move you forward and through the burnout period.
Identify some concrete changes you can make in your work environment to avoid future burnout. If you’re doing all the things for a while but then getting burned out and finding yourself unable to accomplish anything, that is not a sustainable or productive pattern! Take time to analyze your work style and figure out how you best function to maximize happiness, enthusiasm, and productivity. Make figuring out the best schedule and motivation for your mind a type of personal science experiment, and try different things until you find a schedule that is sustainable long-term.
Consider making a big change if burnout becomes a repeat pattern. In science, we don’t always have the luxury of just getting a new job – especially when you are in the middle of a grueling graduate program. But if you notice burnout becoming a regular or prolonged occurrence, your body and mind might be trying to tell you something. Regularly reflect on your enthusiasm, and be honest with yourself if your current lab situation is not supporting you in doing your best and most fulfilling work. Changing programs or positions can seem impossible, but it is always ok to advocate for yourself and to ultimately choose the path and mentorship that will be the most rewarding and helpful to you.
Prepare for burnout before it occurs. Despite what the over-working culture of science often tells us, your mental health and wellbeing should be your highest priority. If that doesn’t sound at all realistic and you want to think of it another way, remember that if you are not taking care of yourself you will be unable to do your best and most brilliant work. It is key to assemble a good support network of doctors, therapists, friends, and family members who can help you through the rougher patches of your scientific journey. It’s easy to turn to fast “fixes” like watching hours of Netflix, but none of these quick cures actually help our mental health or allows us to move through burnout. In order to best care for yourself in times of need, it is critical that you take steps to create a support network and protect your mental health while you are feeling resilient and strong. Ironically, if you take steps to prepare for burnout and protect your mental health, you will likely avoid burnout in the first place!
More Resources on the Topic:
Literature Review
Depression: What is burnout?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279286/
Burnout syndrome among medical residents: A systematic review and meta-analysis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6231624/
Easy Reads
Your Body Knows You’re Burned Out
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/15/well/live/burnout-work-stress.html
‘You’ve Lost Your Sparkle’: What to Do When Burnout Hits
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/08/us/burnout-stress-yumiko-kadota.html
How burnout and imposter syndrome blight scientific careers
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03042-z
Something to Watch
How to Turn Burnout into Breakthrough. Oma Agbai, TEDxColeParkStudio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw1tZ0dhs9I
How to Bounce Back from Burnout in 3 Simple Steps. Allan Ting, TEDxWilmingtonLive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHj38et5L04
About the author: Maddie Krieger is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Oregon Health and Science University. Her work combines wet lab and computational approaches to investigate the polymicrobial nature of oral diseases. She loves talking to other current or aspiring scientists about non-traditional STEM education and career paths. Maddie has been the Communications Chair of WIS since April 2022, and is passionate about science equality and bringing issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the forefront of discussions around STEM career paths and education. In addition to being a scientist, Maddie is an avid runner, equestrian, reader, and fan of deserts and reality TV.
