what do you do when you get burned out?

[CMB]

been feeling bummed out lately. actually been fishing around for new career. changes been going on at office, and i don't like them. great company to work for. the admin are the best. bottom line is i guess i'm just tired of working on copiers..........

[fixthecopier]

You gotta find what clicks for you. I work for a very "uniquely managed company", but its still a good job. But before that I had some suck-ass jos. The last auto parts factory I worked for, now has moved most of it's operation to Mexico, and we really don't have time to talk about the joys of selling mobile homes. When the others complain about work, I just tell them they haven't had a bad job yet. You have to admit there is a certain joy in being a master of machines. Sometimes you have to work a job as a way to get a paycheck and find your fulfillment outside the workplace.

[unisys12]

Been in your shoes before and what I did was while driving around, between calls, if I found a company or business that looked interesting I would stop in and talk with them. Print out a bunch of updated resumes and carry them around with you. I even got to the point that I would stack a few in with the grocery list and if I ran into someone that I had an interesting conversation with, I would hand them a resume. Did it help me get another job... no! But I got to meet a whole lot of interesting people and most importantly it allowed me to "test the waters and see what was out there, for me".

In my situation, I found that I was sorta trapped in my career, at that time. As frustrating as it was, it made me reevaluate where I was in my career with the company I was with. By doing so, it forced me to accept where I was, at that time, but set goals for the future.

That was roughly 4 and a half years ago. I have since reached all but two of the career goals I set for myself. Those are obtaining my A+ and Net+ certifications. And I have surpassed my financial goals, although I see now that those were meager, but I am on a track that seems to be heading up.

As for now, ask yourself some questions about your current situation. Of course you don't have to answer them here. But ask yourself, "What was it that I used to like about working on copiers so much?" If you have been working on these things long enough, don't be afraid to take a few days or even a week to settle on an answer. Once answered, and content on that single answer, ask yourself "What's changed?".

I have a motto that I told the two owners of our company at my first interview with them, "If I don't like the way that you do business or run your business, then I will go somewhere else." I did warn them though that I asked a lot of questions about the business and I might even not agree with everything. But as long as I could, in good conscious, go out and do my calls I would be alright.

And I guess, to end this long winded post, I will suggest a book that you may have heard of... 48 Days - Your Source for Career Building! (48 Days `til the work you love, by Dan Miller) Also, if you ever just need someone to vent to or looking for advice, shot me a PM. As you might not have noticed with my postings... talking should have been my middle name.

[pjdbm]

I have been in the biz for 16 years on my own with no vacations.(Nothing more than 3 day weekend)

I garden,fish and go to the gym. I am burnt right now

[dogsbody]

my motivation for the job goes up and down, there aways seems to be something to bring me up again from the low, it may be a new model, a tender i am involved with, or fixing a problem for someone or figuring out why it wont print or scan.
I look after about 350 machines and do almost all the printing/scanning jobs (for everyone) and they are almost always something different - which keeps it interesting.
if all i did was "fix boxes" it would become just a job that i would eventually grow bored with, but there is always something new to learn colour, networking, the next model...

hope i made some sense...

[blackcat4866]

Sure, I've been burned out before. I did just what Unisys suggested:

I made up some resumes' and started talking to lots of people. You can come to one of two conclusions. 1) This is an opportunity I can't pass up. or 2) It's really not so bad here after all.

I've worked for four different dealers over the last 20 years. There's always a couple of reasons I've regretted leaving (i.e. great pay or lots of freedom). But it was outweighed by the negative (i.e. 25 to 30 service calls and no help on the way, or a branch/sales manager that was only interested in extracting every possible dollar out of the business).

It's a tough spot to be in. I've been there many times........

Just think it through completely. And yes, PM anytime. =^..^=

[DadO]

Fixing copiers, especially if u fix them for someone "else", it's a tough job already even without that last. U must have a good motivation to continue and motivation is a life.And "life" basicly is a Bills for electricity, bills for wather,food,mobile phone BILLS FOR EVERYTHING and if ur a lazy....then GOD is only thing that can help u (not thinking on CMB but for guy and girl throughout world), but why would GOD help lazy people?

I didn't work in any construction company....actually i didn't work nothing else then servicing the copiers!
Why did i mentioned construction company? well what is a better job...,to dig a hole and poor wet contrite in it no matter what day it is, extream sunny, rain, snow....
OR to hold an screwdriver and clamps in gent cloths(nice pants, nice shoo etc.), in climated rooms, driving a car...not walking (even tho sometimes i think i walked 5 miles after a busy day ). It's not comparable !

Hava a nice and prosper day, ENJOY while u don't die... i have a good example on very close person that i felt too that life is a short

[10871087]

A few options options

1. Join the Army, Free place to stay, meals, clothing and ammo
2. buy lottery tickets, lots of lottery tickets.
3. Crime, you either get cool free stuff OR a place to stay, meals, clothing (no ammo)
4. Stick with the copier gig, it pretty low stress, no clock, os is never within ten miles of you, really not too bad.

[Jimbo1]

1. Cut the soles out of your shoes, live in a tree and learn to play the flute.

2. Go spend your days putting slinkies on the excalators in the mall.

[cobiray]

step 1 : Go to pub
step 2 : Cry in beer (repeat as necessary)
step 3 : Cry in whiskey (repeat as necessary)

[Jimbo1]

Or you can do like I did about a year ago and go to broadcast school.

[fixthecopier]

SO, how did that work out for you?

[Elle]

hrm burnout.......nasty business all the way around. i've only been at this for a lil over a year but i screamed burnout a couple of months ago - i got my ass kicked a couple o times with some difficult problems - got around those then i realized that i do what i do for the company and the rest of the techs (still a shortage of qualified applicants here). the customer comes second to the rest of the shop but those peeps are my friends. do i do this for the customer? - not really - do i do it for the company? - not really - i do it for the people in the company. i couldn't just let those guys go out all overworked all the time. i guess what i'm gettin at is that you should evaluate your reasons for working there, if the reasons don't match with who you are then maybe you do need a different line of work. just remember the smiles on the customer's face when things are working in the end, maybe that'll help some.

[Jimbo1]

KDEL

Currently doing a temp thing after hours.

Can be heard m-w-f from 6 to 8 central at



That will get a page called Shoutcast then click listen.

I am JC in the nighttime.

From the island of misfit toys in the wayback machine.

[cobiray]

While there is not cure-all for being burned out at anything, my recommendation is one of two things. Take a vacation. Not a long weekend or a few days either, but take the whole week. Don't think about work, don't think about customers, don't think about bosses, don't think about underlings.

My other recommendation is to start a hobbie. Collect stamps, build models, rebuild an old car, plant a garden or something you can focus on to get away from work-on-the-brain. Do something that you enjoy and can get away from the daily grind of work. I started rebuilding a VW Beetle and it's great therapy to get away to the garage after a stressful day at work.