Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 272. Avoiding Burnout

Transcript

Episode 272. Avoiding Burnout · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

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  Speaker: most companies, not all, but most companies are willing to talk with you about it and get a better understanding because they don't want you to be burnt out. And I've talked to so many service managers and business owners about this. They still need to get the work done, but they do not want you to get hurt. They do not want you to burn out because if you can't work then that's even worse than getting that job done
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  Today. I want to dive into something that I've talked about with a lot of different people and a lot of people.
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  Today. I want to dive into something that I've talked about with a lot of different people and a lot of people.
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  Asked me about it and I see it on social media and it happens in our industry, but it's not only our industry, really any type of industry. This could happen in any type of role, any type of job and it's burnout. It's really crucial to get your mental and physical health into top condition. It doesn't matter where you're at in the world. It needs to be top condition. And what do I mean by that? You're going to feel energized. Well, I'm always feeling foggy, Trevor. I'm always feeling tired. Why is that?
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  I'm working 70, 80 hours a week. There's lots of people that work 70 hours a week and they don't feel burnt out. What's the difference? And I'm not saying that, that you should be working 70 hours a week or not. Cause I know lots of people that do, you can, a lot of successful people. That's, that's what they do.
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  I'm working 70, 80 hours a week. There's lots of people that work 70 hours a week and they don't feel burnt out. What's the difference? And I'm not saying that, that you should be working 70 hours a week or not. Cause I know lots of people that do, you can, a lot of successful people. That's, that's what they do.
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  It depends on what your roles are as well. You know, you only can do something for so long. Then you need some sleep, okay? You need to get sleep. And that's another big thing for your mental and physical health is getting sleep. But I think to really understand if you are getting or starting to feel like burnout happening, you got to take a look at what you're doing and what is affecting that?
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  What's causing that? Is it lack of sleep? Is it actually doing too much physical exertion? You got to really break it down. Is it physical or is it mental burnout? That's two different things. I think people get them tied, tied together. Cause I didn't know the difference until I started doing more research and getting a real better understanding of what burnout is.
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  And it's different. Like I said, it's different for everyone. Like I remember talking to people and like they work a 14 hour day, every day, 12 to 14 hour day. All the time and have done it for months and months. And I've, I've done that before, but I look back now and I know there, there was times I was tired and I wasn't working at high performance, but I've seen people do that for years where I've seen other people that.
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  And it's different. Like I said, it's different for everyone. Like I remember talking to people and like they work a 14 hour day, every day, 12 to 14 hour day. All the time and have done it for months and months. And I've, I've done that before, but I look back now and I know there, there was times I was tired and I wasn't working at high performance, but I've seen people do that for years where I've seen other people that.
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  Do an eight hour shift and, but they're mentally exhausted and they're feeling burnout, even doing that because there's mental exhaustion and physical exhaustion. And you've got to really figure out what, what is it for you? Some of the biggest things is that I I really think that will help If you're starting to feel, fatigue, some burnout happening is setting boundaries and this can be done.
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  It's difficult that maybe some smaller companies, it's definitely difficult. If you own your own business, if you're a smaller, a smaller business, way harder, because especially in the refrigeration industry, you got to do it all, you got 24, seven on call, you got to do sales, you got to get parts. So it's.
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  It's a lot more. When you work at a larger company and you work for someone else, there's, you can set B boundaries and how do you do that? Well, this is what you bring up. We've talked about this time and time again, you bring this up with your manager or your boss and say, listen, let's map out my schedule for this year.
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  It's a lot more. When you work at a larger company and you work for someone else, there's, you can set B boundaries and how do you do that? Well, this is what you bring up. We've talked about this time and time again, you bring this up with your manager or your boss and say, listen, let's map out my schedule for this year.
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  When am I gonna be on call? Where is my work area? What is the zones at? These are the boundaries that I have. These, this is the amount of hours that I can work in a week. And most, most companies, not all, but most companies are willing to talk with you about it and get a better understanding because they don't want you to be burnt out. They know that you're not high performing. They know that it's, you make more mistakes when you're working that many hours.
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  And I've talked to so many service managers and business owners about this. They still need to get the work done, but they do not want you to get hurt. They do not want you to burn out because if you can't work then that's even worse than getting that job done because then they don't have you at all.
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  And I've talked to so many service managers and business owners about this. They still need to get the work done, but they do not want you to get hurt. They do not want you to burn out because if you can't work then that's even worse than getting that job done because then they don't have you at all.
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  And if you're at a company that doesn't understand that and they don't they don't care about you burning out and how many hours you work There is many other companies out there The thing is, you got to get in the mindset that, okay, somebody out there wants me, because I care about what I do, I'm the best at what I do, and I want to get better, I want to continue to learn and grow, other companies were out there, and then you go develop this plan with them, and that's going to change that once again, they're going to be like, wow, never had someone come in and talk to me like that before, I, I, Consistently have students who come back and say, listen, I had a discussion with this potential in this interview or with my boss or this, and they're like, they said, this is the first time someone has asked me something like that.
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  And you just got to change the conversation. Say you are worried about burnout. You got two or three kids. You want to make sure that you do a fantastic job, but you want to always be performing at high performance. Are there going to be times when you're tired? Yes, we got it. Our jobs are working in the evening. But you do need to set those boundaries and plan some of this stuff. A lot of people say, I can't plan anything.
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  And you just got to change the conversation. Say you are worried about burnout. You got two or three kids. You want to make sure that you do a fantastic job, but you want to always be performing at high performance. Are there going to be times when you're tired? Yes, we got it. Our jobs are working in the evening. But you do need to set those boundaries and plan some of this stuff. A lot of people say, I can't plan anything.
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  I'm in a service business. That's, that's a fixed mindset. If you say that, cause you can still plan stuff. Yes. Maybe you might have to work a late one day or get up a little early to another day, or maybe you have to take on call. But a lot of this stuff is planned. If you get a call at two o'clock in the afternoon and you have to do an emergency Compressor change to help someone out because they're in the field and there's stuff, you know, you're going to be working late So that's when you make a phone call to your spouse and you let them know listen I have to work late tonight because we got to help out a customer so you're organizing yourself But when you get home and if you work late, maybe it's you get the stuff you need to done right away It's not going to watch the ball game.
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  It's not going to watch netflix You get your stuff done and then you get to bed because this is the self care stuff that you need, because a lot of people say I'm burned out, but have you tried to go to bed at eight o'clock when you got home?
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  It's not going to watch netflix You get your stuff done and then you get to bed because this is the self care stuff that you need, because a lot of people say I'm burned out, but have you tried to go to bed at eight o'clock when you got home?
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  Or did you just stay up and have some beers and watch some movies like this is important because what are you doing with that time? Because that self care is so, so important. And I think the bigger one is the mental side for us as technicians, not the physical side.
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  Climbing up ladders are hard, climbing up stairs, carrying stuff but I think it's the mental side, not on, you know, troubleshooting talking with customers, replacing parts, understanding how to troubleshoot a complex problem. Problem dealing with dispatch, dealing with a teammate
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  I think the, the bigger burnout is on the mental side versus the physical side. And that's my opinion as well. It would be definitely different for all of you listening. I think 100 percent if you can get more sleep or consistent sleep, that will definitely help you. So, I think the big thing is that self care would really help reducing like brain fog, fatigue, burnout. If you feel like that you are, are getting to a point where it's just too much, like either because of work or because of your, personal life, you're feeling burned out, like it's nonstop, you got to social support.
• 0:08
  I think the, the bigger burnout is on the mental side versus the physical side. And that's my opinion as well. It would be definitely different for all of you listening. I think 100 percent if you can get more sleep or consistent sleep, that will definitely help you. So, I think the big thing is that self care would really help reducing like brain fog, fatigue, burnout. If you feel like that you are, are getting to a point where it's just too much, like either because of work or because of your, personal life, you're feeling burned out, like it's nonstop, you got to social support.
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  And what does that really mean? Maybe it's networking with different friends or colleagues. It could be in a different group, like people to talk with about it. Just sometimes getting stuff off your chest will help you. And this is not what you should be doing to your spouse all the time. Okay. This is something that where you get into a group and, and talk about it.
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  Cause that, that is something that is real. Sometimes you can't talk to your, your teammates about it. You definitely don't want to put the burden on your spouse. And then sometimes you can't talk to your boss. So you got to find maybe sometimes some, someone outside the industry to, to help you with this, to, to have you a conversation because it doesn't only happen in our industry.
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  Cause that, that is something that is real. Sometimes you can't talk to your, your teammates about it. You definitely don't want to put the burden on your spouse. And then sometimes you can't talk to your boss. So you got to find maybe sometimes some, someone outside the industry to, to help you with this, to, to have you a conversation because it doesn't only happen in our industry.
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  You could work in an office. And do a nine to five and feel burnt out. And some of you went, well, nine to five, how can you feel burnt out doing that? Well, maybe your nine to five leads to evening work, weekend work, taking the computer home, doing emails, making phone calls all the time. It happens. It just, you don't, you don't see it that way maybe because you do it a different way.
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  But I think getting certain support will help you.
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  And I think that that is something that you need to recognize
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  another one is taking breaks. I remember just going wide open. I would be eating while I'm driving to the next site thinking I'm, I'm doing everybody a favor doing that, trying to be more efficient and productive, but it's not, you do need to take breaks.
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  Take a mental break a physical break just to get your head back in the game and Whatever that break is for you Maybe it has reading a book that has nothing to do with say the the job that you're doing Maybe it is just listening to a podcast Maybe it is sitting 10 minutes and doing some sort of breathing Technique or yeah, breathing technique or some sort of stretching.
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  Take a mental break a physical break just to get your head back in the game and Whatever that break is for you Maybe it has reading a book that has nothing to do with say the the job that you're doing Maybe it is just listening to a podcast Maybe it is sitting 10 minutes and doing some sort of breathing Technique or yeah, breathing technique or some sort of stretching.
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  It doesn't matter if it's in the parking lot, doesn't matter if it's in the mechanical room, doesn't you're trying to make sure that you are up to that task to really get refreshed and, you know, reduce any fatigue. And I think that that is something that will help.
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  Some water breaks. You gotta be hydrated. Another thing that helps with burnout is not being hydrated. You can't think straight. You don't feel good.
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  Other things to help reduce burnout is, you know, develop that growth mindset. I've talked about it so many times if you continue to think that you can overcome the challenges at hand, instead of thinking, Oh, I worked 60 hours this week and last week, and you just keep saying, this is the problem I'm working too much.
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  Other things to help reduce burnout is, you know, develop that growth mindset. I've talked about it so many times if you continue to think that you can overcome the challenges at hand, instead of thinking, Oh, I worked 60 hours this week and last week, and you just keep saying, this is the problem I'm working too much.
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  This is why I'm being burned out. Well, if you keep telling yourself you're being burned out because the hours you work, you are going to start to feel more burnt out. If you really change that psychological stress that you put on yourself by telling yourself because of 60 hours I'm working, be like, man, I just crushed it this week.
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  I got 60 hours in, I finished my jobs, I got paid. It's a great, great way. I'm working towards on getting this done. I'm good. I got, I'm reading this book. I'm, I'm doing these steps to, for my growth. What a great week this was. That's a different mindset.
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  And if that, those tools help you to feel better about yourself, you feel more energized, you feel. Like you can take on the world, why wouldn't you be doing that stuff? You know, try something if you're, if you're not trying, if you're getting the same results, you're not doing anything different. So you gotta, you have to do something different to get different results.
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  And if that, those tools help you to feel better about yourself, you feel more energized, you feel. Like you can take on the world, why wouldn't you be doing that stuff? You know, try something if you're, if you're not trying, if you're getting the same results, you're not doing anything different. So you gotta, you have to do something different to get different results.
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  It's just like when you're troubleshooting, if you keep doing the same thing, you're going to get the same results. If you just keep adjusting the tx valve. Thinking that it's going to fix a different problem, you're going to get the same results. Hopefully this gave you some thoughts on, on stuff to think about. Maybe something to chat with some of your co workers, maybe your spouse because this is something nobody really talks about and when they talk about it, it's usually too late.
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  It's already happening. But this is something you guys should bring up in your toolbox talks. You should be bringing this up as a team, getting an understanding how other people feel on burnout. If they're getting there, is it working too much? Is it physically? Is it mental? Is it home? Is it social? You got, these are things that you need to need to think about and then figure out ways strategies for yourself.
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  to help it more water, eating healthy, getting sleep, all those things, exercising, huge things that'll change, change you. Hopefully you enjoyed this. We've got one more of these coming up. Super proud of all of you taking the time to do this, putting the work in now that will pay off tomorrow.
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  to help it more water, eating healthy, getting sleep, all those things, exercising, huge things that'll change, change you. Hopefully you enjoyed this. We've got one more of these coming up. Super proud of all of you taking the time to do this, putting the work in now that will pay off tomorrow.
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  Enjoy yourself, crush it out there today. Let's get the conversation going.
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  Enjoy yourself, crush it out there today. Let's get the conversation going.