If you work in PR, you probably aren’t surprised to learn that it’s one of the most stressful careers. But, that doesn’t mean you have to adhere to “the way it’s always been done.” I spend a lot of time with startups that are focused on disrupting the status quo. Apply that mentality to your day, too. Design your own life to avoid burnout.
How can you design your own day to alleviate some unnecessary stress? A few ideas:
- Work away from the office. We recently instituted the “Work Away” policy at Geben: Each week, you’re required to work a 1/2 day from your most productive place. Working outside the office — at your favorite coffee shop, park, library or even from your bed — can be a productive way to shake things up and refocus on what needs to be accomplished. A change of scenery can work wonders.
- Abandon the 9-5 mentality. PR is not an 8-5 job. We sometimes have to work weekends or evenings — particularly if you’re acting as a client’s community manager … or helping at all with social media. But, if you’re working late or on Saturday, there should be a tradeoff. Who says the work day has to start at 8? What if you’re like me and sometimes do your best writing at 3 am? If I work a few hours in the middle of the night, I shouldn’t feel bad about cutting out before 5p on Friday or running an errand during the “workday.” 8-5 is an antiquated work construct. Get your work done when and where you want to. Producing high-quality work is far more important than being chained to your desk for a specified 8-hour period of the day.
- Find a “cruise director.” The office cruise director is the person who infuses some fun into the team. In my office, that’s Jeana Harrington. She plans monthly happy hours and frequent lunch outings, sends links to hilarious videos, offers some levity to the day. Currently, she’s in the midst of organizing a segue tour of downtown Columbus for our team. What’s the point of working hard if you can’t enjoy it? I maintain high standards for my team, which requires them to work really hard, but it’s equally important that they enjoy what they’re doing. When I launched Geben, I wanted to build a company that companies wanted to work with and people wanted to work for. Potential employees want to join our team because we do good work, but also because it’s a fun environment with a group of people who genuinely like each other. Who’s your team’s cruise director?
- Let your team call the shots (sometimes). Speaking of Jeana … for a while, she’d been suggesting that Geben host an event to thank our local clients and show appreciation to our supporters, referral sources and friends. She was right, but, I explained to her that I didn’t really have the bandwidth to plan the party myself. I agreed to host a holiday party (and pay the bills) if she and Megumi took the lead in organizing it. They totally took the reins and planned a fantastic event. I listened to what they wanted to do and gave them ownership of an important project, and they rose to the occasion. This provided a win-win for everyone, and made sure that we took some time during the holiday season to appreciate how far we’d come and the people who helped us get here.
- Know when and how to disconnect. Remember what I said about PR being super stressful? Part of that is because we feel like we’re never off the clock … never allowed to turn our brains off. But, you need that time to recharge. You have to figure out how to set those boundaries and what you need to stay energized. Whether it’s reading a (non-work) book, watching your favorite TV show or going for a run — you need to make disconnecting a habit.
How do you avoid burnout? Share your secrets!
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice and post, Heather. I think it applies to more than just PR pros, but probably small businesses, entrepreneurs and independent consultants as well. The buggest challenge is learning to get rid of the guilt you may feel when you do make the good choice to skip out early on Friday or *for God’s sake* sleep in past the usual 5AM routine.
Driven and passionate professionals love what they do and want to do it all the time because they find happiness in the work. It’s easy to forget that you can also find happiness in not working at all. When you remember that, the feelings of guilt pass fairly quickly.
@nateriggs You’re right — this could resonate with people outside the PR industry. I’m not a huge believer in work-life balance … I think it’s better to find a way to make the two work together. Achieving balance is impossible, especially in our lines of work. But, that doesn’t mean that sometimes you just need to shut your brain off or find a new source of creativity and inspiration outside the office or outside client work. We should form a guilt-free support group.
@HeatherWhaling See, I agree and disagree with that statement. Jim Canteruicci would call making work and life work together ‘congruency’ and I do think that’s something to strive for.
But for me, balance is different, very important and very possible through the choices I make. With a wife and 3 kids who could care less about Pinterest’s valuation or Facebook’s IPO, ‘balance’ defined for me is about devoting un-interrupted attention at home with all devices closed. Balance is coaching youth soccer and going to tee ball games, or even the occasional date with my lady. It’s hard to make a career-home life cocktail in that sense.
But again, my opinion is the product of my own situation … and our situations are very different. That said, I am all about a guilt-free support groups so count me in!
Really great advice and a good post! I agree with nateriggs – it’s not just applicable for PR, but for a lot of other industries.
I guess the only thing I’d add is, to have all of the above and be successful, there has to be some sort of baseline discipline and trust underpinning the entire organization.
I avoid burnout by drinking wine with @HeatherWhaling and the rest of the Geben gang. Being around inspiring people makes you want to do everything better, and well, wine is good.
@decillis1 I love our get-togethers! Great way to unwind and have fun.
@LinilleAbella You know what, that’s a fantastic point. We couldn’t do things like Work Away without a high level of trust and discipline. For this approach to work, we have to earn each other’s trust. It’s a mission-critical two-way step. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for sharing this, @HeatherWhaling ! From the discussion going on here, it seems like in addition to what you wrote, the keys to avoiding burnout is trust, knowing when to take a break and most importantly, wine! Sounds about right, I’ll definitely keep this in mind.
Great post Heather! I agree with Nate in that it applies in just about any work environment. I’d also add, maybe having an outlet within the office (if applicable) like a ping pong table or something where people can get away for a few seconds. Also, a little bit of aspirin doesn’t hurt either
@Jacob Stoops A destresser in the office is a good idea. We don’t have a ping-pong table, but we do have a fun couch and bean bag chair. Does that count?
@CourtV That works for me! Sounds like a good plan.
@HeatherWhaling i think it does!
Love this post! I love all the ideas for avoiding burnout. I’ve recently gotten involved in volunteer organizations and boards outside my 9-5 job…it gives me the chance to use my PR/marketing skills in a different way.
These are all wonderful tips and tricks to keep in mind as you grow in your career. The key thing here is having business leadership that believes in them too!