Beat Retail Burnout
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by Valerie Lipow
If you're committed to a successful retail career, you must be someone who thrives in a competitive, people-oriented environment. That kind of environment can be very stressful, and people can only stay in the pressure-cooker for so long before they start to burn out.
If you're in retail, ask yourself:
- Do you have trouble getting out of bed to go to work?
- Do you never really feel able to unwind and recover from work?
- Do you treat co-workers or customers as interruptions?
Do you have no energy or fun at work? If so, you're experiencing burnout. Feeling stressed, tired, disillusioned and unmotivated is common in the high-pressure retail industry.
Caution: Flammable
Once upon a time, you loved the excitement and challenge of retailing. If you're burnt-out now, it may not be your job itself, but how you handle stress at that job.
If you're a hard worker -- and retailers work hard -- you're at risk for burnout. Why? Because you pour yourself into the job. You spend more time at work than others. You take your work seriously. You care about what you do, and you put a lot of energy into making it good. But when that energy is gone, sometimes stress takes its place.
To handle burnout -- and avoid it -- you need to change the stress you feel into either a neutral or positive force in your life.
Burnout Don'ts
Some ways of coping will only aggravate the problem. For example, pushing yourself to sell more product each month by working longer and longer hours is a mistake. Trying to outperform your job stress is likely to discourage you. It may even make you want to quit altogether.
Here are some other negative stress relievers to avoid:
- Bad-mouthing co-workers or clients.
- Letting conversations or self-talk turn into pity-parties or gripe sessions.
- Dwelling on things you can't change.
- Using drugs, alcohol, tobacco, television or overeating to help solve the problem.
- Bottling the stress up inside.
You're sold on the need to deal with the stress, but how? Battling burnout is easier said than done.
