All You Need to Know About Professional Efficacy
Photo by Robert Baker on Unsplash
The World Health Organization recently updated their definition of burnout to consist of three components. In this 3-part series, I am going to do a deep dive into each component to teach you all you need to know about burnout! Part one is on exhaustion and part two is on cynicism.
The third and final component of burnout is "reduced professional efficacy". This feeling comes when you don't think you are successful at your work. When we don't think we are performing to our best ability we have a higher risk of burnout.
There are many different factors that can lead to feeling ineffective. Some of the more common factors include:
Not getting feedback on your work. It's important to know how your work compares to your expectations - whether it's good or bad.
Feeling like your talents are being wasted. We all want to feel like we are doing what we are meant to do.
Feeling stuck at your current skill level. If we don't feel like we're improving ourselves and we're just doing the same thing over and over again, that can lead to burnout.
How can you overcome feelings of inefficacy?
Get real feedback on your work from others. It's impossible to improve unless you know where you need to improve. What are some specific areas you can work on to get better at your job?
Look at how you've improved over the last year. It's hard to see growth over just one day, but when you compare yourself to where you were a year ago you may be surprised to realize how much you've grown.
Learn a new skill. Humans are designed to learn and adapt. It's easy to become complacent when we are "good enough" at our job, but what will happen if you suddenly lose your job?
Here are some of my favorite books about feeling more effective at work:
Great at Work by Morten Hansen
The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
I also enjoy listening to the How to Be Awesome At Your Job podcast by Pete Mockaitis. Pete publishes three episodes a week which means there's always something new to learn.
Is there anything else you want to know about professional efficacy? Do you think I missed something? Feel free to email me and let me know.