How To Never Burn Out In the First Place
By Sanya Weathers
Last week we talked about avoiding burnout, how to recharge, and so forth. Those little tricks work, but you’d rather not burn out at all, you know? Here’s my all time best tip to feel good about your community or customer-facing job:
Go the extra mile for at least one person, every day.
No, no, come back! I know some of you are disappointed that I did not say anything about heavy drinking, but I’m serious. The extra mile trick never fails if you’ve got the right personality for community work.
The rules of the extra mile game:
No make-work. The need should be a real one. But it doesn’t have to be a big need. In fact, the smaller needs will deliver more bang for the buck – big problems eventually get resources and solutions, but the little things in life keep getting backburnered until they’re forgotten. If the person in need says “I know it’s probably not that important in the grand scheme of things,” grab it.
Handle it personally. Don’t delegate. Get your hands dirty. Follow up, document, make calls. You won’t get the emotional impact by getting your team to do the heavy lifting.
Deliver the results real time. If you can’t call or text, at least email. Don’t let the customer or coworker get the good news on their own, as if magical gnomes made it happen. Reach out and say something. Besides, this is a good time to make sure you didn’t leave anything out. You don’t want to be that person who gives someone an awesome gift but not the batteries to make it run.
No bragging. Keep records of the extra miles you run, but unlike with most of the things we do in community, this specific good deed is not something to broadcast. Yes, I’m the one who said if it’s not on your website, it didn’t happen. The thing is, after awhile a community manager can come to feel as if their every thought is transactional. As if the entire universe has quantifiable value. This mindset isn’t healthy in the long term for decent people.
Go the extra mile for someone because it’s the right thing to do, not because there’s anything in it for you. Paradoxically, that’s why you’ll get the most from it, and keep yourself burnout-proof.