Are You Motivated or Burnt Out?

Woman in orange with fist raised and smiling. Another woman on right with head is hands on a desk.

Do you feel drained at the end of the work day? You work hard and get a lot done but are mentally exhausted. After work, you don’t want to do anything that requires you to think too much. After the kids go to bed, you don’t read or tackle those hobbies that interest you. Instead, you sit and watch Love Island with a bowl of popcorn.

That is your after-work routine—day after day.

You know it is not healthy.

Your spouse, partner, and kids are not getting the best of you.

You want to feel energetic and able to do more.

But it isn’t happening.

You don’t know why.

Well, I have an idea.

You may be very successful at work, getting all the accolades, but you likely are not using the skills that motivate you.

That excites you.

That keeps you engaged.

Instead, you are mainly using your burnout skills. 

And it is exhausting you.

What are motivating skills?

Look at your job description. There is a list of job duties that involve using various skills. Some of the skills on this list get you excited.

“Yeah, I get to ideate!”

“Wow, I love to analyze data.”

“I get to liaise with other departments. Bring it on.”

You are attracted to the work that allows you to do these skills.

We call them your motivating or preferred skills.

These are either skills you do well AND want to do or skills you want to do but may need more expertise.

Remember, unlike an innate strength that you are born with, skills are abilities that you learn over time. Throughout our careers, we have the opportunity to learn new skills that can motivate us.

So, what happens when we use the skills that motivate us in our work?

Increased Job Satisfaction: Using your preferred skills can make your work more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Higher Productivity: When you like what you're doing, you're more likely to be productive and efficient.

Enhanced Performance: Doing activities that require skills that motivate you can lead to better performance and results.

Career Growth: Leveraging your preferred skills can open up new opportunities for growth and advancement.

Greater Engagement: When you're engaged in your work, you will likely go the extra mile for your team.

But many of us are not engaged or especially productive. Instead of using our motivating skills, we use many burnout skills daily.

What are burnout skills?

So, burnout skills are the opposite of motivating skills or preferred skills. These are the skills that you either can do well but don’t want to or don’t do well and have no interest in doing.

I will give you an example. Back in the day in HR, we had paper personnel files. Someone had to go in and put all those pieces of paper in the right folder in the right order. I was really good at this. No errors ever. But did I like to do this? Hell no. I would push this off until the stack was high and you could not add any more to it. I was on top of every aspect of my job, but why did I procrastinate on this one?

Because it used burnout skills.

I was not challenged doing this.

It was boring.

That is how you know that the skill is a burnout skill.

Unfortunately, many of us have a job description filled with burnout skills.

Maybe it was something we used to like before but don’t now.

Maybe we have mastered that skill and are more interested in others. Maybe we aren’t very good at it, and trying to do better every day is a struggle when we know we can make a difference by doing other things.

No job is perfect, and burnout skills must be used in every job. But job unhappiness comes when you use your burnout skills a lot of the time.

Assess what skills you are using the majority of the time

Have you thought about how much time you use motivating skills versus burnout skills in your job? If you haven’t, do this exercise.

-Get your job description (or write your own if you do not have one).

-Put the job description into ChatGPT or your favorite AI site. If any of your job duties are missing, add them with as much description as possible.

-Use this prompt: I am looking for all the skills associated with this job. Review the job description and provide the skills generally associated with these job duties or requirements. 

-Review the list of skills. What are motivating skills (remember they are skills you like doing or would like to do)?

-Then determine whether you get to use the motivating skills every week or a significant amount of time (like on a project that may last weeks or months).

-Look at the percentage of motivating skills used versus the total. You should be spending the vast amount of your time using your motivating skills. This could be why you feel burned out if this is not the case.

What do you do if you are feeling burned out?

If you are in this situation, know that many people feel the same way. Now that you recognize why you feel this way, let’s discuss the different options you have to address this situation.

Change your workload

In some cases, you might be able to remove some of the burnout skills from your job. One way would be to talk with your boss and see if work can be rearranged on the team so others who may find your burnout skills motivating can take over that duty.

If you are a boss and have a team, you may be able to delegate some of your burnout skill duties to others. I ended up delegating the filing to an HR Assistant once one was hired.

Change jobs in your organization

Are there other jobs you know would require a higher percentage of motivating skills? Sometimes, similar-titled jobs can be in different departments, especially in larger organizations. If the content of these jobs differs, you may find that changing to another team or department means spending more time using your motivating skills as part of the job.

Look outside the organization

If your organization cannot or will not give you more flexibility in the type of work you do, then you may need to look elsewhere. That could mean having the same job title but different content to the role (like a Marketing Manager, which can vary in job duties), or you may need to change occupations if the job duties and skills needed are fairly fixed (like a sales role, where many of your burnout skills are in influencing others).

Want to learn more?

Understanding your motivating and burnout skills is essential. With this information, you can evaluate a current job to see if the balance between the two is positive or negative. 

If you realize that you are using too many burnout skills, impacting your career and personal life, then this information is vital to understanding what roles are a better fit. 

You never want to leave one job for another, only to find the situation is not better (and could be even worse!). Knowing this information about yourself can help you to make better career decisions.

I can provide a short assessment if you need help understanding your motivating and burnout skills. This information can be a game changer in reclaiming your job and your excitement about it.

Shelley Piedmont is a Career Coach who focuses on understanding your unique skills, interests, and aspirations and provides personalized coaching to guide you toward roles where you can truly thrive. Whether you are stuck as to what your next career move should be or need help with resumes, LinkedIn profiles, or interview preparation, Shelley is here to help you. Please set up an exploratory call to find out how she can help you reach your career goals.