Ah, a word on burnout. Such an ugly word in Appleseed, but a reality none the less. :-\
Fred has been waiting for me to burnout for years now. Waiting for the melt down, he probably wonders how I made it this far. Well, I have a secret. I get help! :sos:
I look at my little Admin group, (not so little anymore) and think to myself, how on earth did I used to do all that stuff by myself? I have about 12+ people now running around like a little efficient, well oil machine, getting all the background Appleseed stuff done.
I do talk to them about burnout fairly often. Answering E-mails is about the worse job there is and the most prone to burnout. I tell those doing the job, if you open your e-mail and just get the feeling that I can't deal with this today, and that goes on for a few days, it's time for a change. I still can't open my e-mail without getting that feeling and wish I could get a secretary to handle my personal stuff. E-mail is hard, same questions all the time, people complaining, demanding, and sometimes thanking. I don't like to keep people in that job for more than 6 mos to a year. ++)
I often get asked, why do you prefer working with women? It's simple, they are used to drudgery, they clean the same room every single day, they make the same bed, wash the same clothes only to have somebody walk in and mess it all up and they just do it again tomorrow. They also have the patience of Job, a much needed asset when working admin. And to top it all off, they don't lose sight of detail. This makes them less prone to burnout. However, there are men who fit this bill as well, and I welcome them into group.
However, with all the training they've had from life, they are still prone to burnout. My response is TELL ME! Let's make some changes.
I recently held a Face to Face Admin meeting. We trained everybody to do everybody else's job. Need a break? Anybody can cover for a few days. Need a change? Let's do a job swap. The only bad thing that came out of the meeting is some of the ladies found jobs they like better than the ones they are doing. Jobs that excite them.
Your assignment should excite you and when it doesn't anymore find one that does. I would just drop dead with joy if somebody said to me, "RW, I want to help out in admin." YEAH!! I have several jobs that need filling. If you see a job out there that interests you. GO ASK TO HELP! We need you, we need people who are excited to help.
Be sure to find somebody to fill your current spot if necessary though. O0
Don't let yourself get burned out. Appleseed is a mission, a war of sorts, a war to keep from ever having to have another Rev. war. To awake people, It's going to be a long haul and we need you plugging along with us. But that means taking care of yourself, your family and other responsibilities. Wife starts to get upset with the time you are spending. Turn things over to your assistant (What? Don't have an assistant? GET ONE) for a few days and take her out on the town. Give her all the attention in the world, follow her everywhere, hang on her very word. Within 2 days she'll beg you to get back to your Appleseed work. **)
Don't wait until you're so sick of what you are doing that you drop out or you aren't doing anything so you don't feel needed. Make changes. Don't wait for somebody to come and ask can you help with this or that, if you see something going on that interests you go to them.
You are desperately needed in this program. Some of us, and I'm speaking from experience just don't know who's out there to help or what they would like to do. I am terribly busy and just can't keep up on stuff. There was a time when I knew everybody in Appleseed. Today, I know so few it's scary. We will continue to grow and as we do you will need to communicate with us better tell us what's going on. What you'd like to do etc.
Burnout leads us to do weird stuff. Go off the deep end, disappear without a trace, get over zealous, etc. Let's avoid this at all costs.
Great words of wisdom from a gal who has been around the block a few times.
RW, I still don't know how you do it @)