Product Management: How to Avoid Product Manager Burnout

The first step is to recognize you’re close to being burnt out. Once you’ve realized something wrong, you can begin to mitigate the risk of things getting worse. After this, you should focus on stopping or, at the very least, slowing down considerably. You don’t have to take things to the extreme and walk out of your job, but you should talk to colleagues about offloading some of your work to help take some pressure off you. Taking an extended break or using some vacation time is a great idea.

The Pressures of This Unique Role

Working across all departments is a blessing and a curse. You can find yourself spread too thin while trying in vain to keep everybody up-to-date with your progress. Sometimes, you can find yourself doing your job and the jobs of your colleagues. This alone is draining, and when you add that you’ll be handling the research and user testing, a constantly changing hypothesis, and the marketing, sales enablement, and eventual launch of your product, it’s no surprise that you feel overwhelmed from time to time.

The Best Ways to Avoid Product Manager Burnout

The most effective way even the busiest product manager can avoid burnout is by familiarizing themselves with the warning signs of burnout and taking steps to mitigate them once they emerge. Burnout is a long and drawn-out process that doesn’t appear overnight. There’s often a slow build-up that you’ll notice, and by taking the proper steps, you’ll be able to avoid things escalating. It’s important to remember that feeling burnt-out is entirely natural and does not reflect your ineptitude in the role.

• Don’t Push Yourself!

Be aware of your feelings and how they can impact your future. The moment you begin to feel that things are amiss is when you need to start making arrangements to ease your workload and take time for yourself. Continuing to push through the negativity will only result in you needing a week, month, or an even more extended sabbatical.

• Take a Step Back

Removing yourself from the chaos of your average working day can help you ascertain what’s going wrong. Take a look at your most pressing issues and see if you can deal with them one by one to help reduce the pressure. For example, you should never feel guilty about taking a break.

• Find Support

Talking about mental health is essential, and you should never be ashamed to speak to family, friends, and colleagues about your issues. You’ll be surprised to find that people close to you have likely had the same experiences and are in an excellent place to offer you advice.

• Become Stronger

Even simple tasks take effort when you’re feeling burned out. Try to focus on rebuilding your life and your schedule in the most minor yet most meaningful ways possible; eating regular, healthy meals, taking gentle exercise, and sleeping regularly. Make time for the things that make you happy, and you’ll slowly but surely have more energy for everything else.

• Realign Your Values and Life Goals

Refocus on your hopes and dreams and where you’re going in life. While it may not seem like it at the time, burnout can be a force for change. You’ll be likely to have never been able to consider your career with such clarity, and you can work out what needs to change and what you’re happy with keeping the same. Having time away from work can help you realize what you want to achieve in life and can provide you the chance to make changes if they’re necessary.

• Be Patient — Don’t Rush Things.

Like becoming burned out is a long process, recovering from the feeling is, too. Don’t rush things, or you could be back at square one before you know it. Patience is vital when recovering from burnout and is the only way you’ll be able to recover to your full potential. You can feel a lot better in the short term, and then if you jump back in at the deep end, you’ll lose your progress and be stuck in a rut again. Recovering from burnout means you will be in a different place than before. Don’t be afraid to take your time to find out exactly where that place will be.