Do you dread the workday because you’re so bored you don’t know what to do? Then you might be suffering from a bore-out. Readers wondered what that is and how it differs from a burn-out.
Sometimes you have those workdays where everything goes wrong. You’re so busy that you feel like you’re constantly playing catch-up, colleagues or third parties aren’t cooperating, or everything is at a standstill and you don’t know how to get through the day out of boredom.
That can make you feel stressed, tense, or tired. If that happens occasionally, it’s not immediately a problem. But if you frequently push your limits and experience these complaints more often and for longer periods, it can lead to a burn-out or a bore-out.
“The essential difference is that a burn-out has to do with doing too much and being too busy. While a bore-out is mainly about under-stimulation,” says Toon Taris, professor of organizational psychology at Utrecht University. “If you have little to do, it can make you feel unchallenged.” This can lead to feelings of disinterest, fatigue, and uselessness.
Taris mainly sees this happening with highly educated young people who start a job and think: is this it? That has to do with expectations. “You may have studied for a long time and then have to work on very simple tasks that you could do with your eyes closed.”
Having nothing to do also has advantages
If that’s disappointing, you can quickly become disappointed. “But occasionally being bored or having a quieter moment at work is also necessary to keep going. Having nothing to do for a while can be good for you,” he says. “At those moments, you can clear your head for new ideas.”
There are people who feel guilty when they do nothing for a while. But those moments are also very important if you want to recover well from busy periods. Sandra Klijn, an expert in the field of vitality and career development, mentions three risk factors to watch out for if you want to prevent a bore-out:
Have you been going to work with reluctance for a while, but you don’t know where that comes from? Klijn then advises going through these factors. “If you find your work boring, you don’t see the meaning in it, and you can’t grow, it can lead to emotional tension and ultimately frustration. That frustration makes you stressed, tired and irritable.”
The reports that no one reads
These are the same symptoms as with a burn-out. But for your recovery, it is important to find out the cause of your complaints. After all, for complaints that stem from a burn-out and not from a bore-out, very different things are important to make you feel better.
She sees that people who are not stimulated at work start looking for tasks themselves. “But the other work also has to be done. The workload ultimately only increases, and that can ultimately lead to stress. Because even the reports that you feel no one reads have to be finished.”
So that’s not always a good idea. What can you do then? “Start a conversation with your manager. There is a good chance that he or she does not know what you are talking about. The term bore-out doesn’t really help either, because how can you be sick of boredom? It may be a good idea to go through those three risk factors together and explain how you feel based on that.”
Talk about it with colleagues
It is not necessary to use the bore-out label, the expert thinks. “Be open about what you miss and what you need. And try to discuss whether there are other possibilities in which you can give substance to your job.” Perhaps there are certain tasks that you can drop or you can see if colleagues can help you.
She therefore also advises to talk about this more often in a team context. There are always colleagues who are walking around with a task that they are not happy with either. “Suppose: you find budgeting very boring, but your colleague doesn’t. Then you might be able to exchange tasks.”
Taris suggests investigating whether you can give meaning to your work in a different way. “See if you can make it more interesting. Challenge yourself, for example, by taking a course. And if you still can’t figure it out, there’s nothing wrong with looking for another job.”