Experiencing Burnout as a User Researcher

It’s about 6:50am and I have been staring at this blank Medium page for days. I have merely managed the title and tagline. Recently, it has been a struggle to write articles, both for Medium and my contract writing. This is contrary to how I usually feel about writing. I normally love writing, it energizes me. I know everyone struggles from writers block, and feeling tired, but this feels beyond that. For some reason, something in me has shifted and, suddenly, my word choice feels stupid, my sentences don’t feel as witty and my thoughts feel incredibly scattered.

This has also managed to seep into other areas of my life, such as work. The other day, I sat in a strategy planning meeting for Q3. I’m a senior user researcher, and I have been doing this job now for about seven years, but as I sat in that meeting trying to wrap my head around building business cases, revenue impact and prioritizing backlogs, I felt utterly like an imposter.

Earlier this week, I started a writing assignment, which was to produce an article on generative research. Generative research is my bread and butter, my go-to, my expertise, but I sat there and stared at my blank canvas of a word document for a good two hours before closing it. I felt an immense amount of pressure for it to be perfect, and shame for barely being able to type 350 words out of my 1,500 word minimum.

Also, I’ve been generally irritable, cynical and sensitive. This has been super fun for my friends and boyfriend.

Why am I sharing this?

Sometimes I feel like blogging can be similar to Instagram or Facebook. Usually, I don’t write about how insecure I might feel in a meeting, or how I can feel so lost and overwhelmed at work. When we read articles, it can seem like the author really has their sh*t together. They rarely mess up interviews, or struggle with producing actionable insights. It can feel like everyone else knows everything. And, while I will always agree that reading is a form of learning and sharing knowledge, at times, the vast amount of knowledge can become so overwhelming.

Nobody knows everything. We are all out here trying to do our best, but, at times, it can feel extremely important to convince others that we are smart, talented and always on top of everything.

In addition, user research can be a particularly emotional job. I have spoken to many researchers and a lot of us are empathetic introverts. Being an empathetic introvert can be difficult in a job that requires you to constantly empathize with, talk to and be around others. This is the exact reason I left the world of therapy (and then, consequently joined the world of tech therapy).

When you empathize with someone you, essentially, are sharing their same feelings. For instance, if a person is struggling or upset, you are more likely to feel that way as well. We are often trying to understand problems with products and where people are having a hard time so we often see people feeling frustrated by our product. This is how we, as researchers, are able to relate to and advocate for our users, but it can also leave us feeling drained. Sharing research can be equally as difficult as you are constantly highlighting problem areas and issues for the team. Although I always call these areas for improvement, or opportunities, that doesn’t always fool people.

What are some “symptoms?”

There are some red flags that can help you determine if you are sliding down the slippery slope of burnout. Although everyone is different, and expresses reactions to being stressed in various ways, here are some symptoms I have recognized:

• Unable to focus. You have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time, and end up just doing a lot of scattered work, and, ultimately, not completing tasks
• Desire to avoid. I am an avid to-do list user, and absolutely love ticking tasks off of my to-do list…sometimes to the point of putting a task I already finished on the list, just in order to complete it. When I feel burnt out, my to-do list just keeps piling up, and I do my best to not even look at it, or add new tasks to it
• Isolatation. When these feelings of burnout come, all I want to do is sleep and work from home. I don’t want to be around people, or share my thoughts with others. This can also cause me to withdraw from my personal relationships and social life
• Personal life becomes more difficult. I’m like Monica from Friends most days, but when I am burnt-out, I don’t even want to tidy up my apartment. I pick more fights with people I care about, I don’t eat as well or commit to my daily meditations. Everything feels too heavy and arduous
• Consistently feeling demotivated. That job you used to care about? It suddenly becomes significantly less important to get anything done, or contribute positively. Even the easy tasks feel insurmountable, and everything feels too difficult
• Reduced performance. The feeling of not being able to do anything right that I mentioned in the beginning of this article, that is a huge warning sign for me. This could surface as missing deadlines, feeling “spaced out” (missing phone meetings or being late to meetings) or being less engaged in your day-to-day role. It is a heavy burden to feel like you are unable to perform well
• Increased cynicism. Now, my humor is generally full of cynicism, and that is perfectly fine, but I mean an elevated cynicism, which can actually end up in being mean. Suddenly I feel like I am the Debbie Downer, and the person who is more focused on the negative, or how difficult something is. Nothing is possible, and everything is annoying

What can you do to avoid/help burnout?

I have developed a few ideas on how to help alleviate the feelings of burnout, both before and after the symptoms start.

More research-specific ideas:

• Do research with team members! You don’t have to be the only one listening, taking notes, synthesizing…in fact, you shouldn’t be. User research really is a team sport, and sharing the experience with others really helps diffuse the high emotions in the session. You have other perspectives and can talk through what you just experienced with others
• Do emotion-neutralizing exercises. I do my best to meditate daily in order for me to stay aware of my emotions, and control how those emotions surface. In addition, I have meditated after particularly difficult research sessions, and have also meditated before sessions if I have been having a tough day beforehand. Another exercise I use is to write out any feelings before and after the research session. Both of these allow me to leave additional emotional baggage outside my sessions
• Avoid back-to-back research sessions. Although this is sometimes unavoidable, I find breaking up the session allows me to decompress and “restart” my emotions before the next session. That way, I am ready to handle whatever is coming for the next session, and am not carrying around anything from the previous session. It also gives me a chance to do any neutralizing exercises (or get something to eat)
• Listen to the research a few different times. I listen to my research recordings right after a research session, and then, again, a few days (or a week) later. I find relistening right after the session to be much more emotionally charged, as I am still very attuned to how that user is feeling. of course, I think it is very important to listen to a session again right after (I also use this to take notes), but I also think giving yourself some emotional distance by listening later also helps put issues and problems into perspective

Overall ideas:

• Reach out to your team members and manager — For me, this has been the most beneficial and important. You aren’t alone in this, and talking with others helps you feel more connected. Not only that, but you can let your manager know how you are feeling and they can help you work through some of these issues. It is always better to share this information rather than others thinking you are “slacking” or that you don’t care
• Be nice to yourself — not every single day will be perfect. Some days will be more difficult than others and you won’t always be successful in controlling your emotions. We can’t always be on top of everything at once, so make sure to give yourself a break if something goes wrong
• Take care of your body and mind. Go on vacation when you need to, take a mental health day or work from home if you need some space. I always try to eat well, exercise and get enough sleep. Now, this doesn’t always happen (see the point above), but I naturally feel better when I do!

These symptoms might sound dramatic or floofy (one of my favorite made-up words), but they really can be real for some people. Research, as well as many other jobs, can be extremely emotionally draining. When we are feeling unwell, we end up doing more harm to ourselves and others, so it is important to always assess how we are feeling, and be okay accepting however you feel — the best thing you can do is acknowledge and move forward!