Getting nothing done at work. Help?

September 15, 2015 3:04 PM

I am having a significant, abnormal amount of difficulty getting anything accomplished at work. This problem has steadily been worsening over the last several months, and I am getting worried. How can I snap out of this?

I'm 30, in a sought-after position in a career I wish I hadn't chosen.* I don't exactly dread going into work every day, but I am not thrilled about it, either. I am bored; it's a strange sort of bored, though, because much of my work could fairly be described as challenging. It's more that I can't find any joy or personal fulfillment in what I do. That makes me sad, or maybe more specifically, like work is meaningless.

As I noted, for the last several months, I've had an increasing amount of trouble focusing and concentrating on my work while I am at work. It has reached a point where I am falling behind. Sometimes I just sit there at my desk, watching the minutes tick by. I'm embarrassed by this, but I also have the strangest feeling of detachment from it all. I don't know what to do. I'm starting to become afraid of this feeling of nothing. I have to get my work done, and I'd prefer to be doing it well, but I feel like I'm sitting cross-legged beside a wall that I don't have the energy or desire to climb. I often feel tired, even when I've gotten enough sleep. Much of the time when I'm at work, I wish I could just go home.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? I need to snap out of it and start producing again. I've tried the Pomodoro Technique without success. Any ideas? I wish I could take a vacation, but I don't have any vacation time and won't for another year.

* I have a significant amount of educational debt - enough that going back to school, at least right now, would be impossible. In any event, I've already accepted the reality that I'm stuck in my field (which is a relatively lucrative one, although a very poor fit for me long-term) until I am able to pay a good chunk of that debt down. I say this to head off suggestions I switch careers - it's just not possible right now. Switching jobs is also not a possibility for at least another year (for Reasons - please trust me on this).

posted by dinnerdance to Work & Money (21 answers total)

This sounds like depression. You should see someone for help with it. If you have access to paid sick leave, you should consider whether you can use it.
posted by robcorr at 3:24 PM on September 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

For me, a scenario remarkably like this one was the inciting event that caused me to go to my doctor about depression and anxiety. She said (after a really long conversation), "Well, we can treat the depression and anxiety, or we can treat the ADHD which is probably the underlying cause."

In any case, regardless of whether your situation is transient, or whether it's a symptom of an underlying cause, going to have a conversation with a physician you trust could be a good first step.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:29 PM on September 15, 2015 [8 favorites]

Sounds like depression, which in my case eventually tracked to being hypothyroid (and is clearing up with treatment!).

You don't have to see a psych at first - my recommendation would be to take your depression/lethargy/anhedonia and any other symptoms you're experiencing to your regular doctor (or any primary care with your insurance, if you don't have a GP) and go from there. They can start blood tests for Vitamin D, thyroid (T4 and TSH), anemia, and other possible medical causes.
posted by bookdragoness at 3:41 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Doctor, now. In addition to depression screening, they should look for other possible causes like vitamin deficiency (esp. D, B12, and iron), sleep apnea, thyroid issues, and so on.

I've been there -- if you're a woman in your 30s, you're in the prime age range to develop thyroid issues. It is AMAZING how much more productive you can be once your thyroid numbers are back in the normal range.
posted by pie ninja at 3:44 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Another vote for talking to a doctor, here.

Other thoughts:
* You don't have to go back to school to change your job or change your career. Sometimes the same job at a different company is a completely different animal.
* Do you have people asking you for things, noticing your lack of productivity? The way you describe your job it sounds like you are pretty much left to your own devices - not everyone is cut out for that. Some people (like me) do much better when they have to regularly explain their progress.

Good luck.
posted by bunderful at 3:46 PM on September 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Man, I have so been exactly where you are. This sounds like classic burn-out. I think addressing the underlying psychological causes like the others above have suggested is a good and necessary first step.

If you'd like another technique for getting work done while addressing the underlying causes, I read about something called the Guilt Hour. Basically, when work starts piling up and you begin to feel stuck, guilt starts getting in the way of doing anything. So, to clear that guilt, you set aside an hour on your calendar, and for the first five minutes, actively think about something you've been avoiding due to guilt, and really get into your feelings about it. Then spend the rest of the hour working on that thing. It's not magical, but it is a way of gaining traction on something you've been avoiding.
posted by inky_the_pinky at 3:47 PM on September 15, 2015 [16 favorites]

There's two ideal states of working:
1. You are passionate about the work you do and find personal meaning in getting things done (you feel like you are making the world a better place, you are saving lives, etc)

2. You don't give a shit about the work you do but it gives you things that enable you to spend the rest of your time happy (good pay, or maybe it enables you to travel to exotic places where you can take mini-vacations, etc)

Unfortunately you are not in situation 1 and THAT IS OKAY. But you also aren't in situation 2, or at least you don't mention anything that makes you happy in the rest of your life. I can definitely say that I am more of a situation 2 kind of person and what motivates me to get my work done is knowing it will result in a nice bonus (and the promise of a regular good salary), which enables me to do all the things I love on the weekend.

Try to identify things that you enjoy doing outside of work. Can you get yourself pumped enough about those things to use as a carrot in front of your work? If you can't, you might be depressed and I definitely recommend seeing someone about that.

And in case that sounds weird, let me assure you - if you're in a challenging, sought-after position you're probably experiencing a lot of pressure from that and probably most of your peers are also going through something similar. Depression and anxiety are SO prevalent.
posted by joan_holloway at 3:49 PM on September 15, 2015 [12 favorites]

When was your last vacation? Seriously. When was the last time you took a week or more off work and did something relaxing/fun/new/exciting?

It may be depression or it may also be that you just need a break from the doldrums. I'm in this exact same position right now and am battling what you are. I don't think I'm depressed. I think I'm overworked and the fact that I haven't taken a real vacation in two years (maternity leave is no vacation) is killing my soul.

Take a break.
posted by teamnap at 3:53 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

I've been there, and for me it's usually more about unrealistic expectations for myself, fear of not living up to those standards, and not doing enough fun/self-care activities. But investigating physical issues, ADHD and depression all seem like good ideas as well.

You might try the "Now Habit" for some practical, immediate, breaking the procrastination gridlock help. I found it very useful, especially when I get sucked into a perfectionism-anxiety-avoidance-guilt-avoidance thing. There's an audio version too that I got from my public library's on demand audio app - yours might have it too.
posted by pennypiper at 4:33 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Everyone else's points about possible depression are good, but I've been where you are when I've had other (non-depression) causes of intense fatigue. Consider various medical possibilities.

Things that helped me at times I was feeling this way:

- Realizing how low my energy was and budgeting my time accordingly ("I'll have about 2 hours of real focus today, so how do I want to use that?")

- Acknowledging to myself that every project will take two to three times as long as I think it should. (I was avoiding certain tasks because they would take forever, but once I resigned myself to setting aside "forever divided by 10" for the first 10% of the project, and then really tried to honor that time as the time when I would in fact start the long slog, I could get a little traction.)

- Instead of Pomodoro, using a counting-up timer and congratulate yourself on increasing the amount of time you spend on task. The first time might be just 4 minutes, but can your next attempt be 12 minutes?

- Writing a quick list of whatever was plaguing me: "this project will fail because..." (for you, it might be "I hate my job because...") or whatever. Just giving that negativity somewhere to go (into your journal) got it to stop filling my head.

- Could you use more of a buddy on the project? Sometimes talking about things helps me.

- Getting a functioning To Do list going. It's functioning when (a) the action items aren't clogging your subconscious because they're all on the list, (b) things on your list are small enough that you can actually do something on the list before the fatigue overtakes you, so you may have to list things like "open Excel" "create subject headers" "find notes from Mary in folder"...

- If you can find the recent Forum podcast, "why you procrastinate and how to stop," I found it useful in getting me to honor my own time and use it to get things done so I could clock out without guilt at the earliest possible time.

Good luck. Fatigue like this really can be hard.
posted by salvia at 4:41 PM on September 15, 2015 [13 favorites]

+1 for "this sounds like depression". I could have written this exact question about 8 years ago. The chronic tiredness led me to go visit a doctor, who said basically "it's one of three things: depression, sleep troubles, or something we'll never figure out".

I did a full physical and bloodwork (to rule out physical causes), and I did an overnight sleep study (which ruled out the sleep issues), and then was referred to a therapist. For me, talk therapy helped but what helped more was about 12 months on a low dosage of an antidepressant. (If you're nervous about meds, remember that they are not always necessary, and many people can do a lot to treat depression without meds!)

The difference was almost night-and-day. More energy (both at work and outside of it), more willingness and eagerness to identify the problems with my current situation and work on solving them. After ~12 months of meds, we started tapering off the dosage and I haven't been back since, because I haven't needed to. I've occasionally bounced in and out of therapists' offices in the years since, but never for anything as drastic as that initial depression (which itself was mild, on the scale of things), and I've never needed to go back on any sorts of meds. No amount of to-do lists or processes or LifeHacks™ would have had nearly the same effect.

All of which is to say: I've been precisely where you are. Please go see a primary-care doctor that you trust, and just describe your day-to-day symptoms. That initial step is absolutely the hardest part of the process, but it leads to so much improvement.

Memail me for more, if you like.
posted by Dilligas at 4:47 PM on September 15, 2015 [2 favorites]

Sometimes I get this way when I am overwhelmed. Too much to do and no idea where to start.

What helps me then is to take a couple of hours and "regroup". I go through my email inbox, flag things that need taken care of. Print out the important ones to add to my To Do pile.

Then I go through the stack of work on my desk. I often find there is a lot of stuff I can throw away. Old meeting notes, tasks I've completed, tasks that are so old that nobody remembers or presumably cares that I was supposed to do them (else they would have followed up with me).

Then I prioritize the items in my To Do pile, as best I can, and stack things in order of priority. #1's on top, #2's next, etc.

Then I set the pile aside and clean off my desk. I get rid of clutter, old beverage bottles, knock the crumbs out of my keyboard, wipe down my desk with a cleaning wipe, and rearrange items until my desk is clean, uncluttered and an oasis of order.

Then I sit down to work. Just start at the top of the pile and work my way down as far as I can, taking a few minutes every hour or so for a "brain break" to look at Facebook or whatever.

If I really need to focus I'll close my email and send calls to voicemail for a time. I've also booked myself a conference room on occasions when I really needed to shut out noise and distractions.

I've also taken a "personal day" and used it to work from home to get caught up, without the distractions of people interrupting me all day long.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 4:50 PM on September 15, 2015 [5 favorites]

I experienced this at my old job towards the end. I shamefully started slacking and killing time the second half of my day. I had a lot of anxiety about work and was also starting to burn out. I too realized it was a career I didn't want after all.

I ended up quitting (on good terms), took a break (6 months until I felt it was time to get back to it), and found myself a new career with more freedom, less micromanagement, and it is just one type of work, whereas before I was trained as a jack of all trades and became the office dumping ground for excess work in all departments. This job pays less and there are no benefits, but I am happier now.

I don't advise quitting your job, but I think quality of life is important, and if you are burned out, maybe it is time to consider something different, or even switching to part time even if temporarily for the sake of your mental health.
posted by atinna at 5:40 PM on September 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Are you really enjoying yourself and relaxing on the weekends? Maybe it would help if you planned and arranged your life so that you could spend an entire Saturday or Sunday, or even both, doing something that's like a vacation. Plan a cool activity on Tuesday night -- somewhere to do nothing, or go kayaking; maybe a room to rent in the nearest downtown area, or on a farm, or in the mountains, or on a beach, or near a theme park, or adjacent to a wonderful park -- whatever is close to you and different from your usual environment and not completely boring-sounding (unless you want something "boring").

Decide whether you want a friend or two along. Would time with friends make you feel better? If so, invite them.

Do your laundry and pay bills on Wednesday. Pack and prepare food on Thursday. Then, on Friday night, go. Don't do any chores or work for at least 30 hours (evening to evening). Anytime you start to even think about work, stop; look around and take a deep breath and _enjoy_ where you are. Let yourself have fun.

It's not as good as a week-long vacation. The effect won't last as long. But it's something, and your life will be better.

Apologies if you're doing this already.
posted by amtho at 6:06 PM on September 15, 2015 [7 favorites]

Nthig talking to a doctor about possible physical and/or psychological causes.

But in the meantime, try to break it into tiny chunks, and just do one tiny chunk at a time. I just started a job, where I do Quality Assurance, and I have to do X tasks a day. When I look at 'X tasks a day', I get overwhelmed - but when I look at 'X/8 tasks an hour' (assuming an 8 hour day), that's much more manageable for me. As a consequence, I've been more focused and more productive every day. I guess it's kind of like the Pomodoro Technique, but the focus is on the tasks, not the time.
posted by spinifex23 at 8:08 PM on September 15, 2015

You are not depressed and a doctor will do nothing.

YOU ARE BORED

I experienced that many many years ago. Well paid job, lots of perks, etc etc, but I just wasn't interested in rowing someone else's boat anymore. So I quit to do my own thing. But the last months were awful.

Since you say you cannot change careers now because of your debts, I suggest you try a couple of the coping techniques highlighted in previous posts, or can be easily found on the Internet. While waiting to leave.
posted by Kwadeng at 11:24 PM on September 15, 2015 [9 favorites]

There are many reasonable suggestions above. It might be depression, burnout, thyroid/vitamin/other issues. Please check all those things out, just to make sure.

My simple suggestion, because it sure helped me, is: coffee. Yes, it's stupid, yes too much can be unhealthy, yes it only masks the underlying issuess... But at least for me, it worked wonderfully. Y(C)MMV - your coffee mileage may vary.
posted by gakiko at 12:29 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Another thing that helps me when I feel bored or lethargic at work: headphones, phone or iPod, and something to listen to.

When I'm doing a boring, repetitive task I listen to podcasts or audiobooks.

If I'm feeling anxious and scattered, but need to focus, I play calming music (classical music, Benedictine chant)

If I'm dragging ass, but really need to power through some task, I have a couple of playlists I use: high energy rock songs (Queen, Joan Jett, Heart) or peppy 80's pop music.

When I can't tune out my coworker's annoying, incessant quacking from three departments away (OMG STFU!), I use a white noise soundtrack. Either actual white noise, brown noise (softer) or a "sounds" app (rainstorm, ocean and airplane ride are all calming and block out a lot of annoying sounds.)

When I really need to drown out background noise plus I want music, I have been known to put in earbuds playing white noise, then headphones over top of that, playing music.

These things have saved many a workday when I couldn't seem to get my ass in gear due to boredom, anxiety or annoying distractions.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 2:44 AM on September 16, 2015 [4 favorites]

The part that makes me think depression is where you mention the sense of detachment. The popular perception of depression is a goth kid who talks about killing himself all the time, but the reality is that depression often feels like... nothing. You just don't feel anything. It's definitely worth asking a doctor about. As many have pointed out, there may be something underlying, but any competent professional will be able to identify that fairly quickly.

My question for you is, do you still enjoy your job? Like, if you took on additional responsibility at work, could that help? Even though you say your work is challenging, could it be that you're just... used to the challenge? Is this something you can talk to your boss about?

And, as others have asked, do you still enjoy things outside of work? If so, try to bring some of those outside interests into your workplace as much as possible. There's a book called "The Artist in the Office" by Summer Pierre that I've found helpful, even though I'm not an artist. It might be worth checking out.

Good luck.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:09 AM on September 16, 2015

To get spring in your step: check for deficiencies with doctor, watch your diet, get a good night's sleep every night, bike to work if possible, and take frequent outdoor walks at work if they won't fire you for it...try to get a 5-minute walk in every hour or two, in any weather.

And make sure you always have something to look forward to. Something kind of major.
posted by serena15221 at 2:40 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

+1 for possibly just bored. I'm exactly like that when I'm bored at work, I can't get anything done. I deal with it by drinking an embarassing amount of coffee/water (something to do), taking walks at lunch to clear my head and feel like a human, and trying to power through 1 interesting podcasts worth of work at a time... the only way it really resolves for me is A) get a new more interesting job (if it's really systematic) or B) have a new project put on my plate (if it's just a lull in an otherwise good thing).
posted by annie o at 6:22 AM on September 18, 2015 [2 favorites]