Avoiding Burnout in Medical Writing - Part 1 (Control)

While medical writing may not seem like a high-stress career to outsiders, those of us in the industry know the struggles. We face tight timelines, shifting deadlines, changes in priority, scope creep, difficult team members, and unrealistic expectations – sometimes all of these at the same time. Combine this with other non-work priorities and commitments we have to juggle on top of our careers, and it’s a recipe for burnout.

I have been a high-stress, anxious, people-pleasing perfectionist for almost as long as I can remember. Maybe I was born that way, maybe it's just part of being a middle child, who knows. From elementary school on, I always had big goals, and the immense pressure I put on myself to succeed at everything continued well into my 30’s. I spent many years during graduate school and at the start of my career grinding for success. I always felt like once I accomplished X, Y, and Z, my life would suddenly be amazing and stress-free. I would suddenly feel like I made it and there would be no more stress.

Spoiler alert – I was wrong!

Over my now 12-year career in medical writing, I have worked in-house as a full-time salaried publication writer, in-house as a full-time salaried regulatory writer, as a full-time freelancer, and as a part-time freelancer (while navigating being a new parent during a pandemic)! I have had a few moments of bliss and ideal work-life balance, many moments of extreme stress, an almost nervous breakdown, and everything in between. I’ve learned that every role can be stressful if you allow it to feel that way.

Over the past several years, I’ve been doing the hard work of unlearning my natural tendencies. It's been a bit of an experiment, but one that has taught me SO much. I’m still a work in progress and experience stress in my career. But the good news is I've handled stressful situations better than I would have in the past and I have more awareness. This allows me to make changes before I hit burnout and before stress impacts other areas of my life (eg, health, relationships).

In doing this work, I’ve had 2 very important realizations:

1. There is more within my control than I think.

2. While there will always be things outside of my control, I CAN control how I think and react to those things.

In the grand scheme of things, most of our lives are within our control.

Hate your job? Quit! Okay, maybe it’s hard. Maybe it will look bad. Maybe your boss and coworkers will hate you (they probably won’t). But you can. You can just quit. Seriously. It’s in your control.

Some of the things we can control that have the potential to have a huge impact on our lives include:

• How we spend our time

• Who we spend time with

• The boundaries that we set

• How we show up in the world (our energy, attitude, etc.)

This means you have to learn how to say "no". Or learn how to say "yes, but...". Every time you say "yes" to something, you are saying "no" to something else.

"No, I can't stay late today, because I have to pick up my child from school."

"Yes, I can help with the protocol amendment, but I am unable to start until next week - can we shift the timeline?"

Sometimes it's a simple "No, I can't support that project" because you don't have time or simply don't want to. You don't even have to provide justification.

I used to walk weekly with a woman who I connected with locally, as we both became pregnant around the same time just before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Every week, we would meet at a local spot and go for a walk. Months went by and she would often show up 10 minutes late, she was negative with an overall bad attitude, and she always led the conversation a direction that I found not enjoyable. We continued walking after we both had new babies at home, I finally decided that this weekly walk was not how I wanted to spend my limited free time with a baby at home. I finally told her that I would be spending that time moving forward running with our local running group. She was welcome to join. It was one of the best decisions I could have made.

One time, I had started working with a new client. The team I was working with was very friendly, but they had no processes and it was very unorganized. Despite trying to implement new processes, introduce more definitive timelines, and better define roles/responsibilities, every project felt like complete chaos. After about 3 months, I realized that I was waking up each day dreading working on projects for this specific client. It wasn't fair to me, and it definitely wasn't fair to the client. I agreed to see my current project through to the next draft and would then let them take it from there. There were no hard feelings, and we ended the working relationship positively.

I have found that the more things I say "no" to, work-related and otherwise, the happier I am.

I have also set more boundaries. I do not work between 5:30 pm and 8:00 pm. If I need to work late, I will get online after my son goes to bed. I do not work in an environment unless I feel respected.

Finally, I always like to think about what energy I bring to the room. Every time you walk into a room, meeting, or group of people, you bring some sort of energy. You've probably felt it before. Maybe a very senior person at your company walks into a meeting room, and everything suddenly becomes more serious. Or maybe people are starting to dial into a Zoom meeting, everyone is on mute, then someone incredibly gregarious and positive joins the Zoom meeting and suddenly everyone is talking about their weekend plans. What energy do you want to bring to the room? Showing up with positive energy and a great attitude can not only influence those around you, but will also have a huge impact on your own wellbeing!

And for the things outside of our control, we can control our thoughts around them - which, in turn, will have a huge influence on our feelings and how we respond.

There will always be things outside of our control. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably already recognized that kids always seem to get sick on your busiest days. You know, the day you have an important presentation, 3 deliverables due, along with 2 meetings requiring you on webcam. Then school calls at 9:30 am asking you to pick up your sick child who seemed perfectly healthy just 2 hours ago. Or you’re ready to head to a conference, but a snowstorm causes your flight to be cancelled. Or your car breaks down right as you're heading out to meet a client. Or your computer crashes at 4:45 pm, just as you were about to send out a draft of your document for review.

These things can cause extreme stress even in the best of times. But these things on top of an already stressful environment can be triggering, and can cause you to spiral into burnout.

Handling these things with poise and grace do not come naturally, but with more awareness of your initial thoughts, you will gradually be able to shift how you respond to these types of things.

Imagine you have a Sunday evening deadline. You’re working on a Sunday despite your best efforts to finish before the weekend. You have plans with your family Sunday afternoon and are determined to get the document sent off before then. You are waiting on a colleague to send over some references and can’t send your document out until you have those references. Your colleague messages you that he/she will have the references over to you in 5 minutes. Phew! You wait. 5 minutes pass, 10 minutes pass, then 30 minutes pass…

Initial thoughts: This person thinks I have nothing better to do with my life! What a waste of time! Why am I ruining my weekend for this? My family is waiting for me to go out for the afternoon. They probably hate me. I’m a horrible spouse/parent!

How do these thoughts make you feel? For me, it’s anger, guilt, a lack of control, and helplessness.

Image these alternative thoughts: This person is also working on a Sunday to help me get this document out. I’m sure they have family too and are struggling to get these references over to me while dealing with their own chaos at home. I can just go about my plans and send the document out later this evening.

Do you notice anything different about how these alternative thoughts make you feel? I sure do. These thoughts make me feel at ease and in control. The document will still be sent out on time, you won't have to waste your time sitting around and waiting, you can go about your Sunday afternoon plans and, the best part, you're not wasting energy being frustrated!

Whenever something unexpected happens, be aware of your initial thoughts and how they make you feel. How could you think differently about the situation?

If you've made it this far in the post, I want to offer a challenge for the coming week:

1. Say "no" to something this week that you do not want to do. It could be big or small.

2. If something happens outside of your control that you find stressful, identify the first thoughts that come to your mind. How do they make you feel? Brainstorm other ways that you could think about the situation that bring about more positive thoughts.

Let me know in the comments how it goes!

Go to Part 2 (Goals, Priorities, and Ideals).