Burnout during an incident is a real challenge for both responder and other workers supporting incidents. Self-care is one of the most overlooked challenges for addressing security incidents. What follows here is Mike’s (me referring to myself in the third-person) system for working through an incident without crashing hard or wanting to switch careers in a short period of time. This system comes from twenty plus years of working incidents. Please note though, everyone is different, so consider using this as a guide to building a system that works for each individual.
The 3-6-1 Rule (3-8-1 if you need it)
A simple rule of three square meals a day, six hours of sleep (eight if you need it), and one shower everyday. That’s it, it’s the most important thing that people often overlook.
Meal Plan
Three square meals a day is probably too broad. In fact, early in my career I developed a habit of having a brownie and a Pepsi as a snack from the break room during incidents. Even now, nearly twenty years later, I still get a craving for those dry, nasty brownies and a Pepsi. I also put on a fair amount of weight with that habit as it is clearly not the healthiest choice and that’s why you’ll need a meal plan during an incident. Because Mike got fat and learned the lesson for everyone. Take the advice.
Planning meals during an incident is critical for self-care. Failing to plan will result in selecting meals for convenience and that will mean fast food, Doordash or the like, and comfort food like brownies and soda pops. Granted, there will be times during incident’s where comfort food might be necessary, but those choices should be strategic e.g. Saturday evening when someone is planning to cover a shift.
There are multiple ways to meal plan, but the plan should be documented ahead of time and the planners will need to follow it. Be honest and reasonable when creating the plan as well, just because someone writes down they’re going to cook a six course meal during an incident doesn’t mean they’ll get the time.
Most recently, this has meant using services like Hello Fresh in Mike’s case, but there are multiple alternatives that should meet or align to an individuals dietary needs. Here are a few options for meal planning for incident:
For folks who will have a little time to cook:
1. Hello Fresh
2. Factor
3. Home Chef
For folks stuck in the office or who do not cook:
1. Factor
2. Freshly
3. Splendid Spoon
Six (Eight if you need it) Hours of Sleep
Sleep schedule is usually the most difficult to keep for most people during an incident, but it is also easily the most crucial. More often than not, organizations are not properly prepared with 24×7 shift support during incidents. While this is obviously a mistake, it is a reality that responders and other workers have the deal with. Now listen very carefully, no one ever solves the problem of proper shift support by working through sleep schedules.
Yes, most people will lose sleep over incidents. Yes, it may require folks to work odd schedules. But it should not exhaust people from a lack of sleep and the long-term impact of going even short periods without proper sleep is far more detrimental to an organization than it is a benefit. You need sleep, get the proper amount every night.
No one remembers how much sleep someone else got during an incident. Everyone remembers when they didn’t get enough and how much it sucked. There are no awards for the least amount of sleep.
Six hours of sleep is variable but sustainable for some people (in this particular case, Mike). Others require eight hours, which if that’s what works for them, have them do it, but the point is, plan sleep windows and make sure they meet the minimum long-term sustainable number of hours. People will work long hours during an incident, but those long hours should never exceed 18, or 16 for folks that need 8 hours of sleep. The point being that the long hours come from downtime, not from sleepy time.
As an incident leader, bleeding work into the number of hours someone gets to sleep is a negative on you, not on them.
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