27 Feb Burnout at Work: What is It & How to Get Through It
You lack motivation. You have frequent aches/pains and headaches that can’t be explained. You’re tired—no, exhausted all of the time. The world seems both like it’s moving too fast and too slow. And your overall demeanor has plummeted. Does this sound like you? You might be experiencing burnout.
What is Burnout?
Not as exciting as a burnout in your car, experiencing work burnout is actually quite encumbering. As a simple explanation, burnout is the state of exhaustion you experience from excessive work as well as consistent emotional, physical, and mental stress.
If you’re often overwhelmed by responsibilities (both in work and general life) and have a hard time keeping up with everything, you are likely headed down the path to burnout. This can cause you to lack motivation, miss important deadlines, be physically unable to complete usual tasks, and be more vulnerable to illnesses (such as a cold or flu).
Is it just stress? Or more?
Oftentimes, people will mark burnout as an extreme case of stress. But burnout is so much more than your typical stress.
Stress can cause near obsessions with tasks (an over-engagement of sorts) where you find yourself only able to think about work or projects. It also causes heightened emotional reactions, hyperactivity, anxiety, physically-based aches, and a loss of energy.
On the flip side, burnout deals with more emotionally-based issues than stress. Instead of being over-engaged in work, you are more likely to be detached from your responsibilities, unmotivated, and lacking any sense of enthusiasm or purpose. Further, your emotions are usually more muted, and you can feel helpless rather than hyperactive and urgent.
Keep in mind, though, that prolonged stress can eventually lead to burnout.
Signs of Burnout
We’ve already mentioned a few signs of burnout, but there are a few other characteristics you should look out for—on the physical, emotional, and behavioral side of things.
Main Signs to Look Out For
The most common signs of burnout include:
- Exhaustion to extreme levels or consistently
- Lack of enthusiasm and motivation
- Inability to perform your job
- Feelings of cynicism or detachment from emotions and work
If it feels like pulling teeth just trying to get something done for work, then it’s likely that you’re experiencing burnout. It’s draining, outside of your usual emotions, and not something you can easily control. Oftentimes, you won’t have the motivation to try to get through it. Instead, you are stuck in a loop of exhaustion, lack of enthusiasm, and incomplete projects.
Physical Signs:
- Exhaustion
- Frequent aches/pains and headaches
- Change in appetite or sleeping habits
Emotional Signs:
- Higher sense of self-doubt and failure
- Detachment from emotions
- Cynical and low motivation
- Lack of satisfaction or accomplishment from the things you do complete
Behavioral Signs:
- Withdrawn from responsibilities / skipping working altogether, leaving early or coming late
- Procrastination
- Taking emotions out on others
- Isolation
How to Get Through Burnout
As mentioned earlier, burnout is not easy to get through—especially if you are in a constant routine. Something has to change if you want to work your way out of burnout.
This can come in many different forms. Something as simple as taking a vacation (not just one or two days here and there, but maybe a week or two of doing nothing related to work) or getting more sleep can help you clear out burnout. However, it’s not always that easy.
Steps You Can Take:
Firstly, if you are able to, you should talk with your manager/supervisor. Oftentimes, an overload of work is the cause of burnout. Communicate with your supervisor and see if there’s something they can help you with. They might be able to assist you in adjusting your workload to be more manageable and less overwhelming.
Next, you should reach out to those around you. Being in a state of burnout makes you feel more isolated and helpless. Reaching out to others can help lessen burdens and make problems more realistic rather than unpassable. Talk to your coworkers, your friends, your family, or connect with more people in other social capacities.
You can also combat burnout by adjusting the way you look at work. If it’s the job location itself that’s causing you burnout, then you might want to consider changing your career. If that’s not possible, you should try to concentrate on different parts of your job. Find value in something small—like completing mundane tasks or talking with coworkers—or create a stricter balance between work and life.
Lastly, you could give exercise a whirl. Though it’s one of the most common remedies people give for burnout, it still holds true. Even if you do small bursts of exercise, it will help relieve your stress levels. You can take small, 10-minute walks around the block, attempt to do 100 jumping jacks, or do more intense routines if that’s more your thing. It doesn’t have to be big, but it does have to be movement.
Changing Your Career to Remove Cause of Burnout
If you’ve determined that your current workplace or job is the cause of your burnout, then you might want to consider changing it. Check out our blog on how to make a career change to learn more.
At The Jonus Group, we can help you transition to a new career. We offer many career services to help you on this journey—including resume assistance, LinkedIn optimization, interview prep, career coaching, and more. You can find a list of our services here.
If you would like to discuss this further, we offer a free, 15-minute consultation. You can sign up on our calendar here.