How to recognise if you’re heading for a burn-out

Self-confessed workaholic or not, burn-outs are becoming more and more common in modern day workplaces and it’s safe to say that they may be a disorder of our generation. Burnouts can be best described as your body’s defense mechanism to being exposed to constant stressors, overworking or pent-up worry, over the course of a long period of time. While the term “work yourself into the ground” is often thrown around in a lighthearted sense, this term is unfortunately becoming more likely to be a reality in today’s work environments; with the average burn-out sufferer commonly allowing such factors to build up, until damage is done to both their physical and mental health.

Whether you believe you’re headed in this direction or not, it’s important to constantly stay in tune with your mind and body instance, and recognise when your internal song may not be so up-beat or wavering in harmony.

Key signs on the road to burning-out

In the words of Stacey King Gordon, a “burnout is a car crash you don’t see coming”, and often we don’t. When it comes down to it, would you choose to drive a car that had been driven for far too long without having its petrol tank re-filled, or without having a major service when due? No? Then why do it to your body? The outcome can be just as dangerous.

You wouldn’t willingly ignore warning signs about dangerous terrain, accidents or roadworks while driving – so don’t ignore warning signs when it comes to your personal wellbeing and health either. 10 signs to consider in acknowledging and avoiding the highway to burning out are:

1. Fatigue – feeling physically and/or emotionally exhausted, while having a generally lethargic “cant-do” attitude to normal day-to-day activities.
2. Insomnia – despite feeling constantly exhausted, you can’t “switch-off” and fall asleep or stay asleep.
3. Addiction – no we don’t necessarily mean drugs or picking up smoking again, this may even come in the form of a “pint-a-day”. Overeating your favourite junk foods like ice cream, or even drinking more alcohol than normal.
4. Loneliness – this is a confusing one because you feel more alone and misunderstood than ever, when you simply aren’t.
5. “I’m not good enough”- or feelings of inadequacy can arise. You may feel unqualified for your job, you may even feel like a terrible partner or friend.
6. Anger – your brain constantly turns molehills into mountains, making you constantly frustrated with yourself and those around you.
7. You plan to fail – no matter how hard you try you constantly expect to fail and have a hard time trying to convince yourself to start or try new jobs or activities.
8. Numbness – you no longer celebrate the wins or find joy in your accomplishments.
9. Illness – you have regular headaches, you’re short of breath, nauseous or experience other anxiety-related symptoms at the thought of going to work.
10. Short attention-span – You may struggle to get the ball rolling on what you perceive to be “high-stake” tasks, procrastinate or uncharacteristically miss deadlines.

While these can always be symptoms of day-to-day stress, don’t write them off as unimportant. The road to burning-out is a long-winded journey, built on a continuum of experienced symptoms.

Recognise reoccurring stressors and symptoms

The difference between “it’s just stress” or a genuine sign of burn-out, is the degree to which you are experiencing these symptom/s. For example, a stress sign relating to fatigue may mean you’re a little less energetic and feel tired most days. Whereas an indication of burnout relating to fatigue, may be that you’re physically and emotionally exhausted and dread doing everything and anything.

If you’re experiencing multiple signs of stress, take immediate steps to limit stressors snowballing and rolling into burnout territory. Get more sleep, ensure you get regular exercise (even if that means going for a quick 15-30 minute walk with colleagues), limit the amount of overtime you’re doing at work, and if possible, discuss transitioning some responsibilities at work to lighten your load.

Before you say “but I’m so busy, I don’t have time for that”, recognise that you always need to MAKE time to prioritise your health and wellbeing. Behind the scenes, chronic stress can alter the brain. This can have negative long-term effects on memory, creativity, attention spans, as well as causing lack of control when it comes to the regularity and intensity of your gloomy emotions… At the end of the day, while you may think your boss’ expectations are high, no reasonable employer would expect you to damage your health and happiness for the sake of getting a job done.

Burning out ≠ weakness or failure

Often the Achilles heal for workers today in recognising, admitting and acting upon burn-out indicators, is the feeling that you are somehow weak or failing at your life or job. Stop. Take a breath. This is simply not the case or the truth of your situation.

People don’t burn-out because they’re somehow weak, they burn-out because they over-do it and in some cases, care too much about the result of their work. While caring about your work in this instance isn’t necessarily a bad trait, putting your work-life before your life is.

If you believe you may need to redirect your career path to avoid burnout, or even want to discuss a reviewed business model to improve the health of your organisation and staff – get in touch with us today.