The Burnout Problem And How to Overcome it

What is burnout?

Burnout is a state of continuous stress because of a long-term, unresolvable job. The term “burnout” was first used in 1974 by researcher Herbert Freudenberger.

Dr. Ballard, the head of the APA’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program, explains, “A lot of burnout really has to do with experiencing chronic stress…In those situations, the demands being placed on you exceed the resources you have available to deal with the stressors.”

What’s the problem?

You may get the job of your dream. But if you work hard to achieve success, it’ll lead to burnout. And it’s a serious problem. New research from the American Psychological Association and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago reported the following:

• 48% of Americans experienced increased stress over the past 5 years
• 31% of employed adults have difficulty managing their work and family responsibilities
• 53% say work leaves them “overtired and overwhelmed.”

A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll found that “burnout from my current job” was one of the top reasons that people quit.

Arianna Huffington told her story about a burnout state. She was so tired that she passed out, hitting her face on her desk. So she broke her cheek bone and had to get four stitches on her eye.

Arianna Huffington tells, “I wish I could go back and tell myself that not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, performance is actually improved when our lives include time for renewal, wisdom, wonder and giving. That would have saved me a lot of unnecessary stress, burnout and exhaustion.”

Burnout Checklist

To avoid such dangerous situations, you should know the warning signs. Read this checklist and count how many symptoms you recognize in yourself.

1.Loss of motivation

It’s harder to get up and make yourself work. You don’t feel motivation or passion anymore. In a burnout state, you struggle to find the motivation to get the job done. It leads to a sense of dissatisfaction. It may be the first signal!

2.Exhaustion

It’s the most obvious sign of burnout. Exhaustion may be mental, physical or emotional. If you’re depressed or expressing obesite, back pain, heart disease, you should consider about your job. Maybe you notice that feel more pessimistic than you used to. So you shouldn’t neglect negative emotions and it’s important to know when it started.

3.Cognitive problems

Stress and burnout influence your concentrate and your ability to pay attention.

Dr. Ballard explains, “but our bodies and brains are designed to handle this in short bursts and then return to normal functioning. When stress becomes chronic, this narrow focus continues for a long time and we have difficulty paying attention to other things.”

Stress negatively influences the part of the brain responsible for executive functions. Executive functions are responsible for emotional control, memory and focus. If you notice that you start forgetting important things, making silly mistakes, you’re probably in a burnout state.

4.Not taking care of yourself

In the state of burnout, people engage in unhealthy life and lose self-control. They start to drink alcohol, eat too much fast food or not get enough sleep. That’s why self-medication is another side of the coin. It includes relying on sleeping pills to de-stress and get to sleep or coffee to invigorate the brain.

5.Difficulty with relationships

Stress influence not only your productivity, but your interaction with people. You may control your stress at work, but not at home. That’s why relationships suffer and you get involved in unnecessary and silly conflicts. But in some cases people avoid communication.

Do you recognize more than 3 symptoms in yourself? It’s high time you took measures! There are some methods to overcome burnout.

1.You seriously need to relax

It should be that you really like. For example, reading a book, listening to music, meditation, visiting your dears and so on.

2.Get enough sleep

Poor sleep leads not only to burnout, but to decrease of your motivation, makes you more stressful and sensitive. In order to avoid it, you should sleep 7–8 hours per night. If you can’t sleep, you should stay away from sleeping pills. And by “pills” I mean all sedation methods, for example, alcohol. Read my article about sleeping habits and you’ll forget about pills.

3. Get organized

In the burnout state people spend much time worrying that they have no time to do something or they’ve forget something important. Clear your head, become more organized. Start keeping a journal or a to-do list in order not to keep all these things in mind.

If you realize that you’re in the burnout state but nothing help you, maybe, the problem is your job, because the main reason of burnout is a wrong job. That’s why you have to decide what’ more important for you: work or health.

How do you overcome the burnout state?