Burnout will not only reduce your productivity at work but, if left unchecked, could eventually threaten your job, your relationships and even your health, and honestly is it worth it?
If constant stress has you feeling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted, you are probably suffering from burnout, but if you’re able to recognise the signs and symptoms of an impending burnout, you can take steps to prevent it.
Some stress is good. It is the tonic that makes us perform and improve on our previous best effort. It is the way we deal with stress, and not stress itself that can result in burnout. Stress should be managed and should never be allowed to get out of hand. The goal in treating stress is not to eliminate it, but to manage it to your advantage. In order to manage stress correctly, we need to acknowledge that proper amounts of it are needed to motivate us to excel in our performance.
Burnout occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet unrealistic constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest and motivation that led you to take on your job in the first place. Burnout reduces your productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly hopeless, powerless, cynical and resentful.
Because burnout doesn’t happen overnight – and it’s difficult to fight once you’re in the middle of it –the earlier you recognise it, the better your chances of avoiding it. Avoiding it might mean finding ways to better cope like exercising as a stress relief, or simply realising your job has unfair expectations of you and you need to make a change.
