Anyone can experience burnout. It creeps up on you slowly and the results can be devastating. Burnout is commonly linked to stress and overwork and is particularly common in professions where there is a lot of emotional caring involved like medical professions, coaching, psychotherapy, people that work in care homes, carers, leaders and managers…
Key warning signs are:
- Increased apathy about things you were previously passionate about.
- Disproportionate feelings of overwhelm (I sat and cried on the kitchen floor because I’d ran out of cheese!).
- Increased feeling of flatness and emptiness, difficulty finding joy in things.
- Increased levels of irritation and short temper.
- You become even more compulsive about the thing that is causing you to feel this way (over working, constantly checking e mails, checking in all the time).
- Physical and emotional exhaustion (increased number of minor illnesses like colds).
In the early stages of burnout you must take action to avoid becoming seriously unwell. If you keep going the actions you have to take can be damaging to your career (if you have to take time off), relationships (if you behaviour is affected) and long term health.
Instead, particularly if you are in a job that is higher risk of burnout, build burnout preventing strategies into your life rhythm to keep your energy up and prevent the build up of stress.
- Prioritise your sleep – Sleep is when our bodies regenerate and replenish, lack of sleep is tantamount to torture (as any new Mum or Dad will tell you). Having good quality sleep is your no 1 burnout prevention strategy.
- Find a life rhythm that works for you – This takes a bit of time set up, what works for you depends on your natural energy thresholds, body rhythms and life circumstances. The key is to have a benchmark rhythm you revert to, you don’t need to stick to it rigidly, but that you come back to as something you know if helpful to you. You can get guidance in setting up your life rhythm in Karen & John’s no 1 bestselling book Time Mastery which is available on Amazon.
- Work on your relationships – Numerous studies put the quality of our relationship at no 1 in relation happiness and contentment in life. Good relationships enable you to express yourself opening (preventing the build up of stress), switch off and will emotionally super charge you. If you have toxic relationships these will add to your vulnerability to burnout. It’s not always a case of cutting people out of your life, a relationship may need some issues addressing or just less of your time and energy.
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