5 Signs you’re burned out at work (and what to do about it)

9/20/22

THE GREENHOUSE JOURNAL

Dana Lin

Coaching, Personal Growth

Filed Under:

If you’re reading this right now, you’re likely feeling the effects of stress and overwhelm.

In case you’re not sure, here are some sure signs you’re burned out at work:

6 Signs of Burnout

1. Exhaustion

It’s getting harder and harder to get up or stay awake. You find yourself falling asleep at your desk, or worse, at the wheel. You might even suffer from insomnia — you can no longer turn work off. 

2. Attitude

You’re easily agitated and snap at the simplest request or feedback. Or you’ve become apathetic. You just don’t have the energy to spend, or care, anymore. 

3. Missing out

Work comes first at the expense of your health, relationships, hobbies, vacations and holidays, and sometimes, even personal hygiene. 

4. Physical changes

You’ve gained weight, developed high blood pressure, skin breakouts, get regular headaches or other physical ailments that haven’t been an issue before.

5. Mental changes

You’re depressed. You don’t believe that things can or will change. Perhaps you’re constantly daydreaming of leaving work or fantasize about quitting. 

6. Mistakes

You make mistakes, sometimes even simple ones. Your concentration is off and others are noticing.

Before you can find a solution, it’s good to get to the root causes of burnout. Here are a few ideas:

What Causes Burnout?

Change — Professional

Something at work has changed. Whether it’s extra duties or extra hours, or you’re placed on a toxic team or have to deal with a difficult boss. What was working before, no longer works now and it’ll break you if something doesn’t change again.

Change — Personal

Has there been some changes or challenges in yourself or with a loved one? Illnesses, divorce, death in the family, moving homes, kids getting married or moving away for college — whether good or bad — it’s all additional stressors that you bring with you every day to work and affect the quality of your output.

Complaints

Have you found yourself complaining about the same thing? Daily? Hourly? Whether it’s the workload or type of work, the culture or an individual, an environment not conducive to a balanced atmosphere, you or those close to you, keep noticing your repeated complaints.

Compliments

This may be a surprising one, but have you found yourself at the end of compliments — all the time?

You do anything and everything for anyone and everyone. You don’t delegate, you don’t train, you keep getting work heaped onto you because you GET IT DONE.

Now, what to do about it:

How To Cure Burnout

Unplug, rest, reset

First things first, if you’re reading this. Get a good night’s sleep tonight! Then, we’ll tackle the rest tomorrow. Start right now in getting the rest your body needs. You can’t change anything if you don’t have the energy to do so.

Build better boundaries

Take a deep dive into your daily life and see where and what you can carve out. Determine what’s crucial, delegate the rest. Okay, okay, delegation and handing off work is hard to do. Which is why, we came up with the next one:

Seek help

Speak to your boss. Enlist your team. Perhaps they’re burned out, too, and this can become a team building exercise. Also speak to your health care provider. Everyone’s burnout is unique and getting professional help is very important to get you back on the right path.

Come up with a new plan

What was working before, is now breaking down. So you need a new practice. Create a self care practice that works for you. Seek out a coach for support in this area to help you craft a plan that will work for you.

Take time now to note what’s resonating with you. Need help taking next steps? Chat with us!

If you enjoyed this post, take a listen to our podcast, Career Sweetspot Episode #128 – 3 Practices for making space in your life.

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