Postal service workers and lawyers may be the poster kids of job burnout, but by no means is it limited to these professions. Everybody’s at risk, from overworked doctors to underappreciated cashiers, and with hard times eliminating jobs and increasing the workloads of the still-employed, many of us are succumbing to burnout at rapid rates. Not only does it make our work lives unbearable, but it seeps into our personal lives and affects our physical health. So how do we know whether we’re burned out and, more importantly, how do we overcome it?
Who’s at Risk?
Burnout is the emotional or physical exhaustion experienced when people are under great deals of stress for long periods. According to a 2006 survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 50 percent of employees in the U.S. say they’re stressed out more often than not. And that stress doesn’t stay in the office—19 percent of working moms and 30 percent of working dads usually bring their work home on the weekends.
Burnout isn’t an overnight condition, nor is it only for workaholics—it’s the result of numerous factors building up over time. To avoid falling victim to its ills, look out for these common causes.
- Not striking a healthy balance between career and home life
- Feeling powerless over your job and its responsibilities
- Toxic work environments due to negative bosses, coworkers, etc.
- Work doesn’t coincide with expertise or general interests
- The job is either too monotonous or too fast-paced to manage steady concentration or energy levels
- Constantly having to help others—for example, as a teacher, doctor, therapist, or social worker
When Occasional Stress Becomes Symptomatic
It’s hard to know whether you’re suffering from temporary work exhaustion or real burnout. Most people find themselves “over” their jobs at various points (it’s only human), but when that apathy or frustration lasts for a long time, that’s when it becomes troubling. Being overwhelmed or bored by work happens to all of us occasionally, but being so overwhelmed or bored that productivity decreases is a different story.
When burnout makes such things an everyday occurrence, it starts to seem par for the course. But dragging oneself from bed every morning or dreading the start to every week isn’t normal. Neither is bickering with coworkers regularly and becoming increasingly short-tempered and cynical.
There are also less obvious symptoms of burnout, such as a noticeable difference in sleep or appetite, as well as headaches, back pain, and neck pain. Stress has consequences on our mental and physical health. Burning out doesn’t just increase our desire to call in sick; it increases our chances of getting sick, too. Self-medicating, with either food, alcohol, or drugs, is also a sign that there’s too much stress in your life.
Avoiding Burnout, One Choice at a Time
Luckily, there are things we can do to ease job burnout, and they don’t necessarily involve packing up and finding a new career path. (That might be a possibility if the situation is bad enough, though.)
Embrace the good.
Instead of focusing on the less appealing aspects of the job, think about what, if anything, you like about it. Maybe it’s your favorite coworker or the responsibilities you actually enjoy doing. Part of easing the burned-out feeling and getting your spark back is shifting your mindset from the negative to the positive, which is never easy, but absolutely essential to your well-being. If you can’t add anything to the “good” column, it might be time for a job hunt instead.
Make “no” a part of your vocabulary.
The people who burn out the most at their jobs are the ones who never learned how to say no. They try to take on too much in an attempt to help out their colleagues and end up being extremely stressed out and anxious. This can also occur in people’s personal lives when they over schedule themselves and turn their social lives into another job with deadlines and expectations. Learn to commit yourself to what you can handle, in work life and home life. If the boss and loved ones demand more, sit down and talk with them about how it’s affecting your productivity.
