4 Questions to Assess Your Burnout

Burnout is an inevitable part of life. Often we hear it in response to work or stressful events, but what if burnout is also driven by the good things in our life?

Burnout is an issue of bandwidth—not a bad attitude.

In order to get a clear understanding of what’s happening with our burnout, we have to take an assessment…an honest assessment.

Here are the 4 things you should consider when doing a burnout assessment:

• WHAT'S THE PAYOFF? : All of our habits have some sort of payoff or else we wouldn’t do them. Some of our burnout habits are a result of our survival instincts, like people pleasing or overworking. When we examine our habits, we have to ask “what is the payoff of this” with compassion so we can find better ways to get our needs met.
• WHAT ARE THE GOOD AND BAD THINGS CONSUMING MY ENERGY? Our bandwidth is finite, so we must manage it even when things are going well. You can have a lot of great things happening in your life and burnout. It’s okay to recognize that good things are draining you.
• WHAT ARE THE OVERALL THEMES OR PATTERNS TO MY BURNOUT? Getting detailed is not helpful during a burnout assessment. Look broadly so you don’t get lost in the nuance. Exploring the nitty gritty can happen when doing more in depth problem solving.
• IS THIS SUSTAINABLE? Look ahead so you can recalibrate your present. If you saw a friend or loved one working at this pace would you be concerned? How would you explain this rate of operating to others? Do you want to continue operating in this way? What would you delegate? How long do you think you could make this work?

Don’t forget…using a curious and compassionate mindset is important when doing a burnout assessment. Self criticism only keeps you stuck. Burnout is something you manage, not get rid of completely forever and ever. Once you have an idea of what’s contributing to burnout, you can come up with a burnout management plan!

Ready to make a burnout management plan that fits your life? Download your copy of this therapist-created mini workbook! You will learn language to help assess your bandwidth, have ideas to brainstorm your own burnout management, and develop a plan you can have on hand when feeling overwhelmed.

GET YOUR COPY HERE!