Are you Suffering from Career Burnout? You are Not Alone. Here is what you can do Right Now

By Jack J. Kelly

Do you drag yourself into work and then proceed to have trouble getting started once you arrive? Have you become noticeably irritable or impatient with co-workers? Have you felt a distinct lack of energy? Is there a glaring lack of job satisfaction? Are you starting to feel disillusioned about your job, and future career growth potential? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, please keep reading as you may already have, or are close to suffering from workplace burnout. Even if you don’t answer yes, read on as I am an entertaining, engaging and informative writer. Also, as a successful twenty plus years Executive Recruiter, I offer meaningful, no-bull, first-hand, real-life experience and knowledge to offer you personal guidance and advice to succeed in your career.

By the time people approach me about looking for a new job, I can tell that they are suffering from at least some the symptoms of Burnout.

Burnout is a state of emotional and physical exhaustion that is brought upon, in part, by long time periods of constant, unabated, and unrelenting stress. It renders you feeing empty, weak, dejected, incapable, and unsuccessful. These pent-up feelings will also adversely impact aspects of your life outside of the workplace. It’s a common problem that many suffer from, regardless of profession and income.

Work-related burnout, (unfortunately this is not a sexy term and more closely associated with pot smokers, so people tend to ignore the signs), results from long-term, unresolvable job stress. In the 1970s, a psychologist, Herbert Freudenberger, was one of the first researchers to publish a paper in a psychology-related journal coining the term burnout. His research and writing about this subject was based upon his own observations of himself and his staff while toiling away in a clinic for drug addicts. Freudenberger characterized burnout by a set of symptoms that includes exhaustion resulting from work’s excessive demands, as well as the resulting physical symptoms such as headaches and sleeplessness, “quickness to anger”, and closed thinking. He noticed that the burned out worker “looks, acts, and seems depressed”.

Other researchers developed conceptualizations of burnout characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, treating clients and colleagues in a cynical way, and reduced feelings of work-related personal accomplishments. Burnout is believed to comprise emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness, exhaustion and disengagement.

In layman’s terms, Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion occurring when you experience long-term stress in your job, or when you have worked in a physically or emotionally draining role over a significant length of time. Burnout is also a consequence of when your efforts at work have failed to produce the desired or expected results, and you feel deeply disillusioned as a result.

Burnout is not a simple result of putting in long hours at the office. If you enjoy your work, are passionate about your career, and achieve or exceed your goals, you could work for extended periods without noticing and actually enjoy the time spent at your job. Cynicism, depression, and lethargy of burnout can occur when you’re not in control of how you carry out your job, when you’re working toward goals that don’t really resonate with you. If you don’t tailor your responsibilities to match your true calling, you could face a mountain of mental and physical health problems.

Here are some of the warning signs to look out for:

• Have you become cynical or critical at work?
• Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started once you arrive?
• Have you become irritable or impatient with co-workers, customers or clients?
• Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive?
• Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements?
• Do you feel disillusioned about your job?
• Are you using food, drugs or alcohol to feel better, or to simply not feel?
• Have your sleep habits or appetite changed?
• Are you troubled by unexplained headaches, backaches or other physical complaints?
• Do you start to feel that every day at work is a bad day, and will always be this way?
• Do you sense an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion much of the time?
• You don’t feel joy or interest in your work, or even feel depressed by it.
• Are you feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities?
• You start engaging in escapist behaviors such as drinking or taking drugs?
• Do you notice that you have less patience with others than you used to?
• Do you feel hopeless about your life or work?
• Have you been experiencing physical symptoms such as chest pain, shortness of breath, sleeplessness, or heart palpitations?
• Is every day is a bad day?
• Have you stopped caring about your work, or does your home life seem like a total waste of energy?
• Are you exhausted all the time?
• Does it feel like the majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming?
• Do you feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be experiencing job burnout. Also, you may want to strongly consider changing your circumstances at work, find a new job, or change careers.

The physical and mental results of burnout are real. Do these signs sound familiar?

• Feeling tired and drained most of the time
• Lowered immunity, getting sick a lot
• Frequent headaches or muscle pain
• Change in appetite or sleep habits
• Emotional signs and symptoms of burnout
• Sense of failure and self-doubt
• Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated
• Detachment, feeling alone in the world
• Loss of motivation
• Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
• Withdrawing from responsibilities
• Isolating yourself from others
• Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done
• Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
• Taking out your frustrations on others
• Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early
• Depression
• Reduction in efficiency
• Frustration
• Decline in health
• Loss of motivation
• Feelings of being overwhelmed
• Resentfulness
• Feelings of helplessness
• Working because you have to, not because you want to
• Excessive stress
• Fatigue
• Insomnia
• A negative spillover into personal relationships or home life
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Alcohol or substance abuse
• Heart disease
• High cholesterol
• Type 2 diabetes
• Developing a heart condition
• Gaining or losing weight
• More vulnerable to colds and illnesses

The difference between stress and burnout

Burnout may be the result of unrelenting stress, but it isn’t the same as too much stress. Stress involves too many pressures that demand too much of you physically and psychologically. Stressed people contend that if they can just get everything under control, they’ll feel better.

Burnout, on the other hand, means feeling empty, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. People experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. If excessive stress is like drowning in responsibilities, burnout is like being all dried up. And while you’re usually aware of being under a lot of stress, you don’t always notice burnout when it happens.

Here are some suggestions to cope and change: If you find that you have some of these symptoms, take action now before it gets any worse. Here are some tips and strategies for dealing with workplace burnout.

• Take breaks during the workday
• Put away your digital devices
• Do something interesting
• Take long weekends
• Focus on meaning
• Understanding Workplace Burnout
• Make Adjustments to Your Lifestyle
• Take Care of Your Physical Well-being
• Have a Social Life
• Enjoy Your Hobbies
• Take Regular Vacations
• Take 15 Minutes to Relax Daily
• You may need to change positions
• Make Adjustments to Your Job
• Open Lines of Communication with Your Manager

It is too easy to allow yourself to fall further into the depths and despair of burnout. It is much harder to put the brakes on, and then work like hell to turn things around. Fight to take back your life, and assert control over the trajectory of your career. Start developing an action plan to improve your job and design a future career strategy. You need to start right now. Begin the process of rebuilding a better, more rewarding and fulfilling work life. Take assertive actions to change the dynamics in your office now. It is also imperative to formulate a long-term career plan to achieve future success. It is not easy, but it is far better than being subject to a bad situation.

You could first start out with a simple conversation with your manager. The objective is to share your concerns and collaboratively work together towards outlining a productive way to change the current circumstances – which are not working for you – and improve your situation. Whatever you do, be polite and positive. It is most likely that your boss harbors his own issues, troubles, doubts, regrets and disappointments regarding his job and career. You don’t want to approach your boss with a list of grievances, demands and complaints, or come across as a whiney snowflake. Be prepared to clearly and concisely articulate your suggestions which would improve your life at the office, that could also increase overall productivity as well as the bottom line for the company. While some managers may be perceptive and have already picked up on your burnout, others will be oblivious. It’s up to you to make them aware that things need to change. The more productive, in-the-moment, and passionate you become about your job, it will also benefit your manager.

The conversation should involve clarifying job expectations and responsibilities. It is not possible to execute your responsibilities well if there is a lack of clarity from management about the goals, targets and time allotted to fulfill them. You cannot do your job well if you are unsure of what you are supposed to be doing. You may need to patiently explain to your boss what you need to do your job well. It could entail getting more resources, asking for additional time to deliver on project deadlines, deadbeat lazy co-workers may have to help out more than they do, management needs to get involved, or additional training may be required.

Sometimes you need to learn to just say “No”. Professionals have a tendency to say yes to everything that is requested of them, out of fear that they will lose their job or be ostracized by the boss. If you don’t do all the crazy work assignments, you may be concerned that it will reflect poorly on you, resulting in negative performance reviews and subsequent loss of recognition and promotions. It makes sense to have rational conversations with your manager and colleagues to establish reasonable boundaries, workloads, collaboration, and deadlines. In today’s competitive and cutthroat environment, it is understandable to have these fears, however, your health and well-being are more important. A raise is meaningless if you are miserable. A good manager will respect you for bringing up these issues and concerns, and work towards helping you. If she doesn’t respond appropriately, you may be working for the wrong person, who is a big part of your problem.

Your burnout could be due to the fact that you have been doing the same old thing for far too long. Ask your manager for some new and different duties and assignments. I have noticed that when employees burnout, it can often be due to unrelenting boredom. It could be mentally painful and soul-sucking to engage in tasks and projects that are repetitive and redundant. If you are not learning new things, you cannot grow professionally. Even worse, you will fall behind as you are stuck in a rut, while others are adding to their skill sets and advancing. An object in motion stays in motion. If you are stationary, it becomes harder to move. If you find yourself in this position, ask for new challenges. Don’t let too much time elapse as the boredom and drudgery will drag you down. You could even position your request that the new work will get you more energized and also relieve someone else who is overburdened.

Know what motivates you. Everyone is motivated by something different. Some people thrive on positive feedback, while others know they need to work harder if they are given anything other than a flawless review. For others, motivation comes with raises and promotions or special treatment, such as casual Fridays. Figure out what gets you going and share that with your manager, if he or she is attempting to motivate you in a counterproductive manner.

Be prepared, the conversation could end without a feasible way to improve your situation. You must then start working towards an exit strategy and long term plan. While you are working towards long-term changes to improve your working life, also try making adjustments to your present attitude to get through the day. Think that you are in a temporary state which will hopefully soon change. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Since you won’t be in this situation forever, why let it drive you crazy? Take a step back, breathe deeply, and remind yourself that this is only temporary. Soon you will be on to bigger and better things. Once you make that mental shift, things may not seem so bad. It’s when you feel that the present is what it will always be, that’s when burnout creeps in. Sometimes in life we need to just let go and let things slide. If you would normally go above and beyond the call of duty, but you are unable to keep working at that level, it’s okay to allow yourself to be less than perfect. It’s also okay to delegate tasks and lose some control. Instead of seething when your annoying boss comes into your office, just rejoice in the fact that once you find a new job you will never have to see his stupid face again.

While you are waiting for the next big break remember to change what you can, and accept what you can’t. People tend to spend too much time and energy trying to change those things that cannot be changed. Instead, learn to accept them, and do away with the harmful, stressful worrying. Perhaps you will come to a temporary peace with your job, and start gaining the courage to leave.

Search for the source of your discontent. Sometimes we have no idea what is upsetting us, and we let that discontent rule our lives. Instead, you should question it: Where does it come from? Is the problem boredom? Is it fear or insecurity? Are you setting unrealistic goals for yourself? Do you compare yourself with your former college roommate who has achieved amazing career success and monetary rewards? Does this comparison make you feel bad even though by traditional measures you are very successful? Try to ascertain an understanding of your burnout, you’ll find it easier to control.

The most likely answer may be the simplest, find a new job and extricate yourself from the situation that is slowly killing you. However, be careful to make the right move for yourself. Figure out whether you need to merely change jobs, if you really need to switch careers, or return to school to learn something new. Also, while your job may be the problem, you could actually be working for a great company. Evaluate if there are internal opportunities within your current company. If not, it is time to commence a search for a new job outside of your present organization. Please don’t do anything rash by hastily quitting your job, or take out your frustration on your boss. Keep your cool, and carefully consider every decision before you act. No decision should ever be rushed. I have seen many people quit their jobs in a fit of anger or rage. It never ends well. They end up taking a job beneath their skills and experience, then spend years trying to dig out of the hole, just to get back to where they were. It ends up making a bad situation worse.

Start taking simple steps such as updating your LinkedIn profile, refresh your resume, confidentially let people in your network know that you are open to new opportunities, speak with and meet recruiters, attend conferences in your field, obtain new credentials prized by your industry, splurge on a new interview outfit, and treat yourself to a nice fashionable haircut. These and other related actions will help you feel empowered. It will keep your mind active, and give you back some control over your life.

By acknowledging you have burnout and then taking proactive measures, you will ultimately be able to improve your career, work and home life. You will get back on the right track for growth, happiness and career success.

If you don’t already have burnout, I hope this helps offer warning signs to avoid burnout before it is too late.