The 5 Early Signs of Burnout
Posted on March 08, 2022 by Marjorie Daniel, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Are you stuck? Demotivated? Procrastinating? Passionate about the work that you're doing and not sure what's going on with you? Could it be burnout?
42% of women from a 2021 McKinsey survey reported feeling burned out.
What is burnout? According to the WHO “Burnout… results from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or
- feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
reduced professional efficacy.”
Having said all this, stress can be as healthy as exercise. After all, going for a run or lifting a weight is stressful to the unfit body. With consistent exercise (stress) our capacity to handle physical demands increase, our overall strength and endurance also increases. The same is true for the corporate athlete, stress by its very nature allows us the opportunity to grow and expand. Perhaps even providing us an opportunity to “create some magic” beyond our comfort zones.
When is it too much stress?
Athletes are very familiar with “rest days”, or intentionally alternating which muscles to stress on which days. You might have heard the familiar phrase on the odd occasion that you venture bravely into the weights section of a gym “today is leg day”. What athletes intuitively know is that we cannot continuously stress a muscle and expect it to strengthen, rest is AS important as stress. Rest is part of the program. Let me write that again – rest is part of the program.
Stress becomes overwhelming when we don’t know WHY we should rest, WHAT to change to ensure we get the kind of rest that we need. More sleep is often not the answer. And HOW to change these habits to ensure optimal energy is available to us throughout the day so that we can perform at our peak in a sustainable way.
Early signs that you’re over stressed and heading to burnout:
1. Tiredness that does not go away after sleeping
2. Loss of enthusiasm for things that brought you joy before like socializing or work
3. Reduced ability to produce outputs that were easy to produce before
4. Worry and anxiety
5. Sleeping problems
Starting points to manage early stage burnout
1. Set clear boundaries
2. Define your values and assess where you are out of alignment (for example: if family is a core value, are you spending enough time with them and attending the milestone events?)
3. Who is your support? Do you know what your needs are and are you comfortable in asking for support?
4. Prioritize exercise
5. Work on letting go of your need for perfectionism!
