3 Signs of Work Burnout and How to Recover

Work burnout is a term that many people throw around casually these days. Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger used it in 1874 to describe an elevated level of stress that robs you of motivation, confidence, and pleasure from performing day-to-day activities.

Work burnout typically peaks during the holiday season — perhaps when you chase annual targets – and spills over to the succeeding year. It can affect your mental, physical, emotional, and even social well-being.

Are you just in a slump, or are you going through work burnout? How can you recover from it? To know the answers, keep reading.

The tell-tale sign of burnout is a lack of self-motivation, which magnifies your other insecurities and creates new ones. When you experience work burnout, you probably find yourself struggling to maintain things with which you never had issues. Your patience, for example, may be a lot shorter than before. Incidents that you let slide previously now affect you a great deal. You might have a hard time letting go of minor issues.

You may also notice your enthusiasm for work diminish. Instead of eagerly jumping into each new task, you find yourself waiting around for instructions instead of actively seeking them out.

Your focus takes a hit when you struggle with work burnout. Signs of this include forgetting crucial things, the inability to accomplish on tasks for a sustained period, and just generally spacing out instead of doing what you must.

Altogether, these have a massive impact on what you do in the workplace. If you don't find your groove and handle your burnout, your problems may snowball.

While burnout usually begins internally, it can affect your physical health. You likely feel tired and drained all the time, even if you had the correct number of sleep hours. You may not have gotten quality rest if you were subconsciously dwelling on the reasons behind your burnout.

It could even lead to you getting sick a lot more than usual, which in turn will impact your work. It might not take the form of fever or other common illness, as it could manifest as a general feeling of not being well (even if you can’t determine one particular symptom).

Such health issues could be triggered by your inability to rest well, although the mental impact of experiencing work burnout could be an aggravating factor. Burnout can even cause you to dread going to your workplace because you’re afraid of what you’ll experience when you get there.

Do you still care about what you do? From trying your best to get work done well in the shortest possible time, you end up going through the motions without really doing your best.

Feedback and even evaluations from your supervisor may mean little to you at this point, and you could even begin adopting a come-what-may attitude towards your future at the company.

You could also find yourself withdrawing from the healthy relationships you have with your teammates and the people you regularly work with. Lack of enthusiasm or even unwillingness to join team activities, whether work-related or social, are other manifestations of this.

While there is no one-size-fits-all answer to work burnout, there are still solutions that you can attempt if you think you’re experiencing it.

First, you should try to find out what’s causing you to feel that way. Have your responsibilities changed or are you handling much more work than you did before? Are you resentful because you feel passed up for a promotion or raise? Are you unsatisfied with your career growth or management decisions?

These are some of the possible reasons for feeling work burnout, and it may be a combination of these and other factors.

Once you find the root of the issue, you can develop possible solutions. Involving your boss in this process is very important since it impacts your work. Plus they could have valuable input to help you make the situation better.

You may also wish to speak to someone from the Human Resources department of your company if you feel that this would also help. Being transparent is essential because you’ll be trying to address all issues so you can go back to doing your work like before.

It also helps to practice self-care, especially if your workload or work environment is causing so much stress that it leaves you burned out. If you wake up a little earlier in the morning, you could use the extra time to center yourself and calm your mind before you head to your job.

It doesn’t necessarily require a full-on meditation session; you can do whatever method works for you, as long as it gets the job done. You could even do it as you shower, so you can ease your mind and body at the same time.

To get yourself in the right mood, it helps a lot if you use personal care products that smell great and work well. For example, you could start with Dove Men+Care Extra Fresh Body and Face Wash to cleanse and hydrate your skin.

Then, top it off with  CLEAR Cool Sport Menthol Anti-Dandruff Shampoo for Men, which provides a cooling sensation while thoroughly removing grime, grease, and dandruff on your hair and scalp.

After toweling off, end with Rexona Men Invisible Dry Black & White Antiperspirant Deodorant Roll-on for superior 48-hour protection that doesn’t leave a trace.

Need more ways to relieve yourself of stress? Try indoor sports or meditation, both of which can help reduce anxiety.

There’s a chance that, after realizing the reasons behind your work burnout and attempting solutions, you will conclude that you’d be better off working at a different company.

This isn’t a route you should go down without careful consideration, not in the least because of how this decision could impact your finances in the short term and your career in the long run. Also, you won’t have any guarantees that the situation won’t repeat itself in a different setting.

Still, if you’ve taken the time to think it all through and you feel strongly that this is the right move for you, you can start looking for a new employer. To be safe, you should do this before handing in your resignation so that you won’t be risking a long time in between jobs when you won’t be earning.

If possible, take a short break before you start your new job to help you reset and refocus. This way, you can address your work burnout, start fresh, and give your all in the new workspace.