1. You Sacrifice Your Own Self-Care for Your Job, Your Family, and Others Who Need You
If you’re a people pleaser, then you probably have trouble saying “no” to anyone who asks anything from you. When you think you have no choice but to say “yes” to your boss, your coworkers, your partner, your kids, your friends, and your relatives, you’re left with little time and energy to devote to doing the things that keep you healthy and happy—like sleeping enough, eating well, and enjoying activities you love. You’re essentially allowing others to dictate how you spend your life. According to a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, people who said “I don’t” instead of “I can’t” had more success in avoiding things they didn’t want to do.((Journal of Consumer Research: “I Don’t” versus “I Can’t”: When Empowered Refusal Motivates Goal-Directed Behavior)) In other words, it led to a greater sense of self-empowerment. By remaining aware of the fact that you have a choice in how you decide to spend your time, you can learn to say “no” to others confidently and respectively.2. You’re Putting Too Many Hours Into Your Work
Working 12 to 16 hours a day or 60 to 80 hours a week doesn’t mean you’re being productive during all or even most of those hours. A UK study found t hat the average office employee is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes out of the entire workday.((Voucher Cloud: How Many Productive Hours in a Work Day? Just 2 Hours, 32 Minutes…)) As if that weren’t bad enough, research has shown that jobs with overtime schedules are associated with a 61% increase in risk of injury;((BMJ Journals: The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: new evidence from the United States)) and long periods of sitting in office chairs are as potentially detrimental to workers’ health as smoking.((Columbia University: Long Sitting Periods May Be Just as Harmful as Daily Total)) Working longer hours means you have less downtime to recharge properly, so you might want to rethink staying late at the office, clocking a double shift every so often, or giving up your weekends to try to get more done. Examine where you can cut back on your time spent at work—particularly during your most unproductive hours. If your workplace won’t allow it, you might need to consider working somewhere that will.3. You’re Constantly Connected to Your Work Via Your Devices
Many professionals check their work email first thing when they get up and continue checking after work hours, meaning they never truly get a chance to disconnect and relax a little. Remaining available to answer emails or take calls during non-work hours has been linked to higher levels of stress and anxiety in workers.((Academy of Management: Killing em softly: Electronic communications monitoring and employee and spouse well-being)) Even just the anticipation of receiving emails or calls during non-work hours can cause negative effects. You might need to have a chat with your boss, coworkers, or clients about your electronic availability during non-work hours if there’s an expectation to answer emails and calls at all times of the day and night. Once you’ve clarified this, you can turn off notifications, put your devices on Do Not Disturb or turn them off altogether when you’re not at work.4. You Work in a Toxic Environment
Working with patronizing authoritative figures and coworkers can be downright degrading and humiliating, leading to feelings of isolation and resentment. When there’s a breakdown of workplace community, your sense of belonging is compromised. One study showed that the number of people who’ve admitted to feeling like they have nobody to talk to about relevant topics has nearly tripped between 1985 and 2004—suggesting that despite people spending so much time at work, the relationships they have with their colleagues are not necessarily high-quality ones.((University of Arizona and Duke University: Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades)) Practice separating yourself from negative energy at work so that even when you do have to engage with colleagues, you have mental and emotional boundaries in place. Look toward the most positive and trustworthy people at your workplace and work toward building relationships with them. Even if you don’t work directly with them, having them there can help increase your sense of connection and belonging. Finally, avoid taking work issues home with you. Instead of venting to your partner about a problem going on at work, focus on letting it go by engaging in activities that take your mind off of it, lift you up, and remind you of what you’re grateful for in life.5. Your Workload Is Too Heavy
There’s only one of you and there are only so many hours in a day to get your work done. When there are too many tasks, projects that are overly complex, or requests that are unrealistically urgent piled onto your plate, the stress and overwhelm of it all can be too much to bear. Research has shown that employees with heavy workloads have difficulty balancing work and family life and are at a higher risk of emotional exhaustion.((Osman M. Karatepe: The effects of work overload and work-family conflict on job embedded ness and job performance)) The only way to combat work overload is by offloading less urgent tasks, getting help and support from other colleagues, and postponing deadlines. Figuring out how to balance work and life comes down to prioritization, which requires getting real about your own energy expenditure and time limitations.6. You Never Take a Vacation
If you’re a workaholic, you might not even realize that you’re hopelessly addicted to your work and haven’t taken any time off in what might seem like forever. Maybe you’re worried about all the work that will pile up when you’re gone or you want to keep working as proof of your dedication to what you do. But the costs of not taking any real time off include decreased productivity and creativity.((Robert H Smith School of Business: The Hidden Costs of Not Taking Vacations)) It can even exasperate office tension, workplace accidents, work-related mistakes, stress, fatigue, and illnesses. If you feel unwilling to go away for as long as a week, try something shorter—like a weekend. You can even make it a staycation to start. Eventually, if you spend your time off going places and doing things you love, you’ll start to become aware of the restorative benefits of taking your vacation time, and you might even inspire colleagues do the same.7. You See Your Job As Your Identity
It’s important to feel passionate about and connected to what you do, but when all or most of your accomplishment, pleasure, and self-worth comes from your work performance, it can be hard to deal with things when they don’t go your way. You’re far more likely to burn out if you place little value on other areas of your life like relationships and hobbies. The people in your life and the activities you enjoy can serve as effective pick-me-ups when work life gets rough. Try making a list of all the relationships and hobbies or activities you have in your life that you love. Then rank them in order of importance and brainstorm ideas for how you can start devoting more time and energy toward them.8. You Feel Like You Don’t Have Any Control
When you don’t have enough freedom to have a say in how decisions at work are made, or what your schedule looks like, or what the most important goals should be, you might find yourself feeling more cynical and less motivated. A study found that people with high-stress jobs and little control over their workflow live shorter lives or are less healthy overall compared to people who have more of a say in how they handle their schedules and work.((Personnel Psychology: Worked to Death: The Relationship of Job Demands and Job Control with Mortality)) Control is important for maintaining your sense of autonomy at work. Depending on your position, you might be able to go ahead and take control of your schedule and workflow the way you see fit—as long as you complete the work needed and hit your goals. If not, you might have to have a discussion with your manager or boss and come to an agreeable decision about how to make your workflow more flexible in a way that benefits both you and your boss’s expectations.9. Your Efforts Are Not Recognized or Rewarded
There’s nothing more demeaning than having your work go unnoticed or taken for granted by your colleagues and superiors. It turns out that when it comes to work, recognition matters more than pay. 70% of respondents to a survey admitted that they could not place a dollar value on their most meaningful experiences of recognition.((CISION: Study on Employee Engagement Finds 70% of Workers Don’t Need Monetary Rewards to Feel Motivated)) You can’t exactly walk into your boss’s office and start demanding more recognition for what you do, but you can make an effort to keep your boss updated on your accomplishments, build a better relationship with them and take initiative with additional tasks or issues that they bring up. When sharing your accomplishments, make sure you emphasize the benefit it had on the organization as a whole. To get more recognition from other colleagues, start by recognizing theirs. Those who appreciate your recognition will take notice and likely return the favor.10. You’re Being Treated Unfairly
It’s hard seeing colleagues get promoted when you think they didn’t serve it, or witnessing hiring or compensation decisions that seem to be based on biased opinion or favoritsm. According to a workplace survey by workforce management software company Kronos, unfair compensation was the top contributor to employee burnout at 41%, followed by unreasonable workload and overtime work at 32%.((Kronos: The Employee Burnout Crisis)) Unfair treatment at work can suck the drive to achieve right out of you, leaving you feeling disheartened and disengaged. To feel as if you’re being treated fairly, you must get clear on what you need to do to be rewarded, compensated appropriately, or promoted. Ask your manager or boss what you need to do, and then do it. If you still don’t receive the compensation or promotion that you think you deserve even after doing everything you were told you should do to get it, consider working somewhere else where your efforts are actually valued and save yourself from exasperating the effects of burnout.11. You Don’t See Any Clear Way to Advance Your Position
You’ve stopped learning, you’re stuck doing the same thing day in day out, and you feel trapped in a dead-end job. The human brain is hardwired for novelty and gains pleasure from taking on tasks that are just challenging enough to tackle, so a workflow that’s too routine or too drudgerous will slowly drain the sprit right out of you. When there’s no way up and nothing different to do, you’ll start to care less and less about your work at all. Even if there’s no higher position to work toward, you can still find new and meaningful ways to learn and challenge yourself. If you’re not sure how, talk to your boss or colleagues about shaking up your workflow. If a significant shake-up at work just can’t happen, consider doing the best you can with what you have to do while focusing your efforts on learning and being challenged outside of work. Get back to an old hobby, start a new side hustle, or join a club to help balance those boring workdays or shifts.12. Your Personal Core Values Conflict With the Values of Your Workplace.
When what you have to do at work violates something that you believe in and stand for, your sense of integrity suffers. In order to keep working at an organization where its values are out of alignment with your own, you basically have to kill those parts of yourself that have always helped define who you are. This is very difficult to do, given that your core values are typically ingrained in early childhood and remain in your subconscious mind throughout your adult life without you even being aware of them. The first step you should take is identify what you truly stand for. Next, you have to consider what’s meaningful about your work versus what could slowly kill you inside, and then weigh them against each other. If you find that there’s not enough to fulfill you by staying, you’ll likely need to prepare to find another job that’s more closely aligned with your values since your subconscious will lead you down the road anyway.13. You’re a Perfectionist About Your Work
You might have extremely high personal standards about your work performance, leaving no room for error. Perfectionists are known to be extremely self-critical—even when things go right (but worse when things go wrong). It’s no surprise that research links perfectionism to burnout, suggesting that it’s more of a self-destructive trait rather than a sign of virtue.((SAGE Journals: Personality and Social Psychology Review)) As a perfectionist, you have to learn how to adopt a growth mindset (as opposed t o a fixed mindset) by seeing mistakes and failures as an opportunity to improve. You also have to learn to practice self-compassion when work goes less than perfectly if you want to become a more resilient worker.14. You’re Really Only in It for the Money.
Work is work, but if every component of it feels completely meaningless and unfulfilling, then something is seriously wrong. A whopping 87% of employees worldwide feel disengaged with their work.((Gallup: The Engaged Workplace)) If you’re one of them, your disengagement could lead to your downfall (by demotion, layoff, or firing). Finding something fulfilling about your work takes a change in perspective. One way to do this is by putting yourself in the end user’s shoes—the customer or the client. Another way to do this is by looking at the bigger picture and thinking about your organization’s overall mission or goal. Next, identify the connections between your work and the end user and/or the organization’s mission. This should help you become aware of how your contribution is helping to make a real difference—even if it seems small.15. Your Genetics Might Make You More Susceptible to Burnout
If you think you’re simply more prone to stress and anxiety than your fellow colleagues, you could be right. Research has shown that there’s a potential molecular pathway for stress-related traits, suggesting that some people might be naturally more susceptible to burnout than others.((Human Molecular Genetics: Genome-wide scan of job-related exhaustion with three replication studies implicate a susceptibility caring at the UST gene locus)) People who were raised by stressed and anxious parents or guardians might also be more susceptible, although this might be more of an environmental factor rather than a genetic one. You can’t fight genetics, so your best bet is to work with how you’re built. Double down on your self-care by taking time to recharge, getting enough sleep, and engaging in activities that restore your energy—like meditation, exercise, reading, or listening to music.The Bottom Line
Burnout is no joke, and it doesn’t just go away by ignoring it. If you want to save yourself from having to spend a longer than necessary amount of time trying to recover, you have to start taking action sooner rather than later. It’s important to view the solution to burnout as a lifestyle balancing act. You’re going to have to identify the contributing factors to your burnout and connect them to all the other parts of your life—including health, relationships, hobbies, core values, and so on—if you want to neutralize it as quickly and as effectively as possible.More Resources to Help Tackle Burn out
- How to Find Motivation When You're Totally Burnt Out
- How to Eliminate Work Stress When You're Stressed to the Max
- Why You Can (And You Should) Quit Your Job Because of Stress
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