Experiencing burnout is a real thing.

It’s not your imagination playing tricks on you, and it doesn’t help you to ignore it—that will only make things work.

About 75% of all working people have struggled with burnout at some stage during their careers. It’s become even more of an issue during the pandemic and remains an issue for remote workers.

What Is Burnout?

Let’s do a quick quiz.

1. Do you feel as if you have no energy left in your tank?
2. Do you feel negative or mentally removed from your job?
3. Do you feel you are no longer doing your job efficiently?

If you answered “yes” to all three questions, then you are suffering from burnout. Even if you answered “yes” to two of these questions, you could be well on the way to burnout.

The World Health Organization considers burnout to be an occupational hazard.

What makes it unique is that burnout is always linked to the workplace. It stems from some kind of job-related stress that you are struggling to manage.

It could come from taking on too many projects; overcommitting to meetings or customers; or having too much pressure from other stakeholders. Being unable to manage these sorts of problems can worsen symptoms of burnout.

The Symptoms of Burnout

The three questions at the start of this section describe the main burnout symptoms as identified by the World Health Organization.

More specifically, these three symptoms are:

• Feeling as if you have no energy
• Cynicism or feeling distant from your job
• Not being as efficient at work as you used to be

These symptoms can manifest in many ways.

Physical Symptoms

A common physical sign of burnout is extreme exhaustion or feeling drained for most of the day.

You could also have a weaker immune system and become sick easily. Headaches and muscle pains are frequent occurrences.

It makes it difficult to fall asleep. Even though you sleep loads, you still wake up tired, and your eating patterns could change.

Emotional Symptoms

Your emotions could be all over the place, but they are mostly negative. You could have self-doubt, feel like a failure, and have little to no motivation.

Work makes you feel negative, trapped, or even defeated. You could be dissatisfied, have no sense of accomplishment, and feel detached from your job.

Behavioral Symptoms

Burnout can also affect your behavior and how you act. You may neglect your responsibilities or procrastinate. You could isolate yourself purposefully or withdraw in social settings.

Staying away from work or no longer being as punctual could become a problem. Food, alcohol, drugs, or other substances could become a crutch to help you cope.

The people closest to you may feel you are acting outside the norm. Frustration from work could spill over to your personal life, and you could lash out at your loved ones—even though they aren’t the cause of the problem.

Coping With Procrastination

Procrastination is a major problem for anyone with burnout. It could have so many negative consequences because you aren’t doing things as well as you should.

Learn how to overcome procrastination with our superior training. Winning the Game of Procrastination is all about getting stuff done by thinking differently. It can already help you to cope with burnout.

Consequences of Experiencing Burnout

Burnout is caused by feeling overwhelmed at work, not taking time out to rest, or structuring your day poorly. It can have detrimental consequences that not only affect your professional life but also your personal life.

Exhaustion

Extreme fatigue is a symptom and consequence of burnout. You could feel absolutely exhausted.

No matter how much you sleep, you just can’t get enough rest. Waking up tired is the norm. It can be deflating to wake up this way, and it sets the tone for the rest of the day.

When you sleep, your brain goes through cycles of different wavelengths. These cycles assist your brain with de-stressing, clearing toxins, and thought regulation.

During burnout, your brain doesn’t have its “quiet time” properly. It can’t experience all the wavelengths, which is why you remain tired.

Stress, Anxiety, and Depression

Mental problems could arise from burnout. People who otherwise cope well could suddenly show symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Stress can be the predecessor for these conditions, especially if you have more stress than you normally do. Burnout has a compound effect because the different symptoms and consequences aggravate each other. It can make the stress even worse.

All of these conditions affect your brain. They cause emotions to arise which triggers the sympathetic nervous system. It makes you focus on your emotions instead of thinking logically.

Poor Work Performance

Since burnout occurs in the workplace, it also affects your job. Procrastination is one of the biggest issues because you may feel disdain for your work.

It’s possible that you also feel disorganized and forget about some of your tasks. Your work quality may decrease as the burnout gets worse.

In many cases, this poor performance results in weak reviews from supervisors and unhappy customers. Your performance could decrease so much that you even lose your job or your business if you are an entrepreneur.

Continuous performance struggles and not achieving goals chip away at your self-esteem. You start to think negatively about yourself which can be detrimental in all areas of your life.

Relationship Problems

Professional and personal relationships may break down when you have burnout. The people who know you well might say you are different or not like you always are.

It’s possible that you don’t want to spend time with anyone or no longer want to engage in fun activities. It results in weaker connections and people not knowing how to act around you.

When you don’t spend time with positive people, your brain doesn’t get the socialization it needs. It doesn’t release feel-good hormones that boost your self-esteem and make you feel better about yourself.

Improve Your Mental Health

When your brain isn’t happy, your mental health declines. It leads to an array of symptoms and conditions that cause fluctuating emotions.

Thinking with your emotions won’t get you anywhere. It can cause a cycle of negativity that only leads you on a downward spiral and prevents you from thinking clearly.

When you can control your thoughts, your emotions take a back seat, and issues like procrastination and burnout are put back into their boxes. Find out how to do this and much more at the Winning the Game of Procrastination training.

How to Overcome Burnout

Burnout can be the result of internal or external pressures. Ultimately, it’s up to you to plan all areas of your life so that you can support yourself.

You can overcome burnout; the following tips will help you to do it.

Make Immediate Changes

Once you realize you have burnout, you need to take action immediately. You have to do something that will give your brain and body a chance to recover from the previous stress as you work on long-term solutions.

To clear the clutter from your brain quickly, consider what changes you can make to help you feel better immediately. Ask for some time off from work; delegate tasks to colleagues, friends, and family; and make a to-do list.

Confide in Others

As much as you might not want to spend time with other people, it is good to find a few people that you can confide in.

Choose a colleague, friend, loved one, or therapist to talk to. Tell them about what you are experiencing, how it is affecting your life, and what they can do to help you.

Schedule Time off for Yourself

Some people with burnout get into this position because they take work with them wherever they go. If that sounds like you, then you need to stop doing so.

Create boundaries between your personal and professional life. Leave work documents at work and switch off your phone once you get home.

Plan Your Life

Planning, although it takes time, is crucial when you want to cope better. It helps to structure your day, understand your dreams, and create goals.

From this planning, you know what to focus on. Don’t try to do anything other than the activities that bring you closer to your goals.

Be Compassionate

It’s important to be compassionate with yourself. Pushing yourself to work harder or do more won’t get you anywhere; it will only make the situation worse.

Be kind to yourself, identify your good traits, and compliment yourself on making it through the day.

Do Something That Makes You Happy

Burnout causes a negative state of mind. The more you think of negative things, the more you believe it is the truth.

Break this habit by focusing on things that make you happy. Be it reading, cycling, or spending time outdoors—do it frequently. The happier you are, the more you flood your brain with good chemicals that alleviate burnout.

Deal With Procrastination

Since putting things off is a major problem associated with burnout, you need to address it quickly.

Find some small tasks you can deal with quickly, prioritize your activities, and try some time management techniques. The best method though is to join us and learn more strategies to Win the Game of Procrastination.