Crazy people are those who spend their whole lives doing nothing but have no strength and no purpose.
Marcus Aurelius
New Job- it is always a source of new hopes, a look full of confidence into a wonderful future full of career achievements. But some time passes, and something inside suddenly changes. Instead of the pleasure that we received in the first months of work, some strange apathy comes. Every morning it becomes more and more difficult to get up from such a soft and cozy bed, and the alarm clock turns from an assistant into an executioner.
What happened? It seems that career growth is still promised, and the salary is good and the team is the same. But the obsessive thought that you need to run away from this company, wherever you look, does not leave your head. What it is? Is it really time to quit, or should this obsession be curbed and not interfere with your professional development?
Well, before answer To answer this question, you need to sit down at the table, take a minute in complete silence and answer the questions in detail in writing to yourself:
1. Is this the kind of job I expected when I joined the company?
2. What exactly is wrong?
3. How significant are the differences? Is it worth leaving because of them?
First question- the simplest one, most people with the described problem will answer negatively. No! This is not what we expected. Somewhere we were deceived, and big time. But the second question is much more tricky and complex. If you suddenly find that there are no actual changes between what you expected and what you received, then this is a reason to assume that you are “burned out.” The third question is of a clarifying nature. You understand, if you were promised twenty-two days of rest a year, but were given only twenty, but they promised to add two next year, this is a dubious reason for leaving.
But what does it mean - " burn out"? This is a scientific term introduced by Herbert Freudenberg back in the eighties. Initially, it described a syndrome that occurs in people whose profession is to professionally help other people. For example, nurses, psychiatrists (and any doctors in general), social workers Over time, their work begins to drain them emotionally, which causes problems with sleep, and their psyche is protected by cynicism, which results in hatred of everyone around them, primarily the clients themselves.
But with time syndrome Burnout has become characteristic of many other professions. This is due to the ever-increasing workload on any average office worker. A psychological breakdown occurs when, without any serious objective reasons, a person begins to receive only irritation, disappointment and depression from his once beloved work.
What to do? First, you need to minimize and eliminate all the reasons that lead to this very burnout. For example, deal with excessive load. Explain to your bosses and colleagues that if you continue to be loaded like this, you will simply break down and have to quit. Stop constantly taking work home, stop thinking about it in your free time. Occupational hygiene is very important, so do not neglect it. Strictly forbid yourself to sit in front of the TV in the evening, while simultaneously checking the latest report, corresponding with a similarly workaholic colleague about tomorrow’s plans, and the like. You need to throw out everything from your bedroom that is somehow related to work. Simply turn off your phone when you get home, make it your principle.
As mentioned above, burnout leads to an avalanche-like leap of cynicism in a person and he begins to behave like an entrance guard embittered with his life. If you have never seen such a watchman, then try going to the nearest city clinic. There you will easily find some doctor, in whose eyes you can clearly read how much he hates you and everyone else sitting in line, stupid donkeys and idiots. Therefore, cynicism should be taken in moderation. Feel free to tell yourself “it’s none of my business” from time to time and stop helping the client “beyond the norm.” You are not a titan and you need to protect your kind calf heart so that it does not burn to the ground, turning into a nasty cinder that hates all living things.
Have you heard of neurobics? For now, get acquainted with this section of mental hygiene. And with mental hygiene in general. Monotony and routine are very harmful to our brain; they literally kill our very desire for life. It is because of the routine that many factory workers become drunkards, and it is because of the routine that those who have to work on the assembly line are so unhappy. Introduce something new into your day, stop walking the same routes to work, drinking the same coffee at the same time. Start doing something stupid like why not start writing with your left hand? The development of ambidexterity (equal use of both hands) is an excellent, professionally recommended remedy for daily routine and the harmonious development of both hemispheres of the brain.
Spend more time rest. It also needs to be diversified. Spending every evening watching TV series is not a vacation, but just another additional job. In your free time, think about what you would like to do. Read materials about various types of outdoor activities, educational articles on this topic. Even if nothing comes to mind right away, over time you will become eager to do something “like that.”
It would be a good idea to increase the total number recreation, if possible. Is this Saturday worth what you get for your overtime? Maybe try to do without it, at least for a couple of months? If you don’t like it, come back for a six-day week, but for now try to rest two days a week, because your psyche really needs it.
And only if a couple of months of all this therapy didn’t help at all, you can start looking for reasons in some objective factors. Perhaps leaving this job for a new one will indeed be a good decision for you. You certainly shouldn’t push yourself to the detriment of your own health. Neither money nor career are worth it.
If your work has ceased to bring you pleasure, you are constantly tormented by fatigue, your colleagues are annoying, and even the prospects for career growth do not inspire you to achieve professional achievements, then you are on the verge of professional burnout. No one is immune from loss of interest in work, even the most highly qualified and successful specialists. But how to solve the problem of professional burnout?
1. What is professional burnout? - Professional burnout is a manifestation of chronic stress at work, which leads to a sharp deterioration in labor efficiency.
In other words, we become unable to perform creative and complex intellectual tasks, we stop communicating normally in a team, and we quickly get tired.
2. Why do we burn out? - Burnout overtakes our consciousness unnoticed. We have been suffering physically and mentally for a long time: for example, we have back pain or lack of satisfaction from work. But we realize that we already burn out at work when either someone points it out to us, or we no longer have the strength or desire to do anything.
In fact, burnout is the result of insufficient attention to yourself, your goals, and your health. And when it happens to us, we already need the help of a professional psychotherapist, or at least awareness of our problem and self-help.
3. Signs of professional burnout? - There are many of them, they depend on social status, but in general, in large cities the list around the world is almost the same. Signs can be divided into physical and psychological.
Let's start with physical burnout. Here are the key signs:
1) Bad habits are especially intensified during burnout: people begin to smoke more, abuse alcohol and high-calorie foods, seek salvation in “one-night stands,” etc. A person strives to “reboot”: “Yesterday I felt bad, I’ll get some sleep and tomorrow everything will be different!” But this, as we know, is a fallacy. Because without eliminating the cause of burnout, it is impossible to get away from this problem.
2) Lack of movement. People stop playing sports, even if they are used to going to the pool or gym regularly. They simply stop walking in the fresh air. They are constantly haunted by a feeling of fatigue.
3) Chronic diseases, as a consequence of the first and second, pass into the acute stage. The eyes are especially affected (vision often decreases), pain appears in the back and gastrointestinal tract. The brain suffers: a burnt-out person sleeps worse, which means that there is no complete renewal of brain cells, and memory deteriorates. It can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Psychological signs of burnout are no less important than physical ones:
1) Feeling of uselessness, failure, worthlessness. A person stops seeing his strengths and focuses on his weaknesses. Suddenly he begins to notice how “a colleague looked askance” or “the manager smiled differently than everyone else.” This comes from a loss of purpose and a certain integrity (understanding one’s life as a system in which work is not the main thing, but only one part of the whole).
2) Difficulty switching attention to work goals. A person constantly plays “mental gum” in his head about his fatigue. There is especially no strength to get ready after weekends, holidays and vacation days.
3) Low mood and self-pity. This leads to the fact that a person withdraws into himself and stops enjoying the successes of his children, friends, and work colleagues. The number of social contacts is reduced.
4. Stages of professional burnout? - The stages of burnout are actually stages of distress, that is, stress that is harmful to health. There is also beneficial stress, which gives us superpowers or a sense of drive from work. But we can talk about it separately.
There are several stages of burnout, which everyone goes through, depending on the individual characteristics of the body, faster or slower: fatigue, exhaustion, panic attacks, depression.
5. Who is at risk? - People who are in a midlife crisis most often come to a psychologist with signs of professional burnout. It would seem that they have everything: a decent job, a strong family, true friends, but they feel confused: “Am I living right? What's next? What do I really want?
One’s own “I” comes first, because a lot has already been done for the family and children, and the main program of success dictated by parents and society has already been completed. The most interesting time is coming - the time to work on your desires.
I have many such clients, and the most pleasant thing is to see how they begin to look into themselves, notice what they had not noticed before, and love themselves for all the good that is in them, and also accept those sides of their personality that are who want to change.
6. Tips: how to overcome the problem? - Getting out of the stage of distress is difficult, but quite possible. There are several self-help steps:
1) Realize your condition, that you are in crisis and are burning out at work; it no longer brings you the same joy as before. You feel apathetic and tired. Awareness of a problem is the beginning of the path to solving it.
2) Practice time management: allocate time for work and rest. Rest is required! Set aside at least 8 hours a day for sleep at the same time. It has been proven that our body is capable of healing both physical and psychological ailments on its own if it is given the necessary rest.
3) Give up bad habits or at least reduce them. For example, stop eating fast food.
4) Increase physical activity: at least 10,000 steps per day.
5) Increase social activity: communicate with friends, go to theaters and exhibitions. In other words, bring the colors back into your life!
Ideally, if you realize that you are in the stage of burnout, contact a good psychotherapist. If the situation has not reached the point of panic attacks and depression, a business coach or psychologist can also solve the problem. With professional help, you will achieve results faster and better, and you will again be full of strength and energy for professional achievements.
If you feel like a squeezed lemon, if your legs can’t go to work, and the thought of everyday responsibilities causes melancholy and physical malaise - come here. There are all the signs of professional burnout - something needs to be done about it. We'll tell you why this happens and how to deal with it.
What is professional burnout?
Professional burnout is a very precise term and a chic image. Remember what you were like when you started working. They flew there as if on a holiday, generated new ideas, infected the employees with their optimism, and were on fire themselves. What now? It’s like a scorched desert inside: you don’t need anything, you don’t want anything. It’s as if you’ve burned out to the ground - it’s time, like the Phoenix bird, to be reborn from the ashes.
Definition of the term
Why do we burn out?
Too much work
In our age of workaholics, the number of precedents for professional burnout has increased. It's logical: The more you work, the less rest you have - and this is fraught with stress. The poem about a workaholic (“work makes horses die, but I’m an immortal pony”) is not at all so harmless and funny. Sooner or later, a person will hate the source of constant stress and just want to relax. It’s stupid to get enough sleep and take a full vacation. It would be good if he could then return to work as if nothing had happened. If not, well, you start to burn out.
Too close to my heart
The more you work, the stronger your roots grow in your work, the more acutely you react to mistakes and failures. Work becomes a part of the personality, sometimes closer than family and personal interests. Just as in human relationships there is only one step from love to hate, so it is here. If you take professional matters too seriously, one day the pendulum will swing in the other direction.- you will hate this job as a once close person. After all, in your opinion, she only causes you pain.
Working too long
Let's take a break from the psychological aspects and give a simple and understandable reason: work time. Not in vain psychologists and HR experts recommend changing your field of activity every five years. If you work in one place all your life, you will stagnate, like a horse in a stall, and you will want to break free. When for some reason you can’t do this, hello, burnout. You will become bored and uncomfortable, you will feel out of place.
Example of an operating mode sign
Experiencing an identity crisis
Most often, mature adults are faced with a midlife crisis. And everything seems to be fine: the business is running like clockwork, the house is full, apartments, cars, and the Maldives are available, but... something is missing. A person begins to think about the eternal, about the meaning of life. If the business gives you moral satisfaction, if you like the field of activity, maybe it will work out. If this is just a way to make money, there is a high probability that you will want to change your niche and do something for your soul.
Signs of professional burnout
Burnout is such an insidious thing that it affects all areas of human activity. This is a depletion of emotions, mind, health - in many ways it is similar to depression.
You become indifferent
First of all, burnout affects the emotional sphere. “He who has loved cannot love. You can’t set fire to someone who is burned,” wrote Sergei Yesenin. Apathy, indifference to what once attracted and pleased - these are the first bells. You can try to motivate yourself - at first it works, then the motivation disappears. Then, if you do not pay attention to this, interest is lost not only in work, but also in ordinary life.
Colleagues and clients annoy you
What you once loved now begins to devalue. The field of activity seems not the same - oh, if only you had chosen another one! Nice employees seem dumb and unprofessional. The partners, as one, look like a wolf and strive to deceive. Customers are simply infuriating - it seems that all the inadequate people have decided to take your online store by storm. Sometimes you feel real anger towards them, sometimes you lose your temper and go into direct conflict. The time is not far off when they will refuse to work with you. But you will find them to blame for this - “bad” partners and employees.
You know you don't know anything
Actually this is normal. Socrates also said: “the more I know, the more I do not know.” Only a fool considers himself an unsurpassed professional and does not want to develop- a smart person will always strive for perfection. And you used to strive, but now you don’t want to. And in general you feel like an amateur and a fool - much smarter and more pumped up. So why learn something new - it won’t get any better! It won't lead to anything good anyway.
You're not doing a good job
Even if you are a big boss, you still perform certain responsibilities. You are engaged in management, regulate business processes, meet with partners, make significant decisions. How long have you been doing this? If you notice that you are more and more often avoiding these matters, then things are bad. No one will do this except you.
You are constantly under stress
While you are at work, you feel like a tense string. Considering that modern entrepreneurs are always working - even when they are resting, you are constantly on edge. On vacation or on weekends, this condition goes away a little. But if you imagine that tomorrow/in a few hours you will have to work again - you feel so sick, you could climb the wall. Neuroses and depression gradually develop- its clinical picture, by the way, is similar to professional burnout. This is the same apathy, indifference, lack of emotions and other signs. Think about it.
Symptoms of depression
Health problems appear
Hello, psychosomatics! When psychological problems affect health, this is already a very alarming symptom. Psychosomatics works simply: when you think about work, your head starts to hurt. Or belly. I knew a man who, on the eve of Monday, naturally began to feel sick.
If the problem is not solved, the disease may become chronic. You start taking pills - although it is not the body that needs to be treated, but primarily the head and attitude to work. And how to treat it is not very clear; each case of burnout is individual.
Who is at risk?
The following are most susceptible to professional burnout:
- Those who communicate a lot. If on duty you have to communicate with employees, partners, clients - be careful. You shouldn’t let absolutely everything pass through yourself; be reasonably detached.
- Those whose business is unstable. Economic and political crises can hit some businesses like a rollercoaster. If you are constantly concerned about how to survive in this crazy world, not go bankrupt and make at least a little profit, you will not work for long in such stressful conditions.
- Those who are prone to excessive self-criticism and introspection. Sometimes you need healthy indifference: if it doesn’t work out, you give up, move on and move on. If you blame yourself for all your problems, you are not far from depression.
- Those who started a new business. It would seem that there is no point in getting burned out: it’s a new thing, know how to improve and develop. But a new business is fraught with a huge number of new difficulties and problems that need to be solved immediately, right now. Many people, instead of gritting their teeth and learning the basics, fold their paws and give up what they started.
Types of professional burnout
Stages of professional burnout
1. Minor errors in work. You seem to forget simple actions that you previously knew by heart. You may make a mistake in drawing up a standard contract, forget the date of important business negotiations, order one product instead of another... This is the first stage, which is often confused with simple overwork. A person can laugh at himself or be surprised: they say it’s me. In fact, this is the first alarming symptom. It can occur within 3-5 years from the start of work.
2. Decreased interest. You don’t want to communicate, generate new ideas - you don’t want to go to work at all. Instead of solving management problems, you sit in your office and play shooting games. You already understand that something is wrong with you, but you don’t want to change anything. You abstract from the company's problems and put everything on the employees: let them handle it. If they don’t cope, so be it.
This stage occurs on average 5-15 years after starting a business. At this stage, psychosomatic manifestations are possible: you develop diseases that you have never heard of before. Maybe it's just age - or maybe not. It’s as if the brain is giving the body a signal: stop, have pity on me, I can’t do this anymore!
3. If you do nothing, stage 3 will occur. Emotions have already burned out - personality destruction sets in. From an ordinary person - lively, cheerful, albeit with cockroaches in your head - you turn into an apathetic creature who has lost interest in life in general. Nothing pleases, nothing motivates - it’s time to climb into a noose. Yes, yes, at this stage (15-20 years of work), if things are really bad, a person may have thoughts of suicide, worthlessness and uselessness of himself and his business. “Why all this, why do I live?”- these are the characteristic thoughts of a burnt-out person.
Stages of professional burnout
By the way, professional burnout can “eat up” not only the manager and employee, but also the company as a whole. If the boss is burned out, the employees feel it and involuntarily become imbued with the general mood. And now the same zombies with empty eyes are already walking around the office, dreaming of only one thing: to quickly hold out this strap until the evening and run home. Who would like to deal with such people? Clients and partners love those who have a sparkling eye, who support their proposals and offer something themselves. In addition, conflicts begin in the team, dissatisfaction with each other grows - and now it is falling apart before our eyes.
In order not to reach the third stage, It’s better to track the warning signs in time and take action. We found signs of the first stage - run to change the situation. We'll tell you what you can do.
How to be reborn from the ashes?
- Realize and accept the situation. You're not the first person this has happened to - well, it happens. Now the main thing is to get rid of the destructive: do not feel sorry for yourself, do not cry (“Chief, everything is gone!”) but decide what to do next.
- If burnout is just beginning and you don’t want to radically change your activities, try to find new facets in your usual work. Sign up for professional training, find a coach you trust. Expand the assortment of your online store, attract additional ones, find them - and life will become better, life will become more interesting! If finances allow, think about how your business can be built.
- If burnout occurred specifically in your field of activity, it’s time to change something. Study the market, think about which of them you have reliable partners and possible allies. What did you have your eye on before, but for some reason didn’t implement the idea? Where are you drawn, what is your soul, in the end? It is not at all necessary to sell your previous business - you can give it to a manager or deputy, and immerse yourself in a new project.
- Go to a psychologist. Well, seriously: if professional burnout has affected your personality and character, you have become irritable, lost interest in life - this cannot continue. Run to a specialist and get ready to work together for a long time. There is nothing wrong with visiting a psychologist - you will be able to understand yourself better and determine the main vector of further development.
Of course, it’s better not to go to the last resort. Pay attention to alarming symptoms and try to change the situation. I think if the Phoenix bird had a choice and a little more instinct of self-preservation, it would not burn itself and then be reborn from the ashes.
Every year the intensity of life of a modern person increases and requires greater activity and ability to work. Following these demands comes not only success at work and career growth, but also professional burnout due to constant stress, labor costs and dynamic life. We’ll tell you in this article how to deal with professional burnout and make your previously favorite job a pleasure again.
When every day is like Groundhog Day
How often does a company employee, waking up in the morning, shudder with horror, remember that the working day is beginning and the weekend is very far away. After that, he stands in traffic on the way to work and simply hates everything and everyone around him, cursing inconvenient roads, broken traffic lights, bad weather and clumsy pedestrians. After spending an hour at the workplace, he already feels tired and irritable to literally everything. And after a working day, when you get home, you have no desire to communicate with your family, you want to relax as soon as possible. But, falling asleep, he realizes that tomorrow this Groundhog Day will repeat again and it is impossible to change it.
Many people think that this is a normal feeling, and literally everyone has this mood and emotional stress at work. However, this is a misconception. A person who wants to be successful at work and be happy must love what he does and find time to relax and socialize with family and colleagues.
Who's under attack?
Different categories of workers are at risk. Most often, these are specialists who communicate with a large number of people every day: sales managers, teachers, doctors, recruiters, executives, salespeople. After all, it is very difficult to communicate with a huge number of people every day, year after year, and keep the situation under control.
In addition, introverts often burn out at work - people who keep all their emotions inside themselves and accumulate negativity, after which they do not splash it out or get rid of it in any way. And this problem can easily affect the so-called perfectionists, who are used to doing everything perfectly always and everywhere.
The problem can easily affect the so-called perfectionists, who are used to doing everything perfectly, always and everywhere.
It is very difficult to constantly monitor the situation and come to your senses in time to understand how to overcome it and gain satisfaction from work and life.
Preventing professional burnout
The simplest ways to rehabilitate professional burnout are:
- Rest.
- Self-development.
- Workplace update.
- Sport and health.
- Getting rid of grievances.
Let's look at each of them in more detail.
Rest
The best way for normal, efficient work and minimizing stress is proper rest. As they say, “he who rests well works well,” and this is a true statement. If the prerequisites for emotional and professional burnout appear: fatigue, chronic insomnia/drowsiness, inattention and irritability, you should take care of your moral and physical health. And this is, first of all, rest. Everyone's methods of rest and relaxation are different, but healthy sleep, taking a lunch break and taking a full vacation are prerequisites for coping with professional burnout, tension and stress.
In addition, as scientists have proven, the absence of sun in a person’s life provokes depression and emotional fatigue. Therefore, vacations at the seaside or private trips to nature in the warm season are mandatory for an office worker who is indoors from morning to evening at least 5 days a week and goes outside only when the sun is already hiding.
Self-development
An excellent cure for professional burnout is professional development and improving your own level in what you love. It is necessary to analyze what is missing for more dynamic and effective work, to achieve career heights, and fill empty niches with knowledge. After all, the sphere of business, education and production is developing every year, accordingly, there is always something to learn in order to be aware of all the new tools for work. It is recommended to systematically take courses and trainings on topics of interest, attend language clubs and communities of specialists and experts in the field of interest. Studying will not only distract you from everyday problems, but will also allow you to push the boundaries of the standard vision of problems and tasks, provide more opportunities for career growth and increase your circle of interesting acquaintances.
Workplace update
It is at your desk in your office, where nothing has changed for a long time and everything is a little annoying, that you spend a lot of your working time. A change in room environment is guaranteed to change your mood at work and your outlook on the everyday work environment. To do this, you need to make a rearrangement every six months, at least move your desk to another place, put things in order in your papers and computer. Get rid of everything unnecessary and add something that inspires you (for example, an indoor flower, a beautiful picture or a board with pleasant and positive messages) if your company allows it. This method is good in combination with others, but it also has a uniquely positive effect on a person.
Sport and health
An employee who leads an active lifestyle must find time for sports. First of all, it is necessary for physical health, and secondly, it is a good tool in the fight against professional burnout. Regular exercise that you enjoy promotes the production of real joy hormones. Let it be swimming or the gym, fitness or yoga, dancing or football. Systematic attendance at sports activities will give you much more energy and strength than relaxing on the couch in front of the TV. Joint sports weekends are also beneficial for physical and emotional health and an active family life: cycling with your wife and children, skiing and visiting skating rinks.
Getting rid of grievances
Don't hold grudges to yourself - just talk to your boss. Very often, professional burnout is associated with the fact that the boss underestimates the work and enthusiasm of the employee, lack of proper attention and motivation. The longer an employee harbors dissatisfaction and resentment towards his boss, the less he wants to work effectively and work for the benefit of the company, after which he turns into “office plankton” and every day loses the desire to work and develop. As soon as one or more reasons for concern appear, you should talk with your immediate supervisor, explain to him what is not working for you, find out whether you can expect to achieve results (promotion, salary growth, etc.) and what needs to be done for this. The request must be seriously justified so that the boss takes the “cry of the soul” seriously. An adequate manager, assessing the frankness of a good employee, will help solve the problem, review functionality and motivation, provide an opportunity to work in an area of interest, or offer to take on an interesting project.
If none of the methods for preventing professional burnout have worked or for one reason or another it is impossible to implement them, you should change jobs. It is quite possible that you have grown professionally and are simply not interested in your current job.
If work has ceased to bring satisfaction, and professional responsibilities have become indifferent, if work colleagues have begun to cause irritation, and prospects for career growth have ceased to inspire achievements at work, then such symptoms may be signs of professional burnout.
Daria Pantyukh, a professional coach and business psychologist, certified career management specialist, author and presenter of trainings to improve team and personal effectiveness, and founder of the Consulting Boutique Personal Partner project, talks about how to solve the problem of professional burnout.
Professional burnout is a real scourge of our time. This is a very unpleasant syndrome, which is accompanied by a state of exhaustion - emotional, mental or physical. Professional burnout can be due to various reasons.
The first reason: age
Professional burnout syndrome can occur at any age, but most often it occurs in people aged 27 to 40 years. This is a period of time when a person undergoes a reassessment of values, a change in life priorities and guidelines. As a rule, by this age people have already managed to solve all the main problems that require significant financial costs (buying an apartment, car and dacha, having children, etc.) There comes a time when professional interests fade into the background and a desire to do something appears - more interesting, for the soul. A person begins to value his personal time, he wants to have a happier, more fulfilling and interesting life, and not just earn money. Assessing his current place of work, he begins to understand that it only gives him income, but does not provide him with either satisfaction or the opportunity for professional growth.
Second reason: unfavorable economic situation in the country
The economic crisis that our country is experiencing has an adverse effect on the working atmosphere of Russian enterprises. Many companies have begun to reduce their costs and reduce their staff, and distribute the functions of laid-off workers among the remaining specialists as an additional burden. Such a management decision causes internal dissatisfaction, disagreement, or even protest among employees. As a result, a person does not like the current situation and begins to think about whether he works there, whether he is doing his own thing, and whether it is time for him to change something in his life.
The third reason: inaction when the first alarming symptoms appear
At the very first, initial stage of professional burnout, people often do not see alarming symptoms as signs of an impending problem. They continue to go to work that is no longer interesting, and do nothing to improve the situation. The main reasons for this inaction are the following:
Fear of being left without income: the situation in the country is difficult, what if you can’t find a more suitable job?
A person does not know what he really wants from life, what he likes and what gives him pleasure.
Fear of change: The vast majority of people do not like changes in life and are very afraid of any changes, including in work.
This inaction is explained by the instinct of self-preservation: people are afraid of losing stability. As a result, they remain in a routine and thereby cripple their lives. Timely diagnosis of the problem and an active life position will help to successfully cope with professional burnout and significantly improve the quality of life.
Signs of professional burnout
1. The emergence of a feeling of the meaninglessness of life.
If a person has thoughts that something is going wrong in his life, or life seems meaningless to him, this is a very alarming sign. Every person needs two components to be happy: satisfaction in his personal life and fulfillment in the professional sphere. But if professional activity does not bring joy or satisfaction, a person inevitably begins to think that he is not doing his job.
2. Complete loss of interest in work.
If work ceases to bring satisfaction, a person begins to treat it formally. He continues to mechanically carry out his professional duties. Looking forward to the end of the working day, weekend, vacation or retirement. His only desire is to finish it “to the end.”
3. The emergence of psychosomatic diseases.
The most striking sign of professional burnout is the causeless appearance of diseases that have never existed before. In addition to painful sensations, such symptoms also bring a feeling of guilt: poor health prevents you from performing work duties as usual and adds negativity to thoughts about the meaninglessness of life.
4. Internal sabotage.
When a person begins to understand that it is time for him to change something in his professional life, but he does not have enough determination or strength to make such changes, he begins to sabotage. This happens unconsciously: a person suddenly begins to quarrel with colleagues or management for no reason, be late for important meetings, submit reports late, etc. As a result, he is fired, and this further aggravates the situation: the person’s self-esteem decreases, he does not know what should he do next, does not know what he wants and what kind of job he needs to look for.
How to overcome professional burnout: step-by-step instructions
At the first signs of professional burnout, it is necessary to take measures to correct the situation
Step one
You need to realize what is happening to you. You shouldn’t be afraid of professional burnout, it’s normal: at a certain age, it happens to almost everyone. You need to take it for granted and think about what to do next. Work should be fun and fulfilling, so it's important to understand what you enjoy most, what your job and career mean to you, and what you would really like to do.
Step two
Remember what you liked to do as a child and what you dreamed of becoming. Find out what you can do with interest now, even if you don’t get paid for it—this will help you identify your talents and personality strengths, and this is the main functionality of a person.
Step three
Ask yourself: what is important to you in your work, in your team? What do you want to get out of work? Do you need a team or do you tend to work alone? If you enjoy interacting with people, take note of this, and if you prefer to work independently, then you should consider remote work or self-employment.
Step four
When you understand what exactly is happening to you, identify your strengths and talents and formulate what exactly you want to get from work, start building a plan. There are two possible options here: first, you realized and decided that it was time for you to change jobs; and the second - you thought it over and realized that at the moment you are not yet ready to change your job. Each of these options has its own way to solve the problem.
If you understand that you are not yet ready to change your job, if something is still holding you back in your job (salary, fear of dismissal, or a simple reluctance to change anything), then to overcome professional burnout you need to take an intermediate step. In order not to sabotage your professional responsibilities and not run into dismissal at the initiative of management, try to find fulfillment of your talents and interests outside of work. You can go to training or advanced training courses, start studying something (a foreign language, handicrafts, floriculture, landscape design, hairdressing, etc.) or find a hobby for yourself: take up drawing, fitness or dancing, start running a marathon and etc. At work, you also need to try to expand the range of your responsibilities, even without increasing your salary. Such measures will help you realize your talents and strengths to some extent. But you need to understand that these measures are temporary, and sooner or later you will still have to change your job, position or professional field, or maybe you will have to leave hired work and go on your own.
If you decide to change your job, change your profession or start your own business, make a clear plan of what you will do and in what sequence: what consultations, additional skills and knowledge you need to get, what market to study, what trainings to take, where to send your resume, etc. . d. When the plan is drawn up, begin to implement it and act clearly in accordance with this plan.
Thus, a thorough analysis of one’s own capabilities, market research and an active life position helps to overcome professional burnout.