Burning Out, its symptoms and what we can do about it.

I've been accused on more than one occasion of taking on too much work and not leaving enough time for myself. While I'm not sure if this is entirely true there is some validity in the fact that I habitually over task myself which usually results in temporarily burning out.

If this was simply confined to a particular project then it would be manageable however it would appear that when I'm burnign out in one area it seems to affect other areas where things were going just peachy.

Unfortunately I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to burning out because I have a terrible habit of jumping into projects with both feet and committing more resources than I have available in the early stages. More often than not what ends up happening is I get a lot done in the beginning, a bit done in the middle and then nothing done to actually finish what I started. For this reason I have multiple projects in various stages of completion and none of them have any completion date in the foreseeable future.

Fortunately now that I'm on the upswing from my last bout with burning out, I thought I'd take the opportunity to do some research on the subject. Hopefully if you suffer the same self induced funk as I do, maybe what follows will help you as well.

While there may be many symptoms of burning out, what follows seems to be the most widely acceptable symptoms I've found and that I personally suffer from:

• Bad days increasing in frequency
• Increased irritability
• Sleep deprivation
• Loss of motivation
• Physical side effects such as headaches and backaches
• You feel unappreciated
• Burning out mentally

Bad days increasing in frequency:

It's completely normal to have a bad day now and then, we all do. Unfortunately for many people, a bad day can become a bad week, a bad month and even a bad year.

In order to keep the bad days at bay one needs to analyze what made the day go so wrong and work toward a solution. While a solution (such as immediately finding a new job) may not be realistic answers to the problem, recognizing and acknowledging there is a problem is half the battle and in itself may represent a tremendous relief.

You may also want to consider not allowing the day to become bad in the first place. If you consider the day isn't over until lights out and your head hits that pillow, it allows you time to salvage some relief. This article will help give you some food for thought on dealing with a bad day caused by work but the principles within can be used for a bad day caused by anything.

Increased irritability:

Increased irritability can actually lead to health problems if not kept in check. As above its best you take a serious look at what is causing your irritable state and make plans to deal with these causes. Conversely, if you don't deal with one source of irritability it will eventually meld into another source of irritability and so on and so on. Eventually your day consists of one bad mood after another because your irritable state weakens your overall ability to deal with issues as they arise.

Here is a good article on how to deal with irritability.

Sleep deprivation:

Sleep is every bit as important as food and water as not getting enough can cause serious physical issues. If you suffer from prolonged bouts of sleep deprivation you NEED to talk to a doctor.

If you're like me and have always suffered from sleep deprivation the solution can be much harder to find. In my case what keeps me awake is an active mind so I've endeavored to create an environment in which my thought process is neutralized.

In my case I now go to bed with the TV on every single night. The reason for this is that TV completely turns off my thought process and in doing so I actually become tired. I also try my best to go to bed at the same time nightly as the routine itself seems to make me tired more and more due to a body schedule rather than exhaustion.

Personally I find that prolonged issues with sleep deprivation is paramount in burning out and if left unchecked I can remain habitually burned out even after my sleep issues have been corrected.

Loss of motivation:

It's imperative you learn to self-manage if you are to keep motivated. Motivation is somewhat tricky in that you may start something completely unmotivated but gain motivation as you work through it.

Setting realistic goals or deadlines is a great way to keep motivated as meeting deadlines (or exceeding them) always provides an emotional boost. Maybe you can "rig" your deadlines to be easier to reach and then make a habit of exceeding them as much as you can. The worst case scenario is you simply meet a target deadline, the best case is you feel emotionally charged because you surpassed the original expectation.

It also doesn't hurt to look into the future here somewhat and think of how you'll feel when the project is completed. Looking forward to achieving a goal is one of the best ways I've found to build or re-vitalize my own motivation and keep burning out at bay.

Physical Symptoms:

The physical symptoms of burning out can vary greatly from headaches to backaches to muscle cramps. Other signs of burning out can be in the form of reduced energy, lethargy, or even exhaustion.

It's imperative you take care of yourself and pursue avenues to recharge your mental batteries. This can include things such as having a good meal, adding an exercise routine, finding a hobby or simply talking to friends.

Feeling unappreciated:

Like everything else you need to evaluate who or what it is that makes you feel unappreciated and seek avenues to reap a return on your time or emotional investment. To not do so only makes tackling future projects that much more difficult as the walls are already up long before you start.

This is a good time to be honest with yourself and those you feel who are not appreciating your efforts. Simply communicating issues is often enough to satisfy your mental state while gaining valuable insight in the process. You simply cannot know what's going on unless you communicate effectively; to not do so means nothing changes except your emotional state and only for the worst in most cases.

Mental Overdrive:

Aside from sleep depravation I suffer from mental overdrive the most. I'm simply unable to stop thinking about something yet unable to move forward in thought. Essentially instead of making headway in a particular thought the distress I currently feel spins other distressing thoughts. Eventually all I'm left with is a head full of distressing ideas and there like a cancer in my mind.

The problem is that my mind simply is unable to shut down once it's reached a high level of distress and it reaches this distress by not shutting down in the first place. While I may be able to put a mask over it the mental turmoil still restlessly jostles around in my psyche waiting for the opportunity to leap forward.

The only solution I've found for this is to face whatever is causing the original distress head on. Of course this may put you outside your comfort zone now and again but it's a necessary way to put longstanding issues behind you.

...

Virtually everything I read in regards to burning out puts the blame on oneself. Simply put, you don't always have control over the situation but you always retain control over how you choose to deal with it. The underlying message that every point tries to deliver is for you to not only pace yourself but to approach every undertaking with realistic and achievable expectations.

For example, I tend to tackle projects in large chunks yet it's these same large chunks that scare me away from continuing the work in the first place. I then get no further ahead in said project yet the work required to actually complete it remains the same regardless of how long I choose to ignore it.

All I've done in the process is ad a generous portion of anxiety to complete the task and it is this growing feeling of emotional distress that leads to my burning out. Some things I've found that seem to work for me personally are:

• stop daydreaming: focus on the task at hand and don't give into excuses to continually walk away from it.
• limit distractions: limit your known distractions to maximize your time while working through long or difficult tasks; that will make the overall scope less daunting.
• create a "To Do" List
• ...even better, create REALISTIC completion dates on your "To Do" List and stick to them
• if you juggle multiple project, work on them a bit at a time rather than all at once.
• don't let it sit with the intentions of getting to it later, if you can get to it now, get to it NOW.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, schedule "me time", look out for #1. Make sure you habitually leave time for yourself to balance.

There is no age limit to burning out as anyone can suffer from it. Children are every bit as susceptible to burning out as adults are so it's vital you not only recognize they are burning the candle at both ends but help them to realize the fact as well.

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Preventing Burnout

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