Are you showing signs of burnout?
Irritable, Apathy / Detachment, Low Motivation and Drive, Lack of productivity / Spacing out, Boredom
Have you ever gotten a burn? Perhaps out in the sun longer than you should have and after lathering on the Aloe Vera to cool off the residual heat…
It’s sensitive right? It’s irritable.
Now the same thing happens to us emotionally.
On the path of burnout, day to day seemingly innocent activities are searing our emotional nerves.
Possibly starts off with annoyance - but you handle it by taking a deep breath… you get angry, frustrated, disappointed, and keep suppressing it to get through the day to day to day.
Now it starts to progressively get worse because you haven’t had the time to release that out of your system - you’re in survival mode right?
Fight or flight conditions are your status quo, and your small decisions, actions and beliefs begin to set in - many times even encouraged by your work culture as a “high-paced” type environment.
Whether you’re entrepreneurial or it’s a high performance achievement mindset - burnout as a process is when you consume more energy than you can recover on a regular basis.
And then imagine, possibly many other small issues that keep stacking, a huge setback or a bit of both - and just like that, an emotional level trauma sets in.
You’ve just crossed that threshold.
Being irritable is sensitivity to stress; mentally, emotional or physically.
And on the path to burnout, while some might fight it out…
Others might take the flight and stop route.
Apathy sinks in.
Too much disappointment, pain and realizing that reality just sucks and painfully realizing there’s nothing you can do...
It begins to lead you to recede into unconsciously shutting down.
Protection right? Natural as a reactive mechanism.
While sometimes it’s healthy to detach and step away to recharge, it turns destructive when detaching is permanent because there is no outlet to recharge.
We get this as low motivation and drive, in your career and later in life.
It’s like a dark cloud of hopelessness and pointless sinks into the unconscious mind, and you make the decision to give up.
Giving up is the new status quo - and no matter what you consciously believe should get you encouraged and excited… perhaps even forcing yourself with willpower…
You just don’t feel very productive, space out and find it hard to focus with your ever growing and demanding list of to-do items.
Whether your career offers your bigger carrots and sticks…
A chance for a promotion, pay raises, an exciting prospect or project has no allure - or you just can’t follow through with focused action
Even passive aggressive stabs from management to get your work done, poor performance appraisals, warnings from HR, money and budgets down the drain, or your own colleagues who look down on you
It doesn’t really phase you because you’ve downgraded your career to a job that’s just enough to pays the bills.
Unconsciously you’re locked in, limited and settled into a complacent life with no purpose and meaning.
That’s a sign of late stage burnout.
Now while there might not be much motivation to want to turn around at this point, there is a moment - a state of mind that opens you up for change...
Boredom.
However, there’s an inner conflict between wanting to do something, but too lazy to do anything.
And while going through the motions for change and progress…
Perhaps taking a course to learn a new skill, applying for a new job or showing up to a meeting
The passion, hunger, excitement and motivation to be trusted with something new sabotages your success to leave the grind of work.
At the Burnout Clinic, our focus is to help you and your organization turn that around quickly. Using leading edge techniques we can release your limiting beliefs, decisions and emotional baggage rapidly, and restore your deep motivation while learning the skills to create meaningful work for yourself.
If that sounds like something for you or your organization, you can learn more at www.theBurnoutClinic.com, and book a discovery strategy appointment with our team!
A little about me... Hi! I'm Duncan So, Executive Director at TheBurnoutClinic.com, the Founder & Chief Catalyst of Phinklife.org, a Systems Change Agency, and the Head of Global Education at the Phinklife Institute for Social Impact empowering leaders for social impact.
Want to breakthrough your burnout and creating meaningful work for yourself or your organization? Start here at: www.theBurnoutClinic.com