Burnout - a widespread problem that affects…

Today’s topic is Burnout - a widespread problem that affects us both in our careers and personal lives…?

Let's take a deeper look at what this really means and how we can deal with this common workplace issue!

Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion that is caused by chronic stress and overwork. It can lead to a range of negative outcomes, including reduced job satisfaction, decreased engagement and performance, or even physical and mental health issues. In the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of diseases, burnout is defined as "an overwhelming syndrome of chronic stress that occurred at the workplace and which a person can no longer cope with".?

There are many factors that can contribute to burnout, including workload, lack of control, insufficient support and resources, unclear expectations and goals, and a lack of work-life balance. While remote work and flexible hours can help mitigate some of these factors, they are not always enough on their own.

The German psychologist Mathias Burish singled out 6 Stages of Emotional Burnout of an Employee, along with some general symptoms to look out for:

#1. Warning Phase

A person ignores needs not related to work and consciousness suppresses thoughts about failures and disappointments. The employee also limits any social contacts and immerses himself in work, closing himself off from the outside world.

Exhaustion inevitably occurs, a constant feeling of fatigue, insomnia, inattention.

#2. Lowering the Level of One’s Own Participation

In this phase of burnout, a person loses a sense of reality, becomes demanding, categorical, and believes that colleagues are not making enough effort.

Due to accumulated fatigue, general empathy decreases and the former drive to work gradually disappears. Satisfaction from one's work disappears, while procrastination appears. As a general rule, the decision to leave one’s hated job at this stage is only held back by financial constraints.

During this time, the previously postponed personal life becomes a priority. The employee focuses less on work and realizes that personal needs have been "on pause" for a long time. He wants to fill this gap, but due to the loss of life orientation and a depressed state, it is not easy to accomplish this.

#3. Emotional Reactions

At this stage, a person tends to experience any emotions extremely acutely. Accumulated fatigue leads to errors in work, which causes self-esteem to fall, feelings of guilt, impossibility to change anything, and apathy and depression appear.

Stress begins to provoke aggression towards the work environment. The employee shifts the blame for his mistakes onto others, is unable to make compromises, and becomes embittered.

#4. Phase of Destructive Behavior

This phase manifests itself in several areas simultaneously:

• Sphere of intelligence: Decreased concentration, inattention, inability to perform complex tasks, lack of imagination, impotence
• Motivational Sphere: A person lacks initiative, work efficiency decreases. The employee does not aim to complete tasks at hand with the utmost care, sense of responsibility, and efficiency, as in the first phase. Instead, he works strictly to appease minimal work requirements, without providing ideas and creativity of their own.
• Emotional and Social Sphere: "Burn-out" rushes from one extreme to another: either one completely avoids communication, or completely focuses on one person. For instance, they may feel, “I don't want to talk about work anymore, but I don't have the energy to do anything else either”.

#5. Psychosomatic Reactions and Decreased Immunity

Insomnia, problems with pressure, headache, addiction to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and other manifestations of chronic fatigue appear.

#6. Disappointment and Negative Life Attitudes

A person loses the meaning of life and the desire to do things in general, feels helpless and lost, feels despair and seems to be at the end of life.

Are You Experiencing Burnout?

Take a moment for a Personal Inventory.

Check All That Apply:

?Behavior:

• Boredom where there used to be interest
• Reluctance to go to work
• Frequent tardiness
• Substance use: alcohol, stimulants

Mental Sensations:

• Derealization
• A constant swarm of anxious and negative thoughts in your head
• Strong experience of even small work incidents
• Decreased concentration
• Memory impairment and absent-mindedness
• Lack of flexibility in communication
• Loss of adequate sensitivity: callousness and suspicion
• Decreased creativity and enthusiasm

Feelings:

• Increased anxiety
• Constant tension, irritation
• Crude jokes, cynicism, dark humor
• Pessimism
• Heightened sensitivity, even to constructive criticism and simple remarks
• Feeling that others are picking on you, Unreasonable guilt
• Feeling unlucky, Imposter syndrome

Body sensations:

• Sleep disturbance: drowsiness or insomnia
• Change in appetite: stress eating or refusing to eat
• Constant colds
• Severe fatigue

If you feel that you are experiencing symptoms of burnout, here are some Recommendations to help fight Burnout:

#1. Find Things Outside of Work that Make You Happy

It should be something without an element of competition: reading, walking, coloring pictures by numbers, baking, any activity of which the process and the result tends to bring you joy and helps the mind escape from work troubles.

#2. Learn to Accept Your Emotions?

When you find yourself overcome by emotions, tense all the muscles of your body and try to remain in this state as long as possible, without feeling any extreme types of discomfort. Your body’s muscles will begin to relax spontaneously, and along with this, you’ll begin to feel tension gradually go away. Of course, it’s important to note, this technique is not intended to permanently get rid of stress and its causes, it isn’t a one stop fix, but this practice will allow you to quickly take control of yourself in a given moment, providing a sense of relief.

#3. Slow Down?

The pace of life forces you to race against the clock, always working to find more time and squeeze in events, which becomes another stress for the body.? Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University found that conscious meditation is a great way to slow down. Always remember: slow down, you’re doing fine!

#4. Take Care of Yourself?

At the fifth stage of burnout, an organism driven to despair, in this case, your body, opens itself up to attracting disease. Have regular medical check-ups, try to get enough sleep, and take care of your health.

#5. Help Release the "Happiness Hormone" through Physical Activity such as long walks, cross country, running on your NordicTrack, yoga, Zumba, and more. Find your own way to be mindful of the body.

#6. Plan Wisely?

On the one hand, time management helps reduce levels of anxiety and stress, allowing you to feel more confident. On the other hand however, having a backlog of unfulfilled plans with others or tasks that need to be taken care of can lead to stress. It is recommended you try to compound your task list, finding ways to categorize and group things together. For example: household, work, personal quick errands, long morning necessities, afternoon, evening, etc.