There’s nothing like the excitement you feel when an employer offers you a job. All of a sudden, you have an opportunity to earn a healthy income and live the life you want – or so you think.
The first three months or so of any new career are relatively straightforward as you get to grips with the responsibilities of the role. But when the honeymoon comes to an end – which it eventually does – your initial excitement gives way to something much darker.
The Early Stages of Burnout
According to a recent survey by the polling company Gallup, around 23 percent of workers say that they feel burned out more often than not. High workloads and an inability to switch off in the evenings and on weekends are both leading reasons for people to experience this problem.
Burnout, though, is the sort of thing that creeps up on your slowly over time. You might feel cynical about your job or critical about the people with whom your work, far beyond what is warranted. Eventually, you become irritable and impatient with your coworkers in a way that you never would, were you in a reasonable frame of mind. You notice that the quality of your relationships begins to decline, and you spend more of your time in a mood with people than being productive.
The Late Stages of Burnout
The latter stages of burnout can be severe, indeed. For many, the only way to cope with the stress and exhaustion is to turn to alcohol – the sort of thing that can result in going to a drug addiction treatment center. For others, it can mean a total loss of energy and an inability to even travel to the office on a Monday morning.
Thus, burnout isn’t the same as feeling stressed. A little bit of stress is a good thing – something that can help motivate you to complete work to a high standard and submit projects on time. Burnout, on the other hand, is something far more sinister. It changes your psychology to the point where it begins to affect you physically. It undermines the quality of your work and can even derail your career under some circumstances. It is vital, therefore, to push back against it.
Combatting Burnout
So what can you do to prevent burnout from getting in the way of your ambitions?
Seek Support. The first thing to do is to find somebody who can offer support. Usually, the HR team assists when you feel that the pressure that you’re under is preventing you from completing your work.
Incorporate Regular Exercise. The next thing to do is make exercise a regular part of your routine. Although doing exercise involves exerting more energy, it can actually help to make you more robust against the challenges that you face.
Improve your sleep. Finally, you should make rest a focus. That means not doing any work after about 7 pm and keeping your phone out of the bedroom so that it doesn’t tempt you to check your emails.
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