What is burnout and how do you avoid it?

Psychologist Herbert Freudenberger coined the term burnout in 1974 according to The National Center for Biotechnology Information “[Fredenberger] used it to describe the consequences of severe stress and high ideals in “helping” professions. Doctors and nurses, for example, who sacrifice themselves for others, would often end up being “burned out” – exhausted, listless, and unable to cope.” 

Today the term burnout is used to describe a person who is experiencing pressure that causes them so much stress and exhaustion they are unable to cope with everyday life. (Basically they can’t even) Professionals today still debate the exact definition, but the general consensus is that burnout causes mental, physical and emotional exhaustion from extreme and prolonged stress.

People who are dealing with burnout feel like they have nothing left to give, the stress is so intense it makes even small daily activities hard to accomplish. They often become pessimistic and may feel hopeless. They tend to isolate themselves, and feel irritable. Some people can experience “escape fantasies” where they fantasize about running away and starting a new life and in some extreme cases people turn to drugs and alcohol to numb themselves.

Now that we understand the basics about burnout here are 10 tips on how to avoid burnout.

1.)     Don’t push yourself too hard. It is important to try but understand that you are only human and no one expects perfection from you 24-7. It’s okay to make mistakes and ask for help.

2.)    Schedule free time. Even if it’s only 30 minutes a day allow yourself time to relax. You could take a nap, or catch up with your favorite shows.

3.)    Set boundaries. I often struggle with this myself but you are allowed to say no to people. Your workload will often feel challenging but if it feels overwhelming reach out for help and understand your limits.

4.)    Find your work life balance. Manage your time you can create a work schedule and stick to that schedule.

5.)    Take care of your basic needs. Make sure you are taking care of your body like drinking water, exercising and eating a balanced diet.

6.)    Play to your strengths. Working on something you feel passionate about makes your work feel more rewarding and less like a chore.

7.)    Be realistic. You know how much you’ll realistically accomplish in one day, instead of putting a huge task off until the last-minute schedule time to work on a project in smaller parts.

8.)    Get enough sleep. Sleep is critical for your health, the typical adult needs eight hours of sleep a night.

9.)    Do something for yourself. Do something that makes you happy that doesn’t involve work, this could be eating your favorite meal, starting a new hobby or even shopping.

10.)  Talk to people. It’s important to express your feelings instead of bottling them up. Other people could offer help or new ideas for your project. If they can’t help it still feels good to vent out your frustrations.  

11.) Reflect. Think about what tasks are really important and try to cut out unnecessary tasks that are adding to your workload. You should also take time to think about how you’re going about completing your work and if you could get the same results an easier way.

Overall, the key takeaways I’ve noticed from researching burnout are that is it critical to manage your stress levels before you reach the point of burnout. It is okay to ask for help, even in a professional setting you can schedule a private meeting with your supervisor and work out a plan for dealing with your workload. Remember that you aren’t perfect mistakes will happen, you only have one life take time for yourself.

I found this crash course about dealing with burnout in the workplace that offers helpful tips and advice on the topic.