Burnout at work can lead to extreme stress, and overall poor mental and physical health. You should do everything in your power to avoid being burned out in your job, regardless if you’re enjoying your job or not. Even if you’re not totally enjoying what you do, there are various ways to structure your days and your attitude to maintain your mental health and avoid work exhaustion. The first step is recognizing whether you’re truly burnt out, or getting there.
How To Know When You’re Burned Out:
- You have little or no interest in your work
- You feel exhausted after a day of work
- You have no energy
- You dread your job
- You feel unmotivated
- You aren’t performing the same
- You have physical symptoms (headaches, nausea, fatigue)
- You’re unable to focus
- You feel taken advantage of by your job
- You feel unfulfilled or unsatisfied
- You feel overwhelmed, forgetful and constantly run late
If you feel any of these traits, then use this as a warning sign that you may be burned out or heading towards it. Here are our top seven tips on how to avoid burnout at work:
Taking Breaks. The power of taking breaks is essential to avoid burnout. Especially in today’s world with so many people working from home, it’s easy to find yourself working too much as your work continues to pile up. Taking breaks and stepping away from your work for small periods of time is not going to kill you, in fact, it’ll save you! Even if it’s just a five minute break, making the effort to work these into your schedule will help to clear your mind.
Maintain work-life balance. It is so important that you separate work life from home life. You definitely should not make it a habit to work more than the hours you’re supposed to work, or stay on the clock later than you’re supposed to. If you find yourself having to do this frequently to meet deadlines or to get work done, it could mean that it’s time to re-evaluate your job responsibilities and have a conversation with your boss.
Schedule check-ins with your boss. Make an effort to schedule weekly or monthly check-ins with your boss. You can use these check-ins to discuss workload and expectations, and make sure that you are both on the same page. If you feel like your work is getting overwhelming, you can advise your boss before it progresses and keeps on piling. This can mean considering lessening your responsibilities or increasing your salary.
Have clear goals and responsibilities. You should have a clear idea on what your short-term and long-term goals are within your role. Make sure that the responsibilities in your role are clearly outlined so that you’re less likely to take on too much work. As long as you and your boss are both on the same page of what responsibilities are yours, it will make it easier for you to prioritize and organize so that you don’t feel overwhelmed later on.
Manage stress. Long-term stress can take a huge toll on your body and lead to serious consequences, such as burnout. Every job is going to have pressure to some degree, but it’s up to you on how you handle it and manage your workdays. Eating well, getting sleep, staying organized, and meditating are all simple yet powerful techniques to help manage and reduce work stress. Here are our best techniques to reduce work stress.
Manage your time/priorities effectively. Staying organized is key to feeling like you have a good grasp on your workload. If you constantly feel like you are losing track of your work, it’s going to lead to exhaustion, dreading your job, and a huge decrease in motivation. The best way to manage your tasks is to organize them based on what you prioritize the most for that day, week, or month. Follow a flexible schedule to hold yourself accountable.
Build relationships with co-workers. If you feel detached from your coworkers or like you don’t know them well, this might play a role in feelings of isolation from your workplace. If you feel like you don’t interact much with the team, then it will lead to burnout by making you dislike your job. Make an effort to reach out to them on your workplace communication channel, or go out to lunch and participate in team activities.
For more tips on all things job search, professional development, staffing, and hiring check out our Employee Tips and Employer Tips or contact us at mglenny@franklinprofessionals.com.
