Recognizing Job Burnout

by Janet Farley

You don’t really notice anything different at first.  Little by little, however, the signs start to appear.  You miss a meeting here or forget to return a phone call there.  The ambitious project that used to excite you just doesn’t anymore.  Long lunches become the norm rather than the exception.  Before you know it, you catch yourself daydreaming about a new and exciting job you stumbled upon online.

RECOGNIZING JOB BURNOUT

“It’s harder to see burnout in yourself than in others,” says Chris Babich, an Army wife and an Arizona-based career counselor who specializes in assisting military service members and their families.  “Job burnout can happen to anyone at anytime.  It doesn’t just happen when you’ve been working in a particular job for years.”  Babich adds that the indiscriminate occurrence of burnout often results in one’s denial of it.

“You can determine whether you are experiencing burnout by asking yourself a few basic questions that your mother might ask you,” says Babich.

• Are you eating well?

• Are you getting enough sleep at night?

• Do you find yourself being short-tempered?

• Do you still getting enjoyment from your favorite activities?

• Are you angry much of the time?

“You might not have a job burnout issue.  You might just need to take better care of yourself physically,” Babich says.  “After all, if your body is on board, so to speak, then your mind will follow.”

REMEDIES FOR JOB BURNOUT

If you’ve come to the conclusion that you are close to becoming just another disgruntled employee despite your best efforts to take care of yourself, then you might be burned out.  One of the following strategies, used together or separately, might work for you.

1. Identify the source of your discomfort.  Assuming that you have ruled out any physical ailment, try to pinpoint the exact thing that is making your professional life fizzle rather than sizzle.  Identify the problem and then try to fix it.

2. Adjust your work-life balance.  Examine how much time you are spending at work (physically and mentally) and compare that with how much time you are spending on your life outside of work.  If the scale is weighed too heavily on one side, rebalance the load 

3. Take off for a day (or two or three or more).  If work is bugging you, take a break.  Do something just for fun.

4. Get outside help if you need it.  “We don’t think twice about going to a doctor if we’re sick,” Babich says, adding that we should not rule out doing the same if our career is stalled.  Visit your family or community service center and take advantage of the myriad professional resources available to you.  You can get expert assistance on just about anything from how to conduct a job search to achieving mental and physical wellness.