Notes on: Small Signs Of Stress and Burnout You Might Be Missing

'Small Signs Of Stress and Burnout You Might Be Missing' is an article by Jonathan Alpert and was originally published on thriveglobal.com.

Subtle Signs of Burnout

If you find that your workdays are long, you have difficulty focusing, and you are unmotivated to get things done, then you may be experiencing burnout. Some more subtle signs include:

• Dreading starting your day

• Feeling unfulfilled

• Feeling irritable

• Annoyed at colleagues or clients

• Would rather be somewhere else

• Headaches, stomaches and backaches when at work or thinking about work

When you feel cynical at your work, it often impacts your life outside of work as well, and this will affect your relationships and quality of sleep too. Work burnout causes stress and this will lead to poor mental and physical performance throughout the day.

Common Ways Burnout Arises

• Lack of control. If you feel you have no say in your schedule, work assignments, or workload, or if you feel you do not have the resources to do your job.

• Unclear expectations have been set. If you have veered away from your original job description with your day-to-day work, but instead of letting things go, you just picked up additional responsibilities along the way. Perhaps things completely changed for you, but no formal discussion has been had with new boundaries being set.

• Poor relationships at work. If you do not feel you have someone, like a peer, you can connect with at work, then it can be very isolating and demotivating.

• Values that do not align. If you do not see the value in your job and also if the job itself does not align with your values.

• Extremes in your schedule. If you are constantly busy and always on, or if you find yourself bored at work, with nothing to do and time passes by slowly.

• No balance with your job and the rest of your life. If you find yourself without any passions outside of work, like a hobby or even a social group, then not only do you have no outlet, but you may think about work more, which adds stress and leads to burnout.

How to Beat Burnout

• Put yourself before your work. You need work to survive and provide you with the lifestyle you want to live, but balancing that with your mental, physical and emotional health in incredibly important. After all, if your ability to perform your best suffers, then so may your ability to keep the job you are burning out for.

• Change the way you think and take action. If you are unhappy at your job, polish your resume and LinkedIn profile and start looking for jobs that may interest you. Do not be a prisoner to your company or job, think of it as a means to provide you with a lifestyle that you want to live, and that is it. Use it to your advantage, do not let is use you.

• Speak up. If there is an aspect of your job you are not satisfied with, speak to someone about it. Worse case scenario, there is no change and you need to decide if you want to stay or leave, but best case a caring supervisors hears you and helps you.

• Find something to enjoy outside of work. Make sure you spend your time outside of work doing something that brings you energy or joy. Find ways to relax and take your mind off work (or at least vent about it in a healthy way).

• Take time off. You are given vacation days, do not let them go unused. They are super valuable in helping you recharge and even reset on priorties in your life.

If you are not careful, burnout can creep up on you, but if you can pick up on the signs early and take action you can prevent burnout from happening.