Healthline: Are You Burned Out? How to Recognize and Cope With It

Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist, professor, and writer in New York, told Healthline about some of the warning signs of impending burnout. “Psychomotor symptoms, including stomach pains, headaches, and body pain all speak to the way in which stress is stored in the body,” Romanoff explained. “Because burnout is related to perception, the way in which the person views their job will be affected. Someone who is burned out will likely feel more cynical about the work and the people they are surrounded by. In turn, they may dissociate from work to cope and become more distant. Burnout can drain emotional energy, leaving individuals tired.” All of this adds up to reduced performance on the job – not because the person has become less competent, says Romanoff, but because their perception of their tasks and their work has become negative.

It’s a feeling familiar to many people and may lead to a change of career if things persist. But what steps can be taken beforehand? Romanoff says that it’s important to look at individual areas of one’s life and career to determine areas where effort is leading to intended results – and likewise, areas where effort doesn’t seem to be paying off.

“The key is to consider the impact of one’s perception and ways to celebrate oneself when others are not about to do it for you,” she said. Another helpful piece of advice is to consider the effects of delayed gratification versus instant gratification. “Burnout can generalize to other areas of your life, as the general negative mindset can be applied to any area of life that requires effort and lacks immediate gratification,” she explained. “When it comes to things like fitness and healthy eating, remind yourself of the delayed gratification and external motivation factors. Also, find ways to focus on healthy sources of instant gratification, like spending time with friends, taking a walk, or getting a runner’s high.”

Some Insights From This Article

• Burnout can manifest in many symptoms including general exhaustion, lack of empathy and decreased work performance. It can be caused by a variety of factors including the most common of working too much without quality breaks and mental rests or working with a proper ready mindset.

• Burnout can be prevented with adequate rest and taking breaks allowing for our self concentration and focus to regenerate. You can treat focus and concentration like a limited resource that is replenished with good sleep and breaks, if you run out it’s harder to complete tasks efficiently or even at all.

• Another way of preventing burn out as the article mentions is learning to delay gratification. In an era of phones and increasing access to media it’s hard to delay gratification especially when we can instantly gratify ourselves with our phones. Such habits can increase our mind's susceptibility to burnout when we aren’t instantly gratified like when we are working.

What are some ways you prevent yourself from burning out?

Full article is here!

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