Burnout isn’t the enemy – it’s the message, but are you ready to listen?

Everywhere I turn I hear another story about how burnt out everyone currently is. How everyone is overworked.

That they’re at their breaking point. In fact, Deloitte did a survey on professionals in the workplace, stating “77% of respondents say they have experienced employee burnout at their current job”.

Now before we start pointing fingers and yes, a lot of employers do need to step up and take responsibility for not doing their part in helping their employees deal with their stress levels and workloads, there are a lot of businesses that are genuinely trying to help their employees and it’s still not working. So what’s going on?

Well, as it turns out it’s not usually what is happening to us that’s the problem, it’s our ability to notice the effect it is having on us that’s the problem.

You see, we humans are pretty bad at noticing the signs within ourselves that we’re heading towards burnout. We’re better at just ‘getting on’ with things.

This push-on mentality could be due to the ‘toughen up’ nature of the older generation. Understandably, we’ve inherited a lot of habits from the generation before us. Of which, a lot are our managers and leaders at work.

‘It could have something to do with how rarely we are taught self-awareness techniques that can help us check in with ourselves too. Either way, we need to get better at noticing the message that burnout is coming and then, just as importantly, doing something about it.

Tips to help you notice the signs of burnout early

Ask better questions and you’ll get better answers.

The following questions can lead to great uncoverings and expose areas that need attention at work. Again, we don’t often take the time to ask these type of questions as we’re too consumed in the ‘doing’.

Am I working outside of the wheelhouse or scope of my role?
Is my workload beyond what is doable in my paid time?
What is within my control, and what isn’t?
What would help me in my role, and what’s getting in the way?
Do I have any upcoming deadlines and breaks coming up?
Am I actually taking my breaks and working only within paid hours?

Do a life audit.

Work may be the main cause of your burnout, but there is a whole life outside of work that can either help or hinder how you’re feeling. So when you are outside of work ask yourself