Last time,(January 20th) we looked at the first three signs of burnout; here are four more:
Lowered immunity to illness. Now that we have you physically and emotionally drained, let’s make you sick as well! Overloading of a body with stress can create prolonged periods of “fight or flight” response, leading to an overdose of certain of your body’s chemicals that in turn compromise your immune system. So you may get the flu or the common cold easier, or some studies suggest even more virulent diseases can arise.
Difficulties on the job. Remember Suck-a-metrics from our introduction? Is it hard to get out of bed to go to the office three out of five days of the week? Are you finding yourself engaged in more battles with your staff, your peers, or even your clients? Do you find yourself making more errors? Is it hard to concentrate? Is the picture on the calendar of a remote desert island more enticing than reviewing your client’s will that you just drafted?
Poor balance between work and home. Are you spending less time with the kids? Are you getting more complaints from your spouse about your absences or your distant affect at home? Has the 60 hour work week (unfortunately the norm for most professionals) becomes the 80 hour work week? This can lead you to eat poorly, skip exercise, sleep less, and feed back into physical and emotional exhaustion.
Interpersonal relationship issues. Instead of battling with your spouse, are you withdrawn? If you have no spouse or significant other, are you at the point where you have given up even trying to establish a relationship with someone? Did the Saturday night poker game with your buddies go away? The football game at the sports bar?
As you look over the list of signs of burnout, one thing you will notice is that they are all interrelated. And, most likely if you nod your head yes to one of these, you are probably nodding your head to more. Can you exhibit one or two signs and not be burned out? Of course. Most professionals have poor balance between work and home. It comes with the territory. But as you look through the signs, dig deep into and ponder the issues that each of the seven presents. A little introspection here may go a long way towards an understanding of yourself.