I notice a repeated question on social media - how do I know I'm burnt out?
This is fundamental question.
I realised I had a blind spot here.
I've experienced and worked with so many people with burnout, I take for granted what it looks like.
If you're unsure or you have a buddy you're concerned about, this email should help.
Use it as a guide or crib sheet.
Here's a reminder of what burnout is from clinical psychologist Dr Debbie Sorensen, who expands the term in a more practical way:
Burnout occurs where there is any meaningful yet demanding role in which people are continually exposed to high levels of stress. It is a response to situational stress.
It occurs across 3 Burnout Dimensions:
- Energy depletion or exhaustion
- Disengagement or negativity toward work
- Reduced productivity or efficacy (feeling effective)
Dr Debbie Sorensen
Home bleeds into work and vice-versa
Debbie suggests any role with work or demands that involve mental or physical effort to reach a goal or outcome opens you up to possibility of burnout.
This is why your home life is as important as your work life.
If you're struggling in one area, it's a challenge to avoid overspill into the other.
It may be subtle, but you might be more irritable, less focused, or more forgetful.
In much of my coaching with business owners or leaders, we've focused on home life.
This reduces difficulties in that space so they have more energy, motivation and focus for work.
The reverse is true. Another client remarked on improvements to their work life during our sessions, and realised they weren't complaining to their partner as much. Win for both!
Over time burnout becomes less tied to specific stressors.
Instead, a general pervasive set of symptoms across the 3 Burnout Dimensions lingers and gets stronger.
It affects us physically, mentally and spiritually, and we may lose hope that things will change or get better.
How does burnout affect you?
Depending on your situation, burnout might occur over a specific time period and then lift.
Often we push through acute periods of high stress, knowing it's affecting us, but the end is in sight.
The symptoms start to lift and we feel ourselves again.
But if it's persistent and you notice you're not able to shift the tiredness, the weird aches and pains, or feel teary at the drop of a hat, it's personal check in time.
Look at how much distress your symptoms are causing you.
What do you stop you doing?
What do you stop planning?
What do you stop hoping for?
Last year, I went through another burnout period due to a toxic day job workplace and a relentless list of projects with minimal downtime.
I had little time to socialise, create, or rest as much as I wanted to.
I was a great working machine, but I was a machine.
For me, this is how disengagement feels. I'm inhabiting my body, doing tasks but they don't feel meaningful or connected.
If you think 'what's the point of me doing this, no-one cares?', that's another personal check in time.
Weirdly though, and this is the paradox of burnout, even if you're working hard, delivering lots of output and meeting goals, you might internally feel like trash.
We feel ineffective, like we're not meeting some imaginary standard set for us by the unicorn gods.
Then the self-doubt creeps in, and the inner critic chatter might get louder.
Even if you ARE delivering good quality, it doesn't FEEL like you are.
You might procrastinate, and lean into perfectionism. Yep, another personal check in time.
This is all a reminder to pay attention if the symptoms we've got - mental, physical, emotional, social - lead to distress and move us away from our values or goals.
Circle your burnout symptoms
If you want a practical tool, here's a handy list of burnout symptoms aligned to each of the 3 Burnout Dimensions.
It's not all-encompassing and your specific burnout signature (symptoms) might be slightly different.
If that's the case, consider if they fall under one of the 3 Burnout Dimensions:
A: Energy depletion or exhaustion
B: Disengagement or negativity toward work
C: Reduced productivity or efficacy (feeling effective)
Next, do this:
- Find 5 quiet minutes of your day to look through the list.
- Circle (mentally or physically) the ones that resonate.
- Add up your scores for As, Bs and Cs.
- If you have more than 5 circled for As, Bs and Cs, you're at risk of or on your way to burnout
This is a simple approach but it gives you a starting point to see how you're doing, Reader.
Once you've got clarity, look into your past.
If you've felt like this before, what worked to get you out of it?
You have more personal wisdom than you think.
Remember, you're not alone in how you feel.
At least 50% of people at work struggle with their wellbeing and focus.
That's a huge number of people who aren't feeling great.
The first step to change is to understand what is going on.
Once you recognise the issues, you can build an approach to reverse and recover from them.
I've recovered from burnout several times.
I know it's possible and if you're in that place, I know you will too.
Take care,
Sabrina
Burnout Coach | Neuroscientist | Art-based Practitioner
P.S. If you want to share your burnout symptoms with me, book a free 25m discovery call and let's talk about how I can help.