Burnout at work: what to do and how to fight it

10.10.2023 18:34

There is more and more work, and less energy. People get tired, complain about the lack of time, and then do not notice how they find themselves under the power of professional burnout.

How to recognize it, not confuse it with anything else and prevent it, we will figure out in the article together with psychologist Stanislav Sambursky .

What is burnout?

There is nothing more exhausting than working in the human-to-human sphere. Imagine a determined young man who wants to become a policeman and serve the public. Every day he communicates with many people. The first three years he is meticulous in his work, but after 10 years the next application on the table is an indifferent piece of paper, the essence of which is not interesting to him.

A similar story happens with teachers. The initial enthusiasm gradually fades away against the background of a stream of children, especially since most of them show no interest in their subject. This also includes a mother on maternity leave: her life is a continuous routine aimed at satisfying the physiological needs of the child.

The person and the job are different, but the cause of burnout is the same. People stop being themselves, forget about their personality and turn into "service personnel".

After five years, working in a "person-to-person" system leads to stress, but only for those who go into it completely, forget about rest, development and personal life. The nervous system is exhausted, health problems begin, not to mention the emotional state... As a result, professional burnout makes a person incapacitated.

Why does burnout happen?

People bring themselves to a critical state. The body signals a problem, but all this is ignored. In the evening, a tired person thinks: "I need to drink some wine, and everything will go away." For some time, he feels better emotionally, but the damage done to the body by such a decision is not realized. Instead of help, the body receives a dose of alcohol, which finishes it off even more. The problem intensifies, depression and suicidal thoughts are just around the corner.

Overwork is the next cause of professional burnout. To save yourself, you need to live by the principle of "work only during working hours."

Don't jump over your head: don't take on a second project when you're not sure about the outcome of the first. Down with perfectionism: it causes anxiety, and in the case of a less than ideal result, depression. Excessively high expectations also lead to burnout. Sometimes people think that they can and must change those around them and the world as a whole for the better. They spend a lot of effort on this, and then lose heart, seeing the unjustified expectations and accusations against them.

How Our Parenting Is Related to Burnout

Perfectionism and burnout are cause and effect. Its roots go back to childhood, when parents instilled in the child's brain that one should only study with excellent grades, that one should win every competition, etc. If a girl's mother works two jobs, comes home in the evening, feeds everyone and cleans, then, willingly or unwillingly, in the future the daughter will follow her example and work herself to the point of exhaustion.

Of course, not everyone is affected by the instructions. Conformists become their victims, while rebels do not accept them. The latter try their best not to repeat the parental scenario.

How does burnout manifest itself?

Burnout begins with fatigue. Without rest, the body's resources are depleted, poor health appears, and then stress. The person is physically and mentally "at zero". He does not want anything.

Then family relationships deteriorate. The spouse with professional burnout blames the other half for all the troubles, who suffers no less in the current situation.
Work efficiency decreases. You don't want to go to work at all. The quality of performance of duties drops sharply.

It is important to clarify: do not diagnose yourself based on what you read. This should be done by a specialist.

What to do

If you realize that your quality of life has deteriorated, stop and allow yourself to rest. It is better to slow down now than when your body goes on strike.

If you are already burnt out, you will need a long rest. It is better to combine it with physical exercises, fine motor skills work, dancing, yoga, etc.

To avoid burnout, you need the following: