How to Avoid Burnout (And Should You Worry About It at All)

How to Avoid Burnout (And Should You Worry About It at All)

What is burnout?

What are the symptoms of burnout?

• Constantly feeling drained: the most obvious symptom of burnout is that you will always feel tired, even after waking up. Energy drinks and stimulants such as caffeine help you barely get through the day but make you feel even worse after the caffeine crash. 
• Mood swings: while this one is harder to notice, being burned out will cause symptoms such as increased self-doubt and helplessness and will negatively impact your outlook. When you are burned out, you might feel like you are worthless, that nothing ever goes your way, and that you are alone against everybody. If all this sounds like depression or anxiety, you are right, as it shares some similarities, but burnout is far less severe.
• Performance drops: the first two symptoms – tired all the time and feeling like you can't get anything done – will lead to actual performance drops. You will start hating the activity in front of you, looking to procrastinate as much as possible, making you feel guilty and even more worthless, starting a vicious cycle.

How to treat burnout?

• Reduce your workload: while it is impossible to stop working, reducing your workload will help. If you work independently, that can mean saying no to a few clients. If you are an employee, on the other hand, you can notify your supervisor that you have too much on your plate and that you are suffering from your burnout. You can also seek help from your colleagues, asking them to take some of your obligations temporarily. If you have vacation days, use a few, connecting them to a weekend.
• Reduce stress: if your whole life revolves around commuting to work, back home, sleeping, and going back to work, no wonder why you are stressed and burned out. Put some enjoyable activities in your schedule, ideally with friends or family, and lay off some steam. This can be fishing, pickup basketball, or something as simple as a gaming session or a coffee with friends.

• Make healthy changes to your lifestyle: because you are overworked, it is a good idea to prioritize activities that will let your body recover. Sleep should become your priority, so try to get 8 hours each night. Also, avoid coffee in the late afternoon and evening. If you can, clean up your diet, removing junk. Lastly, try to get some physical activity a couple of times per week, ideally outside, as it will do wonders for your mood.

Burn-out or tiredness?

When it's likely not burnout

• If you do work hard and are under stress, but it only lasts for a few days, you won't burn out.
• If you are under constant stress caused by external sources, non-work related (for example, you have a newborn baby, or one of your family members is currently sick), but you are not under pressure on your work, you probably won't burn out. In fact, if you have a pleasant job, you might find going to work like an oasis of peace, getting your mind off the pressure you feel at home.
• If you work hard over an extended period that a prolonged rest will follow, you aren't likely to burn out. For example, if you spent the last few years developing your own video game that is about to come out, you will push yourself extra hard in those final moments to ensure everything is in tight order before the release. The adrenaline will mitigate tiredness, allowing you to perform at your best. Plus, you know you will go for a deserved vacation after the sprint ends.

How to prevent burnout

Making a change within the environment

First, you should assess the whole situation and see if your colleagues are experiencing the same. If most colleagues are satisfied, the problem might be on your end. Go ahead, talk to your supervisor, and ask for a change. 

Maybe they can assign another person to your team to reduce the load on you, give you fewer assignments, or even allow you to work a few days a week from home to recover.

Additionally, let your employer and teammates know whenever you are going through an intense period in your private life, whether it's a newborn, a sick family member, or an exam you must study for. They can make it easier for you by sharing the workload. After all, you would do the same for a colleague going through a rough patch.

Changing the environment

If many other colleagues feel the same as you, your company's employee churn is likely to be extremely high, with staff constantly changing. 

If that is the case, the writing on the wall speaks for itself, and you will need to find a healthier environment. It would make sense to look on LinkedIn where all those colleagues go after leaving. You can also keep in touch and ask them how they feel about their work/life balance in their new company.

Learning to say no

If you are working for yourself, either as a freelancer or you lead your own team, and you feel burned out, the only way to reduce your workload is to say no to clients.

While this is a hard pill to swallow, as having fewer clients will mean less money in the short term, it will not only let you recover but also allow you to provide a better quality service. 

Because you will be fresh and more focused on fewer clients, your output will be much better. Better quality and more consistent output will allow you to raise your prices, creating a win-win scenario: you will work less and make more money.

Sometimes, a hard sprint is not only necessary but welcome

Don't make redlining a lifestyle, and you'll be fine