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If you’ve been feeling overworked for a long time you may find you’re dragging yourself to and from work, lack motivation, and generally find yourself overwhelmed. There’s a clinical term for what you’re feeling and it’s called burnout. Here’s a blog to help you understand the symptoms of burnout and six ways you can overcome it.

What Are the Symptoms of Burnout?

Did you know that burnout is now classified as a clinical disease by the World Health Organization (WHO)? You can find burnout listed in the ICD-11, which is the manual of diseases doctors use worldwide to diagnose and treat ailments. Burnout can come on gradually over time, but once you have it, the disease can put a damper on just about everything in your life. The symptoms of burnout include:

  • Difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness
  • A lack of pride in your work
  • Aimlessness and losing momentum toward your goals
  • Problems maintaining relationships at work and even at home
  • Frustration with co-workers
  • Even muscle tension, fatigue, and insomnia

In the past, up to 7% of the U.S. population experiences burnout at any given time. But with the global pandemic, burnout skyrocketed with one study suggesting the numbers are at about 72%. That makes finding ways to alleviate the problem the new imperative.

Six Ways to Stop Burnout

Feeling burnout appears to be much more common than we thought these days. If you’ve begun recognizing these symptoms in yourself, what can you do? Follow these six steps:

  1. Find the source of your burnout symptoms. Are you working too much? Are you in a relationship crisis? Is your boss increasingly demanding? Is school and work just too much to handle on top of social distancing? Human beings can reach a breaking point. Find out what’s leading you down that path as a first step toward healing yourself.
  2. Talk to people you trust about what you’re feeling. Sometimes when you’re overwhelmed you can’t see your way clear of all the crises you’ve created for yourself. It will help you to talk to someone who can give you advice, support, and help you begin to regain control of your situation. Look to this person to help you examine your options and set a new path that will lead you out of the burnout swamp you’re in.
  3. Regain control of your life. Many times, burnout occurs when we constantly feel like we are powerless to stop our situation. Your schedule is running you and not the other way around. With the help of your trusted advisor, prioritize and delegate to get things back in perspective.
  4. Set boundaries. Have you become a yes person that takes on more and can never turn work down? What can you eliminate from your commitments? What can you delegate?
  5. Focus on what brings value and job to your life. Delegate or discard activities that don’t bring you joy or value to your career. Lighten up on the perfectionism that drives you to constantly do more and be more.
  6. Take care of you. Nurturing your emotional and physical health is key to recovering from burnout. Ideally, you can take time off, rest, and regroup, but we all know that isn’t always possible. Sometimes reinventing yourself at a new job is exactly what you need to push the restart button on your health. That’s where Stellar Staffing can help.

Stellar Staffing matches the best candidates with the best jobs. When it’s time for a change, we’re here to help. Call on us.

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