Have you experienced burnout? Has it happened that the whole day is scheduled by the minute and you should be as focused as possible, but you start to feel sick from work and there is no energy to move inside? It happened to me once. And I will remember it for a long time.
This thing mows down even the strongest, or, perhaps, it’s more correct to say, just the same, the strongest people. Those who clog themselves with a tight schedule, take on more responsibilities and stay up late at work, postponing their personal lives for later.
How does this happen?
As a rule, it accumulates gradually and imperceptibly. There is no single event that triggers a burnout. Take on more tasks first. In my case: open more businesses and try to be as efficient as possible, run from meeting to meeting, study in the evening, then fly to solve a client’s problem, come home at 10 o’clock, sit down at mail, bookkeeping and prepare presentations for tomorrow’s meetings, go to bed in the best If you go to bed by 12 o'clock. On the weekends, a bunch of accumulated "debts" and unresolved issues, mainly related to business, form. You spend 10 hours out of 16 available on a day off on business and, at best, manage to work out to change the situation. And so the months drag on (in my case 6 years) but the batteries are discharged, superhumans do not exist, it's a matter of time.
Everything happens gradually
The discharge of batteries is caused first by small negative events. Each event is a trifle that you should not pay attention to, an unsuccessful presentation, an unsuccessful business, problems with partners, a busy schedule at work, a problem in the family ... - tiny "pebbles" that are easy to carry at first. Attend thoughts, but what about others? After all, others can, what is sticking here. I put the stone in my backpack and went on. But when you need to put a cobblestone to a series of existing pebbles, you can break.
And damn it, adult reasonable people, but you may not notice at all that the body is already screaming that everything, stop, and you continue to move on. The high pace does not allow you to stop, because the schedule is full, in some areas of life you urgently need to put out fires and relax the rolls is not the time.
At one of those moments, that very night comes. You are met by another "cobblestone" and you go to bed after a breaking day. You seem to close your eyes, but feverishly think how to cope with the problem? How to build tomorrow, which is already full of various meetings that are complex in content. This looping is called rumination (rumination is cows' cud when they burp and re-chew their food). Thinking gum goes on all night. It is accompanied by a high heart rate and adrenaline rush to stimulate thought processes. As a result, it’s already 6:50, after 10 minutes the alarm clock will ring, and you understand that you don’t have the strength to get out of bed. There is no plan how to overcome the difficulties that have arisen. And in fact ... by this time it becomes all the same. You are sitting in zen in the middle of a burning house.
Burnout happened and in the next six months you will find the most difficult period of your life.
Is burnout bad?
Professional burnout is a kind of limit that your body has shown you. Whether this is good or bad, it is very difficult to answer. If this does not lead to super deplorable situations, then it carries with it quite good conclusions. You will recognize your own limitations and possibilities. You will also understand that there is nothing more important in the world than you and the people close to you. This will make you think about what you really love. It may even help to completely change their activities.
I can definitely say one thing: it is better not to bring it to this. Be wiser and listen to the stories of others.
I also recommend that you leave a comment below and read our articleabout how to deal with burnout.