How to Recover From Burnout While Working in a Job? | 7 Ways to Recover From Burnout

At a time when people are guided by deadlines and targets, it is only natural that people face severe burnout from their workspaces. Burnout is not a medical term but a general condition that stems from stress, depression and other mental health issues. Today, work-related stress has pushed several working community members into burnout. While it may look like a matter of temporary distress, burnout can severely impair the lives of people permanently. The first step to recovering from burnout is to identify the signs that the body gives. This article will help you know how one can recover from burnout while working a job.

What is Job Burnout?
Consequences of Job Burnout
How to Recover From Burnout While Working in a Job?

• Ask Yourself Retrospective Questions
• Plan Your Work
• Learn to Draw the Line
• Unlearn the Idea of Perfection
• Seek Professional Help
• Take Breaks
• Don’t Mix Play-Time With Work

What is Job Burnout?

In simple terms, job burnout is a kind of exhaustion that is a reaction to the constant feeling of stress. It is work-related stress that leads to reduced productivity and can also cause a loss of one's identity. Over 40% of employees globally cite workplace burnout as a major factor that impairs their productivity, personal lives and motivation. According to a burnout survey conducted by Deloitte, about 77% of the respondent from among 1,000 professionals said that they have faced employee burnout at their jobs. The same survey says that the biggest drivers of employee burnout include, unrealistic deadlines, lack of support from the leaders and working for long hours.

One of the major causes of burnout is considered to be work overload, stress and lack of support and one of the most dangerous features of burnout is that they are contagious. It is highly likely that people from the same team can feel burnout if one member of the team is facing the same issue. People who have faced workspace burnouts have also been told that conflict of interests among colleagues and a sense of ambiguity is also a significant cause of this emotional, physical and psychological exhaustion. Also, it is not always necessary that there will be a professional pressure factor that causes burnout. It can also be rising out of a self-imposed need to be perfect, punctual and correct all the time.

Consequences of Job Burnout

The body knows when something is not right way earlier that it lets out hints every now and then. A burnout may seem too casual but it leads to consequences that may adversely impact a person's life. The following are some of the consequences of burnout:

• One of the most dangerous consequences of workplace burnout is the complete disruption of work-life balance and a loss of control over one’s self.
• At an emotional level, people can feel trapped, depressed and hopeless out of job burnout.
• Even efficient employees can suffer from a lack of concentration and indecisiveness.
• It may come off as exhaustion, lack of motivation, and laziness.
• It can also be accompanied by a general loss of appetite, stress eating, anxiety and lack of sleep.
• It can also cause high blood pressure and may sometimes even lead to heart diseases.

Thus, although burnouts affect the individual at a psychological level, it can also have physical manifestations.

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How to Recover From Burnout While Working in a Job?

People face burnout that stems from various work-related issues. After identifying the cause for the same, the individuals need to adapt strategies that would help them get through the burnout phase. While the root causes can be different, the methods adopted to mitigate its effect can be common. Some of them are listed below:

Ask Yourself Retrospective Questions

One of the very first things to do is to question yourself and develop a sense of acceptance towards yourself. You can start off with questions that evaluate your attitude towards things in general and work-life balance in particular. With the help of such questions, one can dwell deep into the causes of the recurring anger issues, exhaustion or other signs of what constitutes burnout.

Asking questions to yourself is one of the best ways of not just knowing yourself but also helping yourself identify and mitigate factors that are troubling your daily existence. The questions can be about the general attitude towards work, a reflection of how your sleep cycle has changed, the changes in the way you used to concentrate, the levels of satisfaction that you feel during your job and so on. The key idea is to be sensitive to every part of the body and mind.

Plan Your Work

Since the most common cause of burnout is the mounting stress due to work, it can be of great relief if the work to be done is planned well and spaced out practically. Keep unrealistic deadlines off the plans and make a detailed blueprint of the work that needs to be done and how the tasks on the list are going to be completed. Such a plan will help the individual to trade through their work in small packets. In that way, the tasks can not only be completed in a timely manner but also can be handled in a healthy way without getting stressed.

Learn to Draw the Line

Saying no is an important part of keeping oneself healthy and happy. Sometimes, when there is extra work coming your way, it might be a good idea to say no and focus on personal well-being. It can be difficult for some people to say no, but it is important to draw a line for your personal health. So, at the very least, one can try to negotiate the extra work at one's convenience.  

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Unlearn the Idea of Perfection

Workload along with the need to be on point every time can cause unnecessary burnout. During the process of getting out of the menace of burnout, it is important to unlearn the unhealthy patterns that drive one to this spot in the first place. The first step towards that would be to understand that one need not be perfect all the time. Unlearning the idea of being the right one with perfect answers all the time can help you recover from burnout while working a job.

Seek Professional Help

It is always a good idea to take professional help to understand the state of mind better and handle it in a more holistic manner. It may look like talking to people about this might help, but it is not always the case. When it comes to burnout that stems from a sense of lack of control, it is always better to seek professional help in whichever way possible. So, one of the best and most righteous ways to recover from burnout is to seek professional help.

Take Breaks

Rest to the mind and body is as important as the hustle for work. Exerting oneself too much can backfire very badly. While you do the work assigned, make sure that you take breaks in between. Apart from physical breaks, it is also necessary to take mental breaks. These mental breaks can be the time for something that you really love to do or just simply exercise and meditate. Giving your mind and body the time to breathe can positively influence your level of productivity and physical health and help you recover from burnout while working.

Don’t Mix Play-Time With Work

One of the most important ways to recover from burnout while working in a job is not to mix one's leisure time with work. It is important to work in life but having fun holds no less amount of importance. When you mix these two, you will lack concentration as you will not be able to invest yourself completely in either of the two. So, when you are relaxing and enjoying your free time, make sure to be fully invested in it.

Conclusion

In a fast-paced world, it is very likely that one might face workplace burnout. It requires mutual effort from both the employer and employee to ensure a healthy environment at the workplace. Apart from the tips mentioned above, there also needs to be a collective effort from the employer to give breathing space to the workers. It is not only beneficial for the employee’s personal wellbeing but also for the productivity of the company.

Studies have shown that workplaces with a healthier environment and mindful practices earn more profit than the ones that work under pressure. Through mutual understanding and respect, one can identify and mitigate the effect of burnout from life.

FAQs

How can I recover from burnout without leaving my job?

One can recover from burnout without leaving the job in the following ways:

• Ask yourself the retrospective questions
• Seek professional help
• Take breaks
• Learn to say no
• Unlearn the idea of perfection

Is burnout a nervous breakdown?

Nervous breakdown happens when one's stress and anxiety build up so much that one cannot perform the basic tasks of their daily life. Burnout is a kind of emotional and physical exhaustion due to increased and constant stress and worry. So, burnout does have similar signs and symptoms to a nervous breakdown.

Why do I feel like crying after work?

Consistent feelings of anxiety and burnout can make a person feel overwhelmed with the work. Crying is a natural external reaction to consistent feelings of emotional exhaustion.