People experiencing work related burn out often don’t realise it. It can be very subtle – much akin to the “boiled frog” metaphor, where the water is very gradually heated up over a long time and the frog doesn’t notice until it’s too late.

It could be you right now, or it could be someone you’re responsible for. Either way the sooner you spot it and do something about it the better.

What does it look like?

• A feeling of numbness or detachment, with work and even your family.
• Feeling overwhelmed and lacking energy.
• Feeling a sense of failure.
• A general feeling of greyness (hence the overcast image I’ve used for this article).
• Inability to disconnect – finding it hard not to think about work all the time.
• Overcompensating – working even harder, trying to gain a sense of self control with the situation.
• Not looking after yourself – dropping your exercise routines or activities you typically enjoy doing in your spare time.
• Working ineffectively – dropping the practices you typically employ to keep your work and time well organised and instead feeling a sense of urgency to rush work.

As you can see, with many of these symptoms, it’s a vicious cycle – the things you think you’re doing to improve the situation are most likely making it worse.

If you’re relating to this, what should you do?

Speak to someone.

• Ideally, speak to a professional. Many employers have an employee assistance programme (EAP). Call them (or encourage your colleague to call them).
• Speak to your doctor.
• Speak to a friend or family member.

Either way, talk – the hardest part is the first step, accepting you’re burnt out.  Talking to someone is a great way to gain that self-acceptance.

Then, typically in my experience, you need a break. You need to get yourself out of the situation and the vicious cycle it’s creating, and your brain needs some time to recover. Depending on how long you’ve been burnt out this could be a week or even months (so again, the sooner you tackle it, the better).

You also need to get back into your healthy routines (both mind and body), or create new ones, which again, people typically struggle to do if they’re in the situation causing the burn out in the first place.

When you’re ready to return to work, speak to your manager and set boundaries.

Unfortunately burnout is often caused by unhealthy and toxic work environments, so it may also be time to look for a new role.

*Disclaimer: Whilst I’ve supported and witnessed many people experiencing work related burnout, I’m not a medical professional. You should always seek professional advice if you’re experiencing any issues with your mental or physical health.