No matter how much you love your employer, co-workers or job… job burnout is a real phenomenon that strikes us all at some point. Recently some wise companies have recognized this and started to add sabbaticals to long standing employees. Either way, the key is to be able to recognize the symptoms in yourself, your loved ones, your co-workers, even your employees. Once you can identify what your experiencing is burnout, then you can confront this dilemma.
Symptoms:
1. Loss of desire to go to work or get up in the morning
2. Little things become big irritations
3. An inability to let things go
4. Anger and hostility that often breeds into outside the workplace
5. Difficulty sleeping
6. General tiredness, loss of motivation
7. Carelessness in work or a tendency to act out in unusual job patterns
If you have all or most of these symptoms, then you are burned out! If you only have a few, you may be heading toward job burnout. The time it takes to become burned out in a job is different for everyone… so don’t entirely judge it by how long you have been in your career.
The key to surviving burnout is to take a break, and not simply a vacation. You need to escape completely from your current work environment, job type and industry. Sometimes a two-month holiday works, but sometimes you need more. Often if you are truly burned out, you need a complete change of pace for six months or longer.
One idea is to quit your job and try something new for a while. You can do temp work, look for a new job in a different environment, freelance or even start your own business. If quitting seems too drastic, consider approaching your current employer for a compromise. Maybe you can take a year off or maybe you can work part time. Use that time to volunteer or even go back to school. Basically look for an opportunity to escape and rejuvenate your energy towards your career again.
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