I’m not a smoker, but I used to take cigarette breaks with colleagues because that was the safe place where we could bitch about our bosses and our company. Feeling like my superiors treat me like a cog, don’t see my value, or are trying to mold me into something unattainable was definitely the most difficult part of my burnout experience. But it came at the very end. I was also the straw that broke the camel’s back (usually months too late) and made me quit. But I should have noticed other signs earlier on.
This fantastic article interviews several experts, including Prof. Christina Maslach, a pioneer of burnout research. In 1981 she created the Maslach Burnout Inventory – the basis for much of the research that followed.
Recognizing burnout
To me, this quote of hers is the most important piece of the article. The reformatting and numbering are mine:
“Burnout … has three components:
[1] One is the exhaustion — physical and emotional — you feel when you’ve been too stressed at work for too long.
[2] But burnout also comes with a feeling of cynicism about work. “You know, it’s … ‘take this job and shove it’ sort of thing,” says Maslach. “And you begin to switch from trying to do your very best all the time to do the bare minimum.”
[3] The third component, she says, is when you start to blame yourself for it. “Thinking, ‘What has gone wrong with me?’ ‘Why am I not good at this?’ ‘Why can’t I handle it?’ ”
My earlier sign was by far #1, but I missed it as a burnout symptom. Pre-children, I associated it with travel or messed up sleep patterns, and post-children, I naturally blamed them. Being highly self-critical, I also missed #3, which was the second sign for me.
How about you?
If you’ve felt burned out or overwhelmed in the past, what was it like for you? Which sign was most significant?
Comment/reply “1”, “2”, or “3” or let me know! I’m keeping a running score of the results.
PS: This article was sent to me by brilliant career coach Sally Clapper of Career Compass. If you’re looking for a new position and want to optimize your job search, check her out!
PPS: Fun fact! Maslach is married to Prof. Philip Zimbardo, who conducted the infamous Stanford prison experiment in 1971, investigating the psychology of power. It was she who persuaded him to stop the experiment after only six days. Yes!
Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels
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