It's Not Just You, It's Me…and the World We Live In

By now, you’ve probably heard about burnout so much you’re literally burned out on hearing about burnout. Or maybe not. Like a lot of insidious things, it can build up slowly over time and you might not even think about the concept of burnout.

Maybe burnout happens to someone else.

Maybe you even like (possibly love) many parts about your job, and you’re not one to complain.

Maybe you’re also not one who thinks to ask for help either.

And, if you’re like a lot of us, the very idea of quitting is shame-filled, lame-filled, and just something you don’t often let it into your mind.

If so, you’re not alone. And you haven’t been living under a rock.

The way we’ve experienced it, and the way that many authors and organizational consultants we’ve spoken with describe it, you wake up exhausted one day, you look around at your life, and you wonder how you got here.

Sometimes you may hear about 12 stages of burnout. From other sources 7, or 5, or 3. But who’s counting? And why split hairs?

We’ll stick with 3.

For all the talk about burnout, it remains a serious and pervasive issue in most industries and sectors right now. High-pressure work environments like startups get a lot of attention, but to be perfectly honest, this is part of what you sign up for in startups. It’s a part of the game and it’s incredibly difficult and highly unusual to avoid the usual pitfalls of working in these intense environments.

Burnout is also widespread in education, healthcare, finance, law, logistics, as well as many seasonal and cyclical professions with high of volatility.

The reasons for burnout are legion. There is no one-size-fits all reason. Researchers write book after book examining the factors. One of the most cited reasons is our lack of boundaries now that we’re always available. The need to feel “always on” and to respond to any given text, slack, email, or call can be constant. But this is simply one factor among many.

Other oft-cited factors that contribute to the progression through these burnout stages include:

• Excessive workloads and unrealistic deadlines

• Lack of autonomy and control over one’s work

• Insufficient support from supervisors or colleagues

• Poor work-life balance coupled with limited opportunities for recovery

• Organizational culture that prioritizes productivity over employee wellbeing

Understanding the progression of burnout can be critical for developing effective prevention strategies. While it's important to address at the organizational level, for the purposes of what you can do right now, our focus is on the individual.

Stage 1: Emotional Exhaustion

The first stage of burnout is emotional exhaustion, characterized by feelings of overwhelming fatigue, depleted energy, and a sense of being emotionally drained.In this stage you may experience:

• Chronic fatigue, lack of motivation, and difficulty concentrating.

• Irritability, cynicism, and a detached attitude towards work.

• Difficulty managing stress and emotions.

This stage is often triggered by chronic job demands, a lack of work-life balance, and insufficient recovery time. Addressing emotional exhaustion early on is key, as it can quickly spiral into more severe burnout if left unaddressed.

At this level, the best thing to focus on is self-care. This isn’t the bubble bath and pedicure type of self-care that some associate with the term. These are ways to consciously and intentionally create habits and establish boundaries that will help to bullet-proof yourself.

This is what you can do as an individual, sometimes what is happening at an organizational level is simply out of your control.

• Create breaks to unplug from work mode.

• Plan device-free time in the evening to rest your mind.

• Establish a time when you simply do not work in the evenings.

• Increase time on activities which relax and recharge you and have nothing to do with work.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just implement these things into your life by degrees (much the same way you may have found yourself burning out.)

Stage 2: Depersonalization

As burnout progresses, you may enter the depersonalization stage. At this point, you begin to develop a detached, cynical, or even callous attitude towards your work, colleagues, and clients.

Typical characteristics include:

• Treating others as impersonal objects rather than individuals.

• Avoiding or minimizing interactions with co-workers and clients.

• Feeling a sense of detachment or disconnection from one’s work.

Depersonalization is a defense mechanism against the overwhelming emotional exhaustion, but it can further exacerbate feelings of isolation and disconnect, contributing to a downward spiral.

If you’re here, the above work in Stage 1 isn’t enough.

Rest and recovery alone won’t help. You need to make changes. The most important changes people made were:

• Work on disconnecting your identity from work.

• Assert yourself. Get clear on your needs and prioritize them.

• Establish firmer boundaries between work and home.

• Learn how and when to say no (without guilt).

This is about what you as an individual can do, not what organizations need to do, but another arrow in your quiver is to have an honest conversation with your manager about your situation. Will you get support? Whether you do or don’t can be clarifying.

Stage 3: Reduced Personal Accomplishment

The final stage of burnout is characterized by a diminished sense of personal accomplishment and efficacy.

In this stage you may experience:

• Feelings of incompetence, inadequacy, and lack of achievement.

• Decreased job performance and productivity.

• Low self-esteem and a pervasive sense of failure.

This stage can lead to a complete disengagement from work, as you struggle to find meaning, purpose, and a sense of value in your professional activities.

Once you’re in burnout, the above steps are not enough. People who recover from — or manage to prevent — burnout make fundamental life career decisions and changes. They learn that when your ladder is leaning against the wrong wall, it simply doesn’t matter how far up you climb.

The most important actions you can take are:

• Stopping work altogether, at least for a time.

• Find a coach, counselor, or group for support.

• Reflect on why you’re burned out (beliefs, behaviors, culture).

• Re-evaluate whether you were in the right job with the right company.

• Create of a new vision for how you want your life and work to look.

• Name how and when you’ll start.

Each level gets a little harder, but also increasingly transformative. People who lean into a Stage 3 approach generally emerge as much stronger people.

The deep solution isn’t rest and recover and repeat. This might work in the startup world where you know you’ve got to keep soldiering on for a more limited time period. In general, you’ll keep ending up at the same place if you don’t make substantial, meaningful, and sustainable changes.You need to shift your mindset and adapt.

Strategize

Some may argue that burnout is not a problem that can be solved on the individual level. It can only be solved by a shift in our culture, or at least at the organizational level. While this is certainly true through looking at the problems through one lens. It’s not entirely true.

Burnout can be looked at from the angle of the individual, and real changes can happen.

The Grand Finale Takeaway

To summarize, when you find yourself burning out or burned out, you can see it as an opportunity to do some work on yourself that you may have never prioritized before.

At a baseline level, you can begin to:

• Cultivate self-awareness and mindfulness practices.

• Prioritize self-care, like regular exercise, healthy eating, and adequate sleep.

• Establish clear boundaries between work and personal time.

• Seek support from friends, family, or mental health professionals.

By understanding the three distinct stages of burnout and addressing the underlying conditions that contribute to its progression, you can develop more effective strategies to prevent and mitigate the nefarious effects of burnout. Unfortunately, burnout is real, and it’s not going anywhere if you don’t proactively do something about it.