How to Beat Burnout

Victoria Canham • 15 May 2024 • 12 min read

"Give up the delusion that burnout is the inevitable cost of success." ~ Arianna Huffington

What is Burnout?

Stress, overwhelm, exhaustion – we’ve all experienced it, especially in today’s fast-paced world. One day we are just cruising along in our lives when suddenly we find ourselves unmotivated, unable to focus, or struggling to simply fulfill our daily responsibilities.

These are symptoms of burnout, and left unattended to, burnout can have very negative consequences on your work, your personal relationships, and your health.

Burnout is one of today’s leading causes of depression & systemic failure. It is insidious. It creeps up on you as you continue to push through the demands of your life thinking that you just need a ‘good night’s rest’ or to ‘start eating better.’ Certainly, these are viable options for helping with burnout, but alone they are not sufficient to stop or recover from this destructive state. It takes awareness, diligent effort, a change of habit and mind, and a commitment to a healthier lifestyle.Burnout happens when you experience emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.

Burnout happens not just from work stress, but also from the demands of your personal life, and what you do, or more importantly, not do, to replenish yourself.

Burnout Is Not

Burnout is not feeling bummed out or having a bad day, it is a chronic state of being out of sync with one or more aspects of your life, resulting in a loss of energy, enthusiasm, and confidence. It is important to notice and identify when you are having these feelings so you can avoid entering the burnout zone.

Recognising Burnout

Burnout is a serious warning sign that something isn’t right in our lives.

It is a way of telling us that it’s time to hit the pause button and do some heartfelt self-reflection such as...

- Where has my energy and enthusiasm gone?
- What has happened to my purpose and passion for life?
- Why have I put caring for myself on the back burner?
- Why have I lost hope and heart?

By seeing burnout as a forced timeout from life’s hectic pace and a chance to regroup, we can make the necessary changes to get our lives back on track.

A common conversation starter across cultures is:

“How are you?”

With a typical response being:

“Busy!”

“Crazy!”

“Not enough hours in the day!

“Too much going on!”

It seems like people love to tell us how out of control, crazy busy their lives and schedules are. Unfortunately, this kind of hectic, fast-paced life can be quite stressful, and if we’re not careful, can quickly lead to burnout. So it’s important to define what burnout is and how it happens. Only by recognising burnout and what leads to it can you learn what you need to do to avoid it.

Often when we think of burnout we associate it with our work or career, but the demands of our personal life can contribute as well, especially if they interfere with our ability to properly care for and nurture ourselves.

Although most people associate burnout with feeling exhausted, let’s broaden that understanding by offering a more complete definition of what burnout is.

Burnout can be defined as…

When the deadlines, demands and stressors of work and personal responsibilities far outweigh the relaxation, recognition and rewards of life.

It is often the result of a combination of your current job, daily routine, and your outlook towards circumstances.

When the demands are high and the rewards are low, it creates a sense of helplessness.

This feeling of helplessness leads to exhaustion, insomnia, a lack of focus, depression & anger.

10 More Warning Signs of Burnout

Unpredictable mood swings
Feeling drained and tired all the time
Lack of motivation
Detachment and social withdrawal
Using substances to cope
Unexplained aches and pains
Decreased immune system and frequent illness
Lowered confidence
Withdrawing from responsibility
Brain fog or poor cognitive function

It is important to remember that some of these signs can be symptoms of other illnesses too, so it is essential that you also speak with your GP.

5 Stages Leading to Burnout

Stage 1 – Needing to prove oneself and over-working to prove it

Obsessively demonstrate your worthAn inability to “switch off”Work becomes the only focus

Stage 2 – Neglect of self setting in

Erratic sleeping, disrupted eating, lack of social interactionDismissal of family, friends and personal problemsValues become skewed and hobbies become irrelevantBecome intolerant and cynical toward problems that develop

Stage 3 – No longer see life, self or others as valuable

Non-existent social lifeNeed to feel relief from stressObvious changes in behaviour, causing family and friends to become concernedNo longer aware of own personal needs

Stage 4 – Experience inner emptiness and depression

Feeling empty insideLooking for escape in indulgences (food, sex, alcohol, drugs, etc.)Feelings of being lost, unsure and exhaustedFuture feels bleak and dark

Stage 5 – Burnout Arrives

Physical, mental and emotional collapseSituation demands attention and requires change.

Now that you know what burnout is and have reviewed the five stages leading to it, it’s time to look at who is most prone to this condition.

Who is most prone to burnout?

Although burnout has proven to be the result of excess work and stress, medical experts are now discovering that some people are more prone to it than others. In other words, some people are less likely to suffer from burnout regardless of how much pressure they are under.

So what makes some people more prone than others?

There are three deep prevailing needs that can strongly motivate our behaviours towards burning out:

Need for Achievement

You are motivated to set challenging goals and push hard to achieve them. Getting feedback on your effort validates your success, but a lack of feedback can make you feel stress, disappointment, or resentment for not being noticed or recognised.

Need for Attachment

You are motivated to fit in well with others. You spend a lot of time maintaining relationships and making sure you are accepted by others. This can lead to you conforming to the wishes and desires of others at the risk of fulfilling your own personal needs.

Need for Control

You are motivated to influence others. This leads you to seek out roles of authority. When faced with something uncertain, you fear you are losing control, which can cause you to be overwhelmed by a situation.

Now let’s look at three character traits that can make you more prone to burnout. A complete picture of how prone you are to burnout must also include how these traits can amplify the personal needs that influence your behaviour.

Additionally, there are three character traits that amplify the possibility of burning out:

Not able to Express Confidence

You likely believe and act in ways that don’t better yourself. This character trait creates stress when things don’t work out as hoped. You likely think too much about why things aren’t going well for you. This can cause you to blame others for your situation. A lack of confidence also makes you more likely to give up in the face of difficulties.

Not able to Accept Challenges

You don’t accept change very well, or the challenges that change brings with it. This character trait creates stress because you would rather hang on to the way things are than accept change and the discomfort it brings.

Not able to Remain Committed

You tend to see adversity as something negative rather than something that brings about the best possible outcome. This character trait creates stress because instead of staying engaged and pushing through the difficulty, you check out and isolate yourself or become apathetic.

Managing Your Energy

We have deep personal needs that can influence our behaviour and lead to burnout, as well as character traits that can make burning out even more probable.

You can become more aware of, and avoid the potential for, burnout by having a clearer understanding of your personal needs and traits.

Once you become more aware of what leads to burnout, the next challenge is to learn to manage your energy reserves.

The most common response to the rising demands of life and work is to put more hours into getting things done. But the longer hours take a toll on us physically, mentally and emotionally – leaving us feeling constantly exhausted.

The problem with working longer hours is that time isn’t the only resource you use up. Your efforts consume your energy as well as your time.

If you want to avoid burnout, energy management becomes as important as time management.

Your energy is spent through physical, emotional, and mental activities.

And your energy is also renewed through positive rituals that are intentionally scheduled and practised. So paying attention to your energy levels, and doing things to recharge yourself, is critical to avoiding burnout.

Our energy peaks and drops in every activity we do. Usually when our energy drops, we increase our efforts, but in the long run this only causes more harm and makes us burnout faster. It’s at times like these that we must instead adopt positive habits to help renew our energy levels.

Stressful situations in life trigger a response in our body that taps into our energy reserves for support. Lengthy and repeated stress responses – common in the hectic lives we live – can have harmful effects on our physical, mental and emotional health if our energy reserves get completely depleted.

With higher levels of stress, the more frequent and necessary it is for you to renew your physical, mental and emotional energy reserves in order to avoid burnout.

10 More Ways to Heal from Burnout

Make exercise a priority
Stick to a balanced diet
Set boundaries and learn to say no
Step away from social media and screentime
Get creative - take up a creative hobby, think drawing, art, woodwork or similar
Rest! Sleep when you need to, but also rest your eyes and your mind. Your eyes are an external part of your brain and need rest too.
Reach out to loved ones or professionals such as coaches (Hello, Hi) or therapists.
Avoid energy vampires - you know, those people whose mere existence in your vicinity drains you.
Take vitamins and minerals to boost your immune system, especially Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Zinc.
Create and enforce a work-life balance. Actually, just set and enforce boundaries - say no when you want to say no, and conversely, say yes when you want to say yes. Stop letting people push you around while you live to please them - STOP IT!

Emerging from Burnout

Burnout and the seasons have much in common. Having no energy and feeling worn out is your body’s way of telling you that it’s time to rest and replenish yourself, so you do not become a victim of burnout. This is much like what happens in nature with the changing of the seasons. During winter, the plants and animals in nature retreat for a time of rest.

When you feel the symptoms of burnout, that’s your cue that you need to retreat, just as winter signals a time to hibernate and rest.

Winter isn’t burnout – just nature’s way of slowing things down. From time to time, we must slow down too. This is why it’s important to be aware of what burnout is, why it happens, how prone we are to it, and what rituals we must perform to replenish our physical, mental, and emotional energy reserves. It is to protect you from the constant push of life, and allow you to take time as needed to slow down so that burnout doesn’t happen to you.

Burnout can seem like the end, but it’s not. By changing how you prioritise your time and other valuable resources, you can make a complete recovery and emerge anew.

Build your own Roadmap to overcome burnout

Like obtaining financial stability, avoiding burnout takes planning. Whether you’re in burnout now or looking to avoid it in the future, having a road map is key! Over the next day or two, answer the following questions and build yourself a guide of what to do when you feel too overwhelmed to look for a solution.

1. Turn to others for help.

Who will I turn to when I begin to feel burned out? At home? At work?

We all need help every now and again, and the input of others can make a significant difference!

2. Find causes that inspire you.

What are some causes that mean the most to me?

What community groups can I become involved in to feel that I’m making a difference?

3. Giving without over-extending yourself.

What can I offer to others that won’t cost much time or effort, but will lift my spirit in doing so? A smile, a hug, etc.

4. Is it possible to take time off?

If I can take time off, what would I like to do and/or where would I like to go to help shift my situation or offer a new perspective?

5. Tap into your natural creativity.

What makes me tick?

When I was a child, what did I like to do?

Can I do this now? If so, what would it be like? Creativity breeds hope!

6. Look at the silver lining in any difficult situation.

Take a negative thought I’ve had recently and create a positive one. What would that thought be?

7. Finding quiet time.

What hour of the day will I turn off all of my electronic devices so I may be open to a solution in the stillness?

8. Be healthier.

What can I do to exercise and eat healthier?

With exercise and better health, I can boost my energy level!

Do you still have questions? You can either explore further to better understand what has caused your burnout, or you can book a discovery session with me and we can get to the bottom of it together.

Do you still have questions? You can either keep writing and dig deeper to better understand what you are looking for, or you can book a discovery session with me and we dig into what it is you really want.

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Burnout: The Secret to Solving the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski

This groundbreaking book explains why women experience burnout differently than men - and provides a simple, science-based plan to help women minimise stress, manage emotions and live a more joyful life.

Eye-opening, compassionate and optimistic, Burnout will completely transform the way we think about and manage stress, empowering women to thrive under pressure and enjoy meaningful yet balanced lives. All women will find something transformative in these pages - and be empowered to create positive and lasting change.

We’re not just about overcoming obstacles, we’re about transforming lives.

Victoria Canham - Mental Performance Coach

Victoria is an ICF-accredited certified professional coach, who offers bespoke performance coach. With a background in change management and countless hours of professional coaching training and experience, I made the big switch to full-time coaching in 2020. I know what it is like to suddenly have the rug pulled out from under you while you're busy making other plans, as a result, I now help people like you to bounce back from adversity and major setbacks to emerge stronger and better than ever before. Our clients have transformed from feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges to confident, goal-driven individuals who navigate life's obstacles with ease. They've achieved their personal and professional objectives and embodied peak performance in all aspects of life. You too can experience this transformation. This is your moment. Your chance to take control, to choose growth over stagnation, achievement over inaction. This is your opportunity to prove to yourself that you're not defined by your challenges—you're defined by how you rise above them. Are you ready to transform your life and achieve peak performance?