What To Do When You Feel Burnt-Out With Your Job

When both mind and body are weak, it’s time for a major reboot.

Burnout Career

The signs: you despise Mondays and ache for Fridays. You can’t focus on your tasks and keep complaining about the littlest things. Even high doses of caffeine can’t lift up your frail spirit at all. Worse, you don’t feel like progressing in your career anymore. You’re on the brink of quitting already.

If any of these sound familiar, you are experiencing career fatigue—or what most of us would call a “burnout.”

Why it happens

Burnout is the exhaustion of one’s physical, emotional, and mental state, paired with self-doubt and a negative attitude toward work. It takes on many forms and can put your wellbeing at risk.

Primarily, burnout takes a toll on an employee physically. You constantly feel dreadful exhaustion. Aside from fatigue, other conditions include insomnia, back pain, and increased frequency of illnesses due to low immunity.

Attitude toward work is most especially notable. You feel no enjoyment in performing tasks, get easily bored, lacks concentration, and feels detached from peers. Low work output is also easily noticeable, as well as increased irritability and unproductivity.

One of the main causes of burnout is work overload. Juggling too many tasks—even if you think you can handle it initially—can be bad for you in the long run. A job well done that goes unrewarded or unnoticed is also another significant factor that causes demotivation.

Work-life imbalance causes tiresome working days. Bad professional relationship toward coworkers or boss can also be demotivating.

How to deal with career fatigue

Recovering from burnout is part of one’s professional journey. Because fulfilling your duties at work feels constantly tedious, you need a total reset to clear your mind and body.

Note that being worn-out is just temporary. All you need to do is regain your motivation, energy, and focus. Start with these simple reboots.

1. Tune up your lifestyle. It’s no secret that regular exercise, getting enough sleep, and eating healthy meals can energize your body. Do some stretching and meditation, go for a 10-minute walk in the morning or during lunch breaks. Get six to eight hours of sleep a day, and load up on fruits and vegetables.

2. Take a break. Go on a long vacation, book a massage schedule, or engage in leisurely activities you haven’t tried yet. Focus on fun and wellness to activate the happy hormones you need for your everyday activities.

3. Clean up your surroundings. Steer clear from negative energy by decluttering your work area. A good working environment is also key. It will be easier for you to work when all your stuff is stored in the right places.

4. Draw the line. Avoid bombarding every aspect of your life with work. Have at least one lazy day a week to recharge your body. Also, do not work from home or take home tasks after office hours. Your home is a place for you to retire, not an extension of your office.

5. Seek new responsibilities. Although your work is doable, doing it over and over creates a monotonous life program, thus affecting your motivation negatively. Break away from the routine and seek other duties to explore. Ask your manager for new tasks so you have exciting tasks to conquer. –Diana Lyn Balbalosa