Burnout is more than simple exhaustion. While there is an exhaustion component, the key aspect of burnout is that you are mentally distancing yourself from the cause of the burnout. This is coupled with a cynical view of your chances of success. In other words, you feel you can’t possibly succeed, don’t want to even try, and just thinking about working on it makes you need a nap. You are overwhelmed by the thing you are burnt out on. The good news is, there is an easy way to eliminate burnout overwhelm.
The Downward Spiral
Burnout is characterized by a downward spiral. A small event, such as the computer erasing the blog post you were writing, spirals into a feeling that there’s no point in trying to write. If the computer didn’t eat it, something else bad would happen. Even if you got it written and published, no one would read it. You’re better off not writing at all. Ever.
The spiral progresses in gradually widening circles. First, there is the thing that went wrong. Instead of looking at it as a temporary blip on the radar, it becomes evidence that you are a failure. You failed to do something. The next circle is a little wider. If you tried to do that thing, or something similar, you would fail again. Perhaps you would fail more spectacularly, with more witnesses to your failure. The next circle includes things in the same general category as your first failure. In this example, it might be that all of your social media efforts were doomed. The circles continue growing, until eventually they include every aspect of your life. You are unable to even get out of bed, because what’s the point?
The Upward Spiral
The good news is that the spiral works both ways. You can use small successes as proof that you are a success. That leads to the belief that you’ll be able to succeed at something similar. Then, when you do succeed at that, you believe you can succeed at a general category. This continues, until you have a strong belief that you can succeed at anything.
The trick with the upward spiral, and using it to eliminate burnout overwhelm, is that people have different loci of control and internal or external attribution of success. In common English, that means some people think bad things that happen to them are their fault, and good things are luck. Others think bad things are luck, and good things are earned through hard work and virtue. You need to have a moderate locus of control. To understand that some things are outside your control, and some things you can control. Going back to the blog example, it’s outside of my control that my internet connection chose to drop just as I was saving my blog. I can control whether or not I use software with an auto-backup feature.
Help To Eliminate Burnout Overwhelm
If you are a generally optimistic person, with a good outlook on life, you are likely to be more resilient. When something bad happens, it will not trigger much of a downward spiral. Soon you will see evidence of success, and start the upward spiral. But what if you’re a generally pessimistic (a.k.a. realistic) person, with a negative outlook on life? Even if there is plenty of evidence of success, you won’t see it. You’ll be completely wrapped up in your negative thoughts and feelings. This is where it is helpful to have someone you trust and admire to feed you small successes.
While some people are able to use positive affirmations to start the upward spiral, if you lean toward negative thinking, you won’t believe them. If you don’t believe the affirmations, you’ll go out of your way to disprove them, making your life even worse. But you can believe someone else affirming your abilities. Someone who knows you well, and is in a position of authority, can jump start your upward spiral by pointing out your successes. They can tell you that the success is due to your skills and efforts, not luck, and that you will be successful in other things. And you will believe them.
Other Ways to Eliminate Burnout Overwhelm
There are other ways to convince yourself of the potential for success, besides previous success and affirmations. One of the most common is using role models. Don’t simply look at the role model’s success. Watching an NBA All Star making every shot will not help your free throw percentage. Look at the effort that the role model put into achieving that success. How often did the NBA All Star go to the gym? How long were his practices? For how many years did he play before making it to the NBA? How long was he in the NBA before he became an All Star? This proof that sustained effort over time led to success will help you to believe you can succeed if you keep trying.
Finally, your likelihood to enter the burnout spiral is increased by stress, anxiety, and fatigue. You can lower your stress and anxiety levels through meditation and time management. Make sure that you get enough sleep, in an environment that lets you get deep, restful sleep. When you are stressed, anxious, and tired, you are more likely to have a negative outlook, and more quickly give up.
So, manage your mental and physical well-being. Create small successes. Use verbal persuasion (your own or other people’s) to convince you those successes mean you’re successful. Be inspired by the sustained effort of role models. And you will eliminate burnout overwhelm once and for all!
