3 Earliest Signs of Burnout That You Should Know About

A certain amount of stress can be energizing but prolonged periods of stress are not good for you and they should be avoided as best you can

In the past year, I have been pushing myself slightly harder than normal most especially in my writing journey as I struggle to find my voice as a writer.

Like most writers, I have had my very bad months and some good ones. I have also brushed shoulders with burnout a couple of times even though I may not have recognized it as such.

The reason for this is that sometimes, burnout doesn’t manifest as a full breakdown in your performance and livelihood. Short bursts of fatigue and a lot of other unhelpful feelings towards your work can all compound to create this undesirable state we call burnout.

Licensed psychologist Linda Karlsson says that It can take weeks, months, and, in some cases, even years to recover from burnout. It is therefore important to identify the early signs and symptoms of burnout before it becomes chronic.

Like anything, burnout has its early signs, and here are some of them plus what you can do about it.

Half-arsing your work

The ideal is to have as many high-quality workpieces as possible. If it is writing, you want to have as many high-quality articles as possible.

The problem is that we sometimes end up sacrificing either the quality or quantity of our work. Writing on this platform has many writers believing that writing more gets you better results.

It certainly does only when that quantity also has quality behind it.

I have been writing an average of 25 articles/month for the past three months and it has affected the quality of the work. — It’s embarrassing.

This probably explains why my stats are going down. I mean who would want to follow terrible writing?

For me, this has been a sign that if I do not take a step back, I was going to reach a breaking point soon.

How to ensure consistent quality and quantity in your work

Your work has to be in such a way that it can sustainably have consistent high quality and as much quantity as you can.

For me, I do not know what that is going to look like in the next few months. I am thinking that I am going to reduce the articles that make it to publication as I focus on writing quality articles.

Set some guidelines on how to make this happen.

I am going to revert to my old practice of writing today and editing the next day as this method allowed me to ensure that each part of my writing process had maximum attention that ensured quality writing.

Overwhelming self-doubt

Self-doubt has always been part of the writing journey but sometimes, it just gets too loud. This causes us to abandon projects halfway or as soon as we start them.

The voices of self-doubt for me are loudest when I try doing things that are out of alignment with what I care about.

Writing cliche articles, for instance, is too hard for me yet these are sometimes the most searched for articles and as such, they still command a lot of attention.

If it is writing about culture, relationships, race, and humanity, I am fired up and can write 3000+ words in no time but a listicle about making money online will hardly go beyond 400 words without me wanting to just go back to bed already.

Self-doubt tends to cause so much stress on the mind but it is only amplified when you do things you don’t care about so much. This means that you risk burning out if you keep doing those things.

How to overcome self-doubt in this case.

The initial course of action for me and anyone who really wants to get a hold of their self-doubt is to go back and focus on what they deeply care about as this will coincide with their strengths.

Such activities, tasks, topics, or ideas will recharge you and give you the necessary momentum you need to go through the self-doubt phase.

The error could normally lie in trying to push through the doubt from your point of weakness. It just makes everything worse.

I also do not think that self-doubt is something that we can fully overcome but we can manage it by recognizing when it is taking up too much of our energy so that we can switch to those tasks or workpieces that fill us with energy.

When you cannot hold your interest long enough

Imagine how horrible it would be if you were an editor who hated reading.

This is what I mean by not being able to hold your interest long enough. You may be an occasional reader but this will be a terrible trait to have as an editor because that position would require you to be a constant reader.

I have started several articles in which I was excited to start but when I got about 100 words into the article, I lost interest.

This tendency results in leaving a lot of work undone. With each interest lost, it weakens the resolve. Do that long enough and you soon have a burnout problem.

What you can do about it

Distractions have been the most common reason why I keep losing interest in my work. Sometimes it's family members shouting, other times it is social media that’s calling but the idea is still the same.

You have to free your environment from distractions if you want to hold your interest for a long time.

Distractions will dissipate your creative energy into other distractions which will cause you to put stress on your mind as you force yourself to get through your work. This will result in unnecessary stress that will lead to burnout.

It is important to look for the most ideal conditions available to you in which you can do your work with minimal distractions. This will help you remain focused on doing what needs to be done without feeling exhausted.

These are the 3 earliest signs for me but other signs that show up in the early stages of burnout may include, irritability, lack of sleep, anxiety, and so on.

I feel these are distinct enough as they originate from the first 3 but this is only my theory. Whatever the case, you should look out for these signs in your life, and try to use them as indicators that you need to change your habits.

Other things that will help include, getting enough sleep, mindfulness meditation, eating well and making sure that you are regulating the food you eat, taking breaks from your work, and doing something else or hanging out with other people.

In general, you will be able to know what’s best for you so your only task then should be to do that. Do not put off having a fun time if you have already finished your work as this will help recharge you and get you ready for the next task.

A certain amount of stress can be energizing but prolonged periods of stress are not good for you and they should be avoided as best you can.