12 SYMPTOMS OF BURNOUT

Symptoms of burnout range from mild but worrisome behaviors you probably encounter every day at work (perceiving colleagues as stupid, cynicism) to utter collapse. Obviously, you want to avoid the most severe ones, but the trick to doing that is to pay attention to more subtle signs rather than dismissing them as an unavoidable part of a hard-charging professional life.  

1. The Compulsion to Prove Oneself: demonstrating worth obsessively; tends to hit the best employees, those with enthusiasm who accept responsibility readily.
2. Working Harder: an inability to switch off.
3. Neglecting Needs: erratic sleeping, eating disrupted, lack of social interaction.
4. Displacement of Conflicts: problems are dismissed; we may feel threatened, panicky, and jittery.
5. Revision of Values: Values are skewed, friends and family dismissed, hobbies seen as irrelevant. Work is the only focus.
6. Denial of Emerging Problems: intolerance; perceiving collaborators as stupid, lazy, demanding, or undisciplined; social contacts harder; cynicism, aggression; problems are viewed as caused by time pressure and work, not because of life changes.
7. Withdrawal: social life small or nonexistent, need to feel relief from stress, leads to alcohol/drugs.
8. Odd Behavioral Changes: changes in behavior obvious, at this point, friends and family will be concerned
9. Depersonalization: seeing neither self nor others as valuable. Own needs are non-existent.
10. Inner Emptiness: feeling empty inside and to overcome this, look for activity such as overeating, sex, alcohol, or drugs; activities are often exaggerated.
11. Depression: feeling lost and unsure, exhausted.
12. Burnout Syndrome: can include total mental and physical collapse; time for full medical attention.