Perhaps you have heard of the dreaded ‘burnout,’ or maybe you have been unfortunate enough to experience it yourself. Burnout is more than getting bored with something or needing a break, it is a total exhaustion, both physical and psychological.

It is best to avoid burnout by catching yourself before getting all the way there, as recovery can take even longer than the ‘burning out’ itself.

From my experience, here are six signs that you are likely headed down this path so that you can recognize them in yourself and hopefully adjust course in time.

Losing your sense of purpose is a huge indicator that something may not be right. Now, not everything we do is going to save the world, so try not to think of this in terms of measuring your impact. Instead, try to understand your role in the greater picture of what you’re working toward. If this vision is not speaking to you, you may need to reconsider your path.

If you are feeling deflated, like a balloon leaking all its air, you may be spiraling toward burnout. Deflation can be caused by a lack of reward or acknowledgement for your efforts. Sure, you may not be looking for medals and trophies, but the progress that you’re making in your venture should be something of a reward itself. When the results leave you feeling progressively emptier, it’s time to stop and really rethink what you’re doing.

Many of us end up on a path that others wanted us to be on. While it may turn out well for us in the end, there are plenty of cases where that path is just not right for us. If you feel like you are continually needing to please someone by what you’re doing, or if you feel very insecure about your choices because of a fear that others may not approve, you could end up losing yourself in the process and burning out your sense of identity.

While not every single aspect of your chosen course will be the most invigorating thing in the world, there should still be some interest involved in what you’re doing. If instead you’re working on something that you care nothing about, or that you used to find interesting but no longer do, it might be time to rethink things.

This one is probably harder to understand if you haven’t felt the actual sense of urgency. Urgency is basically this gnawing feeling that you need to keep working on something and making progress. An example – coming up with an idea right before you fall asleep and needing to stay up a little longer to write it down and follow where it goes, or waking up early with excitement to get working on it again. This can obviously reach an unhealthy level in terms of anxiety and obsession, but on the other end it can turn into a complete lack of motivation to make any progress at all.

It’s good to get outside your comfort zone and try things that may feel a bit unnatural to you at first, but if you are regularly feeling uncomfortable, forced, or downright tortured by what you’re doing, please take a break and reassess. Now, this sounds extreme, but even simple things can very easily end up in this category. When I was trying to make videos for YouTube (my MANY attempts at starting a channel), it was psychological torture. I thought I could push through it and get better, but after probably a year and a half and six or seven failed channel attempts, I finally admitted to myself that this was not for me. I dreaded getting in front of the camera, got extremely frustrated while filming, and procrastinated the editing process until the last second. There are some difficulties we can work through, but there are also some signs we shouldn’t ignore. I made the right choice in going a different direction.

Have any of you experienced burnout? Anything you’d add to this list?

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---