Do you ever drag your feet when it comes to going to work? You are like most people out there, then! Going to work is one of the hardest things that you can do when you hate your job. It makes you feel miserable that you even have to get up and get dressed in the morning because the place you’re about to spend 8-10 hours of the day is going to be the place you hate to be! If going to work makes you feel as if you’re slowly moving through sludge, start looking at whether your workplace is where you really want to be. When you find yourself hating going to work, it’s possible you’re experiencing job burnout.
Finding yourself mentally and physically exhausted
Believe it or not, people out there are bragging on social media that they are burning out. They wear their burnout like a badge of honor as if they should be proud that they were working until midnight four nights a week.
That’s not something to be proud of. If you’re not able to do your job in the hours you’re given, time management classes are the best thing that you can do for yourself.
Burnout is all about burning the candle at both ends, but the result of that is that you burn away and you can’t cope anymore. You don’t deserve to feel like this if you can avoid it and you CAN avoid it.
Burnout goes on for a long period of time and it’s not just something that happens overnight. You can learn ways to relax, ask yourself is CBD for me? and decide whether it’s a good tool to help you to relax. You can even learn how to sleep better than you did previously, but either way, you need to learn how to cope effectively.
Fully-fledged burnout is so much more than just a bad day. It’s a huge build-up of time spent working yourself ragged.
If you worry that you are experiencing the symptoms of being burned out, keep reading.
Is it a bad day? Is it burnout? Let’s take a look at the 15 signs of job burnout below to see if that’s what you’re experiencing or not.
1. Constant exhaustion
Daily tiredness is not the same as burnout exhaustion. Tiredness leaves you feeling as if you have no energy, but exhaustion makes you feel like you cannot even get out of bed in the morning.
You can’t function enough beyond your usual morning because your body cannot remain awake or moving enough to do it. No amount of sleep or rest can shake off that exhaustion that affects you both mentally and physically. You may even feel like you can’t spend time with your friends and family as you just don’t have it in you!
2. The anxiety takes over
When you are experiencing bad burnout, you will feel a level of anxiety unlike nothing else. The feeling is such that you can no longer focus, there’s a negative impact on your health, and your personal life declines too.
Burnout anxiety is going to prevent you from meeting tight deadlines, and everything is going to feel so overwhelming for you. Anxiety can creep in at work and even escalate into feeling alone. That’s dangerous for anyone.
3. You’re not sleeping
Exhaustion aside, you’re not sleeping even if you try to. Insomnia means you are awake until all hours of the night, and you can’t physically manage anymore.
The overwhelming stress and anxiety that come with burnout make it harder for you to sleep. The disturbances mean you are going to have a negative impact hitting your job and the rest of it.
You need to sleep to recharge and rest. The lack of energy and motivation is going to affect you enough to prevent you from resting your brain enough.
4. Lack of concentration
Burnout prevents you from being able to properly focus and concentrate on the work you do and the world around you. You can become forgetful and find it harder to keep your mind on the tasks in front of you.
Now you are wondering if burnout is happening right now. To help you decide, think about the way in which you focused on your last task and whether you managed to at all.
5. Your appetite is affected
Are you finding yourself binging? What about starving?
Your appetite can be greatly affected when you are suffering from burnout. People often deal with their emotions by eating more or less as it’s something that they can control.
They either crave comfort food or push themselves not to eat. Altered habits in appetite are a clear sign of burnout.
6. You’re emotional
If you find that your moods are starting to spiral out of control, you may be dealing with burnout. Erratic emotions are a sign that you are overdoing it in your day-to-day life.
Suffering from huge swings in good to bad moods is a clear sign that you are not coping with the pressure in your life. You have to recognize when things are becoming too much for you.
7. You can’t feel enthusiastic
You should be able to feel the excitement in everything that you do and while it’s common to feel like nothing is interesting anymore, you may not have the motivation for a new working project. You may also forget how to feel excited.
8. You aren’t getting work done
When you are burning out, it’s far harder to feel productive when you are burning out. Simple tasks will feel like a mountain to climb and your levels of productivity slow right down.
Your quality of work is deteriorating. It’s all because your body is reaching its point of exhaustion.

9. Your work performance sucks
A lack of productivity leads to poor performance and job burnout can make your job feel like you just can’t do it anymore. Are you missing deadlines?
Or, are others finding mistakes in your work? If so, you may be on the brink of a huge burnout that you just cannot control anymore.
10. Isolation is your preference
You used to be a social person, and you’re now isolating yourself from everyone because you can’t make yourself be social anymore. Burnout may have the best of you if you are pushing people away and you prefer to be alone.
You’re putting up barriers between your colleagues and you. People are starting to notice it.
11. Your health is suffering
If you’re spending more time worrying at home, then your burnout could be showing through. It could be that you’ve had to get a doctor’s note a few times now.
Burnout can lead to palpitations, shortness of breath, and colds and flu experiences. You shouldn’t have to deal with headaches and chest pains, and your doctor may be the first to tell you that you are mentally and physically deteriorating.
12. You’re negative
Did you used to be a positive person and you’re now a cynic? Burnout can do that to you!
One minute you’re excited about everything, and the next you’re hating everything and everyone around you. It’s not always a nice thing to deal with, but it’s something you might HAVE to deal with and that can be difficult.
To feel constant anger and disappointment is rough. If you’re negative at work and at home, burnout may be the cause.
13. Impending doom, anyone?
The feeling of dread? That’s also known as a feeling of impending doom.
It’s a key sign of employee burnout and it’s something you may notice happening every single weeknight. If you’re getting that feeling building up, burnout could be the cause.
You deserve better than that. It’s certainly not doing your quality of life any favors.
14. You’re not taking care of yourself
When your stress and anxiety are consuming you, it’s very easy to neglect your health and well-being. You will find yourself turning to alcohol to get through the day.
Or, you’re not eating enough. Maybe you’re eating too much. The reality is you’re not taking care of yourself anymore, and that’s not okay!
15. You feel worthless
When you deal with burnout, you can feel like you’re not getting enough from your achievements. Typical signs of burnout include feeling worthless and as if you are not enough.
There is a very fine line between burnout and depression. If burnout is what you are experiencing, you need to think about what will make you feel worthy again.
Your life is going to be completely different if you know how to feel good again. The best way to do that is to figure out what will make you feel worthy at the moment.
Concluding words on signs of job burnout
Burnout is not a joke. It’s something that acts as a wake-up call that you are doing too much for everyone else and not enough for yourself. Taking the time to cope with the burnout you’re feeling is so important if you want to make this work.
Your points here are all good, Christy, but I don’t think that all people drive themselves into burnout through choice. In my field the stated expectation is that people work overtime and do the extra when the client demands it. There is no effort by project leaders to control unreasonable demands by clients, they just push the unreasonable demands down onto staff. Most people need to work so its not easy to escape this cycle.
These are all so true. I used to get bad burnout during undergrad to the point where I would get super sick usually with strep or bronchitis. Now when I notice any of the signs you listed creeping up, I have to force myself to take a step back and breathe. Great tips for those who may not be aware of the signs!
That’s great that you recognize the symptoms now and have learned from that university experience, Deanna. Self-care all the way!
This 100 percent correct. I had every sign of job burnout before I left my previous career. This article helped me remember how happy I am with my decision to leave🌺
Sooooo glad to hear you did what was best for your health by changing jobs!
Thank you😊
Another great check list! Thank you, Christy! I will print out, and pin on the door of my office! ;-) Have a beautiful rest of the week! Michael
Take care of yourself, my friend! It’s almost the weekend, and I hope you have a nice one :)
Will do, Christy! I hope you will also stay save, and enjoy a fantastic weekend! ;-) Canada is a little more overcrowded like this region here. Lol On Thursday i had a visit in the next bigger city (with around 45 Tsd. citizens the biggest one of the region), and i had really no problem keeping social distance. Lol In the bus with 50 seats i was one of three passengers, for the whole distance. Im a m sure somewhere in the rainforest i would have met more people. Michael xx