How to identify and recover from burn out?

December 9, 2020 9:00 am Published by TeamRH

Burn out, the sign of an intense work overload, is the ‘disease’ of the 21^st century. We all know someone who has dealt with burnout if it wasn’t us personally. Burnout predominately effects those in all sectors who are highly committed to their work. Therefore, it is important to recognise it and knowhow to manage it for the development of your professional life.

How to recognise burn out?

For someone working at 100 miles an hour, the warning-signs of a burn out aren’t always easy to recognise. Someone may also downplay how they feel or not fully understand how they feel, or how they’re about to feel. Burn out is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. With this in mind, everyone can be affected by it to different degrees. Also, burnout is very often linked to someone’s deteriorating relationship with work. Burn out tends to occur when the gap between an employee’s workload expectations and the reality of what is possible feels too large.

In practice, and this is what will make the difference between (very) big workload and burnout, someone experiencing burnout will no longer be able to cope, and will be unable to continue to work – totally incapable.

What happens next only makes sense. To protect themselves from the emotional disappointment from no longer being able to “do their job well”, they withdraw from their responsibilities. This results in a negative attitude towards themselves and towards their colleagues, their superiors, their clients and anyone else within their working environment. Someone in a ‘burnt-out state’ consequently feels that they can no longer rise to the challenge and will have a tendency of self-deprecation.

What are the causes of burn out?

There may be several reasons for burnout occurring: an excessive workload, pressure to work more and / or faster, lack of control over work, lack of gratitude or fairness, conflicting requests, lack of clarity or focus for the assigned work, limited resources at your disposal complete the work, or even job insecurity. All these causes and more can give rise to a ‘burnt-out’ state or lead to it if you feel the effects of it.

Regardless of what causes burnout, at this point you know one thing for sure: a change of life is needed. Maybe it’s time for a new job, a new career, a serious reconsideration of what meaning you want to give to your life. It’s now time for real change.

The moment of professional retraining:

But how do you cope with a major professional transition and think about retraining when your energy levels are already very low? Because when you begin to feel the effects of burnout, and after, it is essential contemplate over your life and your professional expectations. Burnout is a clear sign that your professional life is not going well and that it is time to change something.

The change can be radical or moderate. It could also be changing your personal relationship to work. But before drawing this conclusion, it is important for you to reflect, to get things clear in your head and to carry out a self-evaluation.

By maintaining your emotional well-being throughout this self-assessment process, you can make your transition a success. So, first, ask yourself questions such as:

How would I prefer to reinvest my time and energy?
What are the three main things I can offer?
What is my personal mission?
What crucial experiences have shaped me?
What obstacles are preventing me from changing careers?
What can I rely on during my transition?

However, this work on yourself will not be completely productive if you are not supported by a professional who is able to help you reach clear and steadfast answers to your questions.

To that end, our recruitment firm TeamRH offers to support you when considering these questions, or even during partial or complete professional retraining that may result from your self-evaluation. Whether it is during the first ‘discovery meeting’ or in an assertive and deeper approach, at TeamRH we offer to those who wish, personalized support and coaching sessions.

We also offer skills assessments evaluate your career, your profile and your expectations. Contact us now and we can answer all your questions.

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About TeamRH:

TeamRH, a recruitment firm in Paris, is a leading player in the legal and financial sector. We work with a national and international clientele, helping them to strive for a top performance. Our consultants benefit from an extensive knowledge of the market and of legal professions in order to better understand their task. We also offer Career & Life Coaching sessions (stress, demotivation, professional strategies to handle burn out).

Don’t hesitate to send us your CV and highlight your experience and expertise when doing so!

See all our other available positions at: www.teamrh.com.