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creating sustainable results in growth and performance

Burnout is one of the words that seem to define this moment in history. No longer an unusual event, it has become part of a normal life cycle, along with midlife crisis, stress, and serious chronic illness, all of which have connections with burnout. And rather than being a one-off event, it can recur again and again in different forms as we grapple with certain fundamental issues. It often begins in a single sphere of our lives, but it can tend to spread everywhere.

Burnout happens to all kinds of people. We have had the privilege ofworking with, talking deeply to, or corresponding with hundreds of men and women who have burnt out. We include clients, students, course participants, friends, colleagues and members of various relevant networks. Together we explored what it all meant and where it was leading them.

Their occupations when they burnt out include: airline planner, artist, banking lawyer, chemist, consultant, engineer, geophysicist, managing director, overseas development worker, psychotherapist, singer, social worker, teacher and writer. Their ages at the time of burnout ranged between late twenties and mid fifties. Several of them burnt out more than once.

Individuals who are highly prone to burnout can be among the most creative, dynamic, loving, and focused people in our society. They have driven themselves all their lives, often in the service of others, and are now having to learn a new way to drive and a new direction to drive in.

The classic signs of burnout are:

	A growing emotional, mental and/or physical exhaustion which isn't alleviated by sleeping
	An increasing sense of being cut off from ourselves and other people
	A decreasing ability to be effective at doing what we have always done, either at work or at home.

Of these, exhaustion is the most defining characteristic. Each of us has our own individual pattern of burnout, and there is a range of symptoms that can alert us to the fact that we have begun to burn out. These include: 

	Extreme tiredness; inability to relax or have a restful sleep; emotional deadness; chronic anger; high self-criticism; loss of appetite for food, sex, life; feelings of being trapped, distant, disillusioned, cynical, hollow, pleasureless and humourless
	Poor attention; speeding up without increased effectiveness
	An increase in watching TV, drinking alcohol, eating junk food, shopping, playing computer games, using Internet chat rooms, pursuing casual sex or seeking any form of escape that is addictive
	A closing down from family, friends, colleagues, bosses and/or clients
	An increase in physical problems ranging from back pro­blems, heart pains, head pains, frozen shoulder or loss of libido to chronic fatigue/ME, adrenal and thyroid problems, irritable bowel syndrome, post-viral illnesses, viral meningitis and even heart attacks.

We are tired, we are angry, we can't relax, we are often in physical pain, there seems little point to anything we are doing, and we don't like ourselves or anyone else very much. Indeed, we hardly recognize ourselves as the people we used to be. Yet those of us headed for serious 'burnout just battle on and on. We over-ride all our danger signals and work harder and harder, until one day we stop and listen and take action – or we become so incapacitated that we have no choice but to stop.

If we are forced finally to stop work or other activities for what we tell ourselves will be a few days. Even though we may never have taken more than a day or two of sick leave in our lives, we sometimes find that time stretching into weeks, months, even into a decision to resign. We may be seriously ill, emotionally empty, exhausted beyond belief.

We are bound to think we have done something wrong, or that something is wrong with us, or that the world has treated us badly. Yet, burnout can be so powerfully transformative that it is a signal, not of failure, but of a challenge to create a new way of life. In fact, burnout is probably the best thing that ever happened to us. If we cooperate with what burnout is teaching us, a vast creative potential can be redirected to benefit not only us but also our loved ones, organizations, and society as a whole.

Recognising the impact of health on performance, Dianna holds qualifications in nutritional and health fields that enable her to identify and resolve health issues affecting business and personal goals. 

 For the Tops Tips on what to do for burnout send an email to bs@futurevisions.org
    with "MWS Burnout Tips" in the subject and nothing in the body