While working with people on defining their new career projects, I meet many (mainly women) who are coming out of burnout from their previous careers. All of them say, ‘I should have stopped sooner!’.

Before going into burnout there are different stages where you can still make changes in your life in order to prevent it. There are clear early signs of burnout including:

• Fatigue

• Lack of concentration, energy and effectiveness

• Emotional exhaustion, which is the overwhelming feeling of tiredness

• Cynicism, which is the negative detachment from work

• Depersonalisation, detachment from self which comes with feelings of losing control over your thoughts or actions

• Increased frustration and irritability

• Behaviour changes

• Sense of inefficacy, where there is a lack of personal accomplishment

All the people I’ve met did not listen to those early signs, that are very clear for them now. Most of the time they said to themselves: ‘this is normal, I’m just tired, but things will get back to normal’.

But getting ‘back to normal’ is an illusion when burnout symptoms become more present. Your life flips from one week to another, and you go from being a functional person to being unable to do anything whatsoever. At this point, the burnout is installed and taking control of your life.

Regain control and stopping the burnout

Building self-awareness around these early signs is very important, and this is the moment when you can ask for help and regain control of your life.

Most of the people coming out of burnout made significant life changes around how they took care of and thought about themselves, how they did their work, and how they engaged in relationships. But why wait and not start these changes earlier in your life? These are changes you can make yourself or helped by a professional.

Coaching can help you recognise the signs of burnout and assist you to overcome it, starting with:

• Elevating self-awareness

• Bringing clarity around your values, your resources and your priorities

• Recentering on your needs and finding the structure you need to move forward in your projects

• Increasing the experience of positive emotions

• Changing perspective and developing boundaries setting

• Improve self-care strategies

If you’d like to know more about how coaching can help you manage burnout and even prevent it from the early stages, just contact me.

I’m with you,

Arina