10 signs you’re burnt out (and what you can do about it)

Jun 16

Written By Erica Hanlon

You’re smart.

You’re successful.

You always want to give things 1 million percent.

And you’re….exhausted.

Grab a cup of coffee and let’s have us a little heart-to-heart about burn out.

What the heck is burnout?

Burn out is a little bit of a buzz word. But buzz word or no, it’s a legit thing.

So what exactly IS burnout?

Burnout is sometimes confused with stress. But burnout isn’t stress.

It’s the RESULT of being constantly stressed out.

Let’s say stress is like the gas pedal on your car.

A healthy car gently presses on the gas pedal when it needs to move or speed up. And then it gently presses on the brake when it’s time to come to a stop.

But some of y’all (I’m looking at you, high-achievers) press on that gas pedal ALL THE TIME. Not only that, you’re pressing that sucker all the way to the floor.

And here’s what happens. You:

Run out of gas (see also: crash on the couch every night because you don't have the energy to do anything else)
Crash your car (see also: Get sick so you’re forced to rest)
Act like that bus in Speed, hoping Keanu Reeves will save you (see also: change jobs, add a bunch of “self-care” items to your do-do list, try to take up meditation and journaling, or burn it all down and pull an “Eat, Pray, Love”)

So, here are 10 signs you’re burnt out and need to start using that brake pedal:

You’re exhausted
You drink 10 cups of coffee a day just to function.
Every time someone asks you how you’re doing, your most optimistic response is, “I'm alive.”
You wonder how you could take a nap under your desk without your boss finding out.
This is not just feeling tired. This is EXHAUSTION - mental, physical, and emotional.
Just stick a fork in you because you’re completely spent.
You have no motivation
Remember when you felt enthusiastic and excited about your work and your life?
Now, it’s hard to muster up even the minimum level of motivation to get even the most basic tasks done.
You’ve lost your mojo and you don’t know where it went.
You phone it in
You used to really care about your work. Whether you were trying to make an impact or get a promotion, you were the go-to person who always went above and beyond.
Now, you just do the bare minimum, you feel like a zombie when you do it, and your favorite word is “whatever.”
You’re cynical, resentful, and frustrated
Back in the day, you liked your coworkers, your supervisor, your clients, your work and your employer.
Now, they just irritate the shit out of you.
Your work feels pointless.
And while you know you should “think positive,” all you can do is see the negative.
You have a hard time focusing
I once spent over an hour staring at a blank word document, trying to write an article about “stress.” I had written about stress a bazillion times before. But my mind was as blank as that word document.
Do you have the memory of a goldfish?
The concentration of a two-year-old?
You may be burning out.
Your friends and family keep asking your to do something about it
Your friends and family love you. They want to support you.
They hate seeing you tired and frustrated.
And they’re sick and tired of hearing you complain. (No judgment - I’ve been in this spot)
You wonder if you’re depressed
And let’s be real - you might be. Or you might just be totally burnt out.
Burnout can make you feel hopeless, stuck, and totally unfulfilled with your life.
If you get the stress under control and tap into your passions again - burnout gets better. Depression doesn’t.
Self-care sounds nice but annoying
You KNOW you’re supposed to take care of yourself.
Work out, meditate, get plenty of sleep, eat vegetables, blah, blah, blah.
It’s just one more thing on your soul-sucking to-do list.
And who has time for that?
You catch every damn cold and illness that comes around
I used to get “COVID” every Thursday.
I would be going like gangbusters and then WHAMMO! Thursday would come around and I’d be tired, achy, and start running a low-grade fever.
So I’d take it easy for a few days, only to repeat the cycle the next week.
You think about burning it all down
On an intellectual level, you know you have it pretty good. You think you “should” be happy.
But you aren’t.
And you don’t know how to fix it.
Do you go work at Starbucks? Do you pull an Eat, Pray, Love? Do you have a Jerry-McGuire meltdown?
Take a pause. You might just be burnt out.

The solution to burnout

You can’t fix burnout with “life hacks,” fancy calendars, or meal-prepping every week.

You can’t fix it by quitting your job.

If you want to solve burnout - You need to get to the ROOT of the problem.

Because burnout is usually caused by a deeper issue. And it’s not going away until you deal with it.

You need to look at your patterns.

You need to learn a different way.

You need to learn HOW to live life to the fullest.

This is what I do with my clients.

I’m here to help you reclaim your life so you can be successful AND actually enjoy it.

Want to learn more?

CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE DETAILS AND SCHEDULE YOUR FREE CALL. We’ll take a look at how you’re currently operating and see how I can help you. It’s no pressure. But it might change everything.

Are you ready to do the impossible?

Hi! I’m Erica

Wife to Brendan. Mom to twins + one. Dog mom. Slow runner. Coffee drinker. GIF enthusiast.

I’m a licensed mental health therapist and life coach and career coach. I help you accomplish in 6 months that thing you’ve been thinking about doing for years.