Burnout rarely arrives overnight. Since 2019 the World Health Organization has described it as an occupational phenomenon with three features: exhaustion, mental distance from your job, and reduced professional efficacy. The trouble is that the early signs are easy to mistake for a bad month.
I spent fifteen years at multinational companies, and I watched many colleagues (sometimes myself too) build up these signs long before anyone said the word out loud.
Seven signs worth noticing
- Rest does not recharge you. After a long weekend or a week off, you sit back down at your desk already tired.
- Sunday afternoon is already about Monday. The tension starts earlier and earlier.
- You have become more cynical. You shrug off tasks that used to interest you.
- Concentrating is harder. You read the same email three times.
- Your body is speaking up. Headaches, stomach trouble, poor sleep, frequent colds.
- Your private life is shrinking. No energy left for friends, hobbies or family.
- It feels like effort goes nowhere. More and more work, less and less result or satisfaction.
What to do if you recognise yourself
First, do not play it down. If several of these apply to you and have lasted for weeks, that is no sign of laziness or weakness. A few steps that can help:
- For one week, notice which situations drain you most, and which give something back.
- Set one small but real boundary, such as not checking email after 8 pm.
- Talk to someone you trust. Saying it out loud already eases the pressure.
- Ask for professional support before the symptoms take over.
In counselling we look at what keeps the exhaustion going: the amount of work, a lack of control, a clash of values, or the expectations you hold of yourself. From there it is easier to decide what you can change and what you need to let go.
If you would like to talk about it, write to me. If your symptoms are severe, see your GP as well, because burnout sometimes hides depression or another health condition.