At work it’s common to talk about how busy you are, as if it’s a badge of honor: you’re exhausted, you answered emails until midnight, you haven’t taken a day off all year. I used to envy those coworkers who darted from meeting to meeting with an ever-packed calendar, who walked into every room texting furiously, laptop and notepad and coffee in hand—they seemed so important. Some of that picture I just painted is completely normal and unavoidable, especially the more you advance in your career, and finding balance looks different for everyone. But the older I get, the more I see all that rushing around as the precursor to burnout.
Workplace burnout isn’t simply a random bad day, though; it’s an extended period of stress with very real physical, mental, and emotional consequences. Noticing the symptoms can help you avoid burnout entirely as well as figure out the best way to set boundaries as a whole. If you’re feeling out of control and overly negative and lacking motivation at work, here are three things you can do.