What's burnout syndrome and how to fight with it

If you are in a job role, that's mentally demanding (e.g. client facing role) I am sure you heard of burnout syndrome and if you are part of the workforce for more than 10 years, chances are you have a personal experience with it. Early sings can be as subtle as feeling underappreciated and belief that performance targets set by employer are not achievable. If left untreated, it can end as total lack of interest in work or career life and general disappointment.

Couple of years ago I was in same position. Shortly after I finished my degree I felt exhausted and stressed out by my daily job. It reached a point, where I came into office just to sit trough the day, maybe have a lunch, go home and play video games. It took me more than a year to recover and start being interested in my work again. Although the real solution came a year after that, when I found new job role which fit me like a glove. Since then I always try to watch out for warning signs should they ever return.

There are several strategies on how to battle burnout syndrome in early phases and I am not sure there's a silver bullet out there. However, my go-to strategies are doing something creative, very physical or something, that's purely fun and hardly productive. These three characteristic are in contrast with my daily job, that is almost entirely technical, analytical and requires significant research.

If you are experiencing burnout syndrome right now or just want to avoid it Syntax.fm latest episode covers just that.

image source: zdravie.sk