How To Turn Burn Out From Work Into Happiness

At work are you in a situation where you find yourself experiencing exhaustion, lack of interest, or a decline in job performance? If so you might be having classic burn out on the job. Usually a person in this scenario has no clue on how to be happy at work and have lost interest in their career and possibly life in general. If this not being happy at work is left unchecked, it can wreak havoc on the their health, relationships, and overall career growth.

Here are some signs that you are experiencing what could be considered burn out from work:

• Exhaustion - feeling tired all the time on either an emotional, mental, or physical level
• Lack of Motivation - You find it hard to get yourself to work in the morning
• Negative Emotions of Cynicism - You are disillusioned with everything and have a more pessimistic attitude toward work and life
• Lack of Concentration or Attention - The ability to stay focused for a long time and pay attention to work duties is severely limited
• Job Performance Degrading - When you look back over the past few years you can see that overall career performance is getting worse
• Home or Work Interpersonal Problems - There are more conflicts with people you interact with and you also find yourself interacting less with people in general
• Not Taking Care of Yourself - You find yourself not getting enough sleep, or eating correctly, or just in general having bad habits that affect your health
• Decreased Satisfaction in Life - Your outlook on life is more and more negative

A lot of people attribute these symptoms of work burn out as an excuse for them to start looking into how to find a career they will love. Before you jump ship completely and start searching google for, "how do I find a job I like" you might want consider some easier tactics to increasing your job satisfaction.

• Create a Regular Relaxation Routine - It does not matter if you take up meditation, listening to music, talking a walk, reading a book, or whatever is the right activity for you, but you must take time to make yourself relax.
• Grow Non-Work Related Activities - Increase the joy you get from outside of work activities. Whether it is a hobby, volunteering, sports, or just general family time, provide yourself something that makes you more challenged and engaged in life.
• Unplug from Technology - We all love all that cool technology in our daily lives, but you must cut back. Get back to nature and a natural living style that allows you to connect with people on a more person to person level.
• Increase Your Health and Sleep - Start doing something that raises your health level. If your body is performing better, so will you. Also get to bed and at least get more than six hours of sleep a night - preferably eight.
• Get Organized - By getting organized and putting together a to-do list, you will cut down the stress and spend less time worrying about things. By learning to prioritize your life with the most important things versus the least, you allow yourself to get back into alignment with what really matters to you. This provides you more joy and a better outlook on life.
• Learn Personal Responsibility - You are responsible for everything in life related to you. So you can change the situation you are in. You also can learn when it is really not your problem. You are not here to save the world or everyone from the problems of life, work, or society. Always put your best foot forward and help but do take a step back and realize what is truly serving you as a person and human.
• Negotiate Changes In Your Job Description - Have an open discussion with your boss or HR about your job and find ways to change it up and bring in new energy. Empower yourself and find true ways that help the company and help you at the same time. Usually if you approach the situation from a constructive perspective and not a poor me attitude, your boss will want to help you.

When you find yourself losing interest in your job it really is important that you do everything you can to stop the trend. If you take some actual time alone you might very well find out that the I hate my job complaint or burn out feelings is actually related to something else going on in your life. If after some personal reflection you really do find out that the current job is burning you out and the only answer is to look for a new job, then you need to take some time to really determine what your next career should be. You will not want to jump into another job quickly because the burn out could just move over there as well.

Personal reflection and responsibility is one of the keys to solving any of your problems. Of course it takes a lot of courage to step forward and really look deeply into your life and investigate what is making you happy and sad in your work and life in general. You really can find a career you will love but you must be willing to look inside first. After that reflection, you might find that the current career is really the right place for you and you just need to take the necessary steps to move from burn out to happiness.