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Are YOU Headed for Burnout?
Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler 
If lately you're finding the tasks and responsibilities in your work schedule more than you can bear, you may well be approaching "burnout."
Burnout is not an imaginary condition that's "all in your mind." It's a very real mental and physiological condition caused by a stress overload.
Burnout arises when we're overworked, overtaxed emotionally, or physically exhausted -- and as a result find it increasingly difficult to cope with everyday stresses.
A common sign of burnout is loss of enthusiasm for one's job, social life, personal relationship and normal personal interests.
A True Burnout Story
I once had a "crisis call" from a CEO I was advising in Silicon Valley. He had a serious problem on his hands.
Like many CEOs of growing companies, he was balancing a heavy work load.
He wanted to increase sales, and was impressed by the personal presentation of a senior representative of an outside marketing organization. He signed a binding contract for their services.
Then less that one month later, after the outside company was all geared up and going out to his customers, he realized he had made a critical mistake:
He had signed a contract giving the outside reps three times the commission he was paying his own "in house" marketing reps.
The immediate outcome: Two lawsuits totaling millions of dollars.
WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?
Because Bob (not his real name) had been so stressed when he signed that contract that his higher brain has been shut down. (This is a common symptom of chronic stress).
He told me he actually could no longer understand what he read, and was incapable of mental focus. Bob was gripped in an "adrenalin high" trap, and had not realized the consequences.
The "Adrenalin High" Trap
Many executives and entrepreneurs claim they "thrive" on stress. What they are responding to is the physiological excitement from an "adrenalin high."
But the truth is, adrenalin highs are actually part of the stress response that prepares your body (and mind) to either fight or run.
What happens is that your higher thinking centers close down, and older, more primitive portions of your brain prepare you for emergency.
Over a period of time this leads straight to stage 2 burnout - serious mental and physical exhaustion.
And if you think YOU are immune, you're seriously kidding yourself - just like Bob, that Silicon Valley CEO did!
The Major Factors in Stress Overload
Stress occurs when the demands around you exceed your capacity to meet them.
The four major factors in stress overload are:
The Stages of Burnout
Burnout is a process that progresses through stages of stress overload. With some self-monitoring, you have the opportunity to take steps to stop the process. The three stages of burnout include:
The Stress Arousal Stage. Excess stress arousal is accompanied by both physiological and psychological responses. Some of the common behavioral include: irritability, anxiety, forgetfulness, and an inability to focus and concentrate.
Common physiological signs often include: flare-ups of high blood pressure, bruxism (grinding teeth during sleep), insomnia, headaches, and acute gastrointestinal symptoms.
The Low Energy Stage. As your stress becomes more and more chronic, your body tries to compensate for growing mental and physical exhaustion. The feeling of low energy so common with chronic stress is probably a sign your body is trying to compensate for exhaustion by shifting into an "energy conservation mode."
Behavior consequences often include: forgetfulness, more serious inability to focus, excessive lateness, procrastination, excessive time off from work, lack of interest in your work or business, loss of hope and enthusiasm, decreased desire for intimacy, and a persistent feeling of tiredness or exhaustion.
Other common signs include: social withdrawal from friends and family, cynicism, resentment, apathy and increased substance use (nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, prescription drugs).
The Acute Exhaustion Stage. The acute exhaustion stage is where most people finally get a clear sense that something is seriously wrong.
The signs of acute stress-related exhaustion often include: chronic sadness or depression, chronic stomach or bowel problems, chronic mental fatigue, chronic physical fatigue, chronic headaches or migraines, difficulty reading or understanding communications, and almost total inability to focus.
Other common signs may include: the desire to "drop out" of society, quit work, or abandon one's business or profession -- and the desire to avoid family, friends, and social situations.
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