You’re hustling hard. You’re putting in the hours, pushing yourself to your limits, and beyond. But it’s not working like you thought it would. When you feel like something’s wrong, but you don’t know what, it can be really discouraging. That is why I want to share some suggestions with you today on how to tell if you are headed towards burnout and how to stop it before it’s too late.

How to tell if you are burning out

When you are burning out, it’s hard to tell because the symptoms can be subtle. You’ll start noticing that you feel tired most of the time and your energy level tanks like a kid’s balloon at a birthday party. You might also find yourself losing interest in things you used to enjoy or doing less of what makes you happy. If this keeps going on for weeks or months, it could be time to seek help.

It’s possible that burnout is affecting your relationships with family and friends as well as your job performance—even if only subconsciously so at first! When we’re burned out, we tend not to care about much anymore—including ourselves—which means no matter how much our loved ones try to help us get back into gear again by motivating us with positive reinforcement (or even criticism), nothing will change until we take action ourselves.

Extreme Lack of Motivation

If you feel like you don’t care about anything anymore, this could be a sign that you’re burning out. When people are burned out they can often feel depressed and tired, as well as having a lack of motivation. You might also see yourself as unmotivated or bored with your job and life in general.

Not Prioritizing Self Care

As you know, taking care of yourself is crucial. It’s how you’ll stay motivated and productive, but also how you’ll avoid becoming a burnt-out mess. But what happens when your self-care routine slips from the back burner to the front? What if it becomes an afterthought or something that takes a back seat to other things in your life? That’s when burnout can sneak up on you without warning.

While it’s important to be flexible with your schedule and know when it makes sense to put yourself first, if you’re not prioritizing your self-care then chances are good that:

1) You’re starting every day feeling frustrated.

2) Your work isn’t getting done as efficiently as it could be.

3) You’re making more mistakes than usual.

4) Feeling stressed out by something small doesn’t make sense because nothing really has changed since last week.

Being More Interested in Screens than People

If you find yourself more interested in the screen than the people you’re with, you may be headed towards burnout.

This could be as simple as checking your phone while having dinner with friends or spending too much time on social media during work hours. It can also mean that you’ve lost interest in people altogether, preferring instead to spend all of your free time playing video games or watching TV. If you find that this happens often and it’s causing problems in your relationships, it might be a sign that something needs to change.

Hustling Too Hard

When you’re feeling burned out, it can be difficult to see the signs that led up to this feeling. You might be so focused on getting through each day that you don’t realize how much stress is weighing on your shoulders.

As a small business owner, there are many things that we feel like we need to do at any given time and it’s easy for us all to get caught up in trying to do more than we should. For example:

• We take on too many projects at once because we worry about losing money if we turn down work or clients.
• We spend way too much time working because there isn’t enough support for our workload.
• We constantly multitask when working so nothing gets done and then everything is rushed at the end of the day or week.
  

Feeling Alone and Without a Team

One of the most important things you can do to avoid burnout is to find a team. Whether that means finding a mentor, coach, or community, it’s important to have people around you who are going through similar experiences and know what it’s like to be in your shoes.

Suppose you’re feeling isolated and alone in your work or personal life. In that case, it may be because everyone else seems to have their sh*t together while you’re still struggling with something as basic as getting dressed each morning (and sometimes even falling asleep at night). If this sounds familiar, chances are that being part of a team will help put things into perspective for you.

You should never feel guilty about needing a break—it’s an important part of the self-care process! Remember that burnout isn’t something you can just power through, so take time to rest and recover. It’s okay if this means slowing down or taking some time off from work. Your mental health is worth it.