Do you feel you are:

• Enjoying your achievements without thinking of your replenishment ?
• Working long hours and not seeing the end of it?
• Working long hours and saying “I don’t even know why I’m doing this”?
• Working long hours on something and wanting to be doing something else instead?
• Only getting to raise your head above the water and another wave plunges you in?
• Putting the long hours because of fear based reasons and accepting it as “destiny”?
• Being obsessed by achieving a target and not questioning how you’re getting there?

It means you’re setting up the context for burn out.

Most people do not even recognise they are approaching a “burnout” as they’re closer to the doing than the being. They typically disregard the increasing fatigue and decreasing capability to get things done conveniently, thinking this is a phase they’re going though, this is their destiny, or they are not good enough. And when the burnout kicks in they feel resourceless; short of interest and ideas, short of analytical power, and short of a helping hand. They start to lose their voice and struggle to find the words. They find it difficult to command their body, as if no blood is running on their veins, and may feel out of breath.

So, it’s more common that as an employer, if you’ve not seen or sensed the burnout of your employee (or of your colleague, friend, or partner) coming, you will not have a chance to know until they don’t show up.