Why You Might Be Predisposed to Burnout

business man stressed at work with hands on head

Many factors can cause burnout in the workplace, including:

  • Unrealistic work expectations resulting in feeling out of control and overwhelmed
  • Inability to prioritize tasks and manage responsibilities
  • Learning curve due to a new position or promotion causing feelings of inadequacy
  • Starting or scaling a business
  • Working for an organization that is not in alignment with core values, resulting in feeling misunderstood
  • Financial challenges

However, burnout is not exclusive to our environments and situations.

Studies have shown that certain types of personalities may be more prone to burnout.

In her Forbes article, Three Types of Personalities Prone to Burnout and What to do if You Identify, Rachel Montañez states that workaholics, people-pleasers, and perfectionists have a higher risk of burnout.

From a Positive Intelligence perspective, all our negative emotions, including stress, which can lead to burnout, are the result of self-sabotage. The voices in our head that generate stress and negative emotions in the way we handle work and life’s challenges, are called saboteurs. There are 10 Saboteurs that sabotage performance, wellbeing, and relationships. Of these, the Judge, Controller, Hyper-Achiever, Hyper-Vigilant, Pleaser, and the Stickler are the greatest contributors to burnout.

The Judge is the universal saboteur that is overly critical and focuses on our imperfections, telling us we’re not good enough. This creates excessive stress and worry that can lead to sleepless nights, lack of self-esteem, poor productivity, and deterioration of our relationships.

The Judge works with the other saboteurs to create the most setbacks.

The Controller has the need to take charge and control situations, believing that it’s necessary for peak performance and accuracy. The Controller is the ultimate micro-manager that experiences extreme anxiety when losing control of situations and people.

The Hyper-Achiever is dependent on constant performance and achievement for self-worth and validation. Success is measured by productivity. Nothing is ever good enough. You can always do better. Hyper-Achievers may be successful but are never happy because they are always striving for betterment in themselves.

The Hyper-Vigilant has intense anxiety over real and imagined dangers, avoids risk, and lives life in a constant state of fear and stress.

The Pleaser desires to be liked and keep everyone happy at all times. By focusing on other’s needs above their own, Pleasers can become resentful of others. Toxic social situations and contentious conversations can be very stressful for this saboteur. As a result, Pleasers often avoid conflict and difficult conversations which can exacerbate situations and lead to a future outburst, creating overwhelming stress and anxiety.

The Stickler is a true perfectionist. Everything must be in order at all times. If tasks can’t be completed perfectly, there’s no point in doing them. The Stickler lacks flexibility. There’s only one way to do things. This constant striving to be perfect creates extreme anxiety, as perfection is unattainable.

If any of these personality traits resonate with you, don’t despair.

Negative saboteur emotions can be quieted, to shift mindset to a positive perspective. This is accomplished by developing mental fitness, a simple practice of engaging your senses in 15-20 second micro-meditations. These meditations can be performed anytime, anywhere, and are particularly affective in quieting negative emotions when triggered.

Just because you are predisposed to certain personality traits, does not mean they have to destroy your life. Your saboteurs will never go away, but they can be put in their place with a mental time out.

To learn more about how you can apply mental fitness in your daily life, I encourage you to book a complimentary Discovery Call: www.lisahammett.com/book

Here’s to living your best life!

#stressmanagement #burnoutprevention #burnoutrecovery #mentalhealth #mentalfitness #successcoach

take a break to prevent burnout note on desk

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