You’ve recently answered our burnout risk assessment and have been given a score out of 100.
If you haven’t, we recommend that you Take the assessment before reading on.
What does this score actually mean for you? And what should you do next?
This article is here to help you decode your burnout risk.
✋ High risk of burnout
🔴 Score: 71 - 100
☑️ Take action: 🚨 NOW 🚨
🩺 Common symptoms:
- You feel tired all of the time, even at times when you get a good night’s sleep.
- Work tasks feel overwhelming and it takes a lot of effort for you to get started on them or complete them.
- You feel yourself becoming more cynical. Work feels hopeless and you find yourself speaking negatively about most things with your colleagues, friends and family.
- Your emotions feel like they are on the surface. A small thing that wouldn’t have bothered you before, now has a big impact on your wellbeing.
🤗 Remedies:
- You need to take time off. Now. Take as much time off as you can.
- Spend time doing something you love. Meet up with a close friend, pick up an old hobby, and/or learn something new that you have been meaning to do for a while.
- Reconnect with the world around you. Go for long walks in nature, stop and take notice of the things happening around you, and/or disconnect from the digital world for a while.
💡 Founder's Insight - does this sound like you?
Clear loss of boundaries. I say yes to too many things and then I cancel last minute. I have a clear negative bias in emotions and thinking. I have zero creativity and I know I can’t finish tasks that I used to be great at. Coffee is useless and I definitely don’t recover through a good night’s sleep. Then again, there are no good nights at this point. For weeks by now to be honest. I obsessively focus on finishing that last big task so I can rest. I get there by changing the scope, pushing myself some more, and finally completing something that isn’t up to my standards and does not satisfy me. I sleep for days, if not weeks, wallowing in anxiety and shame. Time off is not time off, it’s survival. Avoid people.
- Co-founder of Velbi
🌬 Moderate risk of burnout
🟠 Score: 41 - 70
☑️ Take action: Sooner rather than later
🩺 Common symptoms:
- You start skipping some of your hobbies because you have too much work.
- Your diet is becoming slightly worse. You are favouring fatty and quick foods over or healthy alternatives because you don’t have the energy to prepare them.
- You can’t remember the last time you had lunch with a colleague because you now use your lunch break to do more work.
- When you receive a work message, you get a pang of anxiety in the pit of your stomach.
🤗 Remedies:
- Put a recurring lunch invite in your work calendar. Use this time to reconnect with a colleague you want to spend time with.
- Make a list of your commitments (inside and outside of work).
Which ones give you energy? Which ones deplete you?
➡️ Focus on the commitment that gives you the most energy and make a promise to yourself: “I will commit to this once a week, without question. Nothing is more important than this. If I start skipping this, then something is wrong.” - Be firmer with your boundaries. “I won’t have work apps on my personal devices.” “On a Friday I will leave work at 4pm.”“I will let my colleagues know that I am not available after 5pm on weekdays.” Team up with a colleague when doing this to keep you both accountable.
💡 Founder's Insight - does this sound like you?
⬆️ Going up? ~ Closer to higher risk
Hyperfocus, tasks are easily completed with priorities taken into account. I wake up earlier. Coffee is da bomb! I work ten to six. I manage my energy by doing one important thing a day. If I’m done early, I’m out early. If I have to push a bit to get there, I will.
⬇️ Going down? Closer to lower risk.
I’m empty, spent, hollow. I sleep a lot. Adding +1 hour each night and each morning just for good measure. 10 hours a night makes me feel normal again. That normal brings in new ideas. I’m laughing again.
- Co-founder of Velbi
🎉 Low risk of burnout
🟢 Score: 0 - 40
☑️ Take action: Now (sorry, what? See “Help your colleagues” below)
🩺 Common symptoms:
- You generally sleep well during the night and feel energised when you wake up.
- New challenges at work feel exciting, and you enjoy at least 20% of what you do.
- You feel that you have a good balance between your free-time and your work.
- Your outlook on life is generally positive.
🤗 Help your collegues:
- Reflect on your own behaviour. What is keeping you healthy? Is there anything that you do that you think will benefit your colleagues? Share this with them. Even if you are initially reluctant to do so.
- Pay more attention to the people you are working with. Are there any early signs of burnout? Have they become more withdrawn than usual? Are they speaking more negatively than usual? Are they at the office more than usual? If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, reach out to them. Grab a coffee or have lunch. Make sure you ask them how they are really doing, and offer your support.
💡 Founder's Insight - does this sound like you?
Life is simple. Eat, sleep, exercise, do stuff, help people with stuff. Should I take on a new mission?
I know I can do anything given enough time and working in ways that suit me. I see that some people need help or could use a friend. Here’s 20 bucks for your 5€ bus ticket dear unknown person at the station. I see through complexity, solve problems without trying. Strategies and visions come naturally. Bad and hard things happen sometimes, but we’ll get through them. If not today, one day soon we’ll be happy again. I promise.
You can count on me.
- Co-founder of Velbi
