5 Surprising Signs You Are on the Road to Burnout

In the startup and wider business world alike, we celebrate the extreme lengths people go to–including long hours, missed events and milestones, and even the slow deterioration of connections–to achieve the impossible. But as the ability to work brutal schedules is put on a pedestal, what you really are oftentimes is simply on a road to burnout.

Success depends upon your ability to sustain, and so as much as you may want to push through in order to forge ahead, ignoring the signs of burnout may be what causes you to crash and burn. The problem is, while you’re probably familiar with the dangers of burnout, you may not know how the signs present themselves. Often they’re not as simple as the key indicators such as poor sleep, low energy, or lack of focus.

So here are five signs of impending burnout that you may not have heard before–because burnout will burn you if you’re not careful.

1. Living In a Constant State of Stress–and Enjoying It

Some say the word “neurotic” like it’s a bad thing, but for many entrepreneurs it’s this tendency to flourish in chaos that enables them to create. In fact, how one views stress is a key indicator of one’s ability to succeed. So while others feel the daunting pressures at work and the weight of life and all of its stresses on their shoulders, entrepreneurs on the verge of burnout shoulder it so well they might actually come to enjoy it.

In many ways, the constant high-stress, high-anxiety lifestyle feels like playing a game or running a race. It presents a challenge to overcome and something to be achieved. It’s exciting and it can be enjoyable even. And when you’re living this way day in and day out, doing what others can’t, you feel as though you’re on the right track–even if it might be a fast-track to burnout.

2. Feeling Obsessive (Often Towards One’s Health)

Burnout comes with a myriad of side effects, many of which display long before burnout is recognized. One of them is being obsessive. However, it’s not simply having a one-track mind, where you’re consumed by your goals and what you’ve set out to achieve. It can be an obsession with other aspects of your life, including your health. While it seems like a positive sign to take an interest in well-being and longevity, it is in fact a sign of impending burnout.

As burnout nears, health wears. After all, we have too much time sitting in front of screens during the day and not enough time sleeping at night. For an overly driven entrepreneur, health is another thing to conquer or achieve. As a pastime, it feels productive and thus it feels good for someone who feels compelled to keep moving forward–a common trait amongst the most burnt out.

3. Taking an All-or-Nothing Approach to Life

When every choice comes at the expense of another, people on the verge of burnout often eventually begin seeing every decision through the lens of not just one option or another but all or nothing. It’s a rhythm we can fall into, but it’s often not widely recognized because it can be hidden in menial day-to-day events and activities.

For example, it can be as simple as not giving a gift one holiday, then being overly generous the next. It can be the friend or colleague who is either mentally absent or highly tuned in. It’s a stop-go pattern that often yields overcorrection and yo-yoing.

4. Being Discontent at Rest

No matter how vital rest and relaxation is for the mind and body, for those on the slippery slope to burnout, being at rest becomes synonymous with being stagnant. For many, the idea of resting raises concerns of missing out, getting behind, or missing opportunities. After all, even if you don’t have Elon Musk’s secret to working 120 hours per week, you may think working just 60 to 80 is reasonable.

Every minute is a chance to get ahead, leading many to feel riddled with guilt when taking a break or saying no to plans. The result is that many burn the candle at both ends. And though it can work for short periods of time, staying up late and waking up early is not sustainable–nor is trying to be the person who can do everything. Instead, learn how to feel the joy of missing out.

5. Being Wired–Even With Little Sleep

Naturally, we associate poor sleep with low energy. And sure, the two go hand-in-hand, but there’s a funny thing about a lack of sleep: Exhaustion can also show up as high energy.

Much like a child on the brink of a tantrum who is haphazardly bouncing off the walls, adults who are sleep-deprived may also experience bursts of energy or a general feeling of being wired. The assumption is that if we have energy-even with little sleep-what we’re doing is fine. But this borderline explosive energy does blow up, and it dissipates as quickly as it arrives. It’s not sustainable, but it is a sneaky sign of burnout.