It's important to be able to identify if you are heading down the road towards such burnout. By understanding the signs and symptoms of stress you will be able to put in place strategies that will help to prevent this.
Career specialist Kaye Avery says career burnout is the result of prolonged exhaustion due to high levels of stress. She says it is often seen in "type A" personalities - high-achieving perfectionists who find it incredibly hard to say no.
"These are often people who have formerly engaged very well with their work. But as time goes on the stress leads to them losing their effectiveness and getting increasingly negative feedback from their employers."
This type of personality is often celebrated in the workplace. Those who have it are people who work to their maximum ability, able to achieve great results and seemingly tireless. They thrive on challenges and praise, but conversely can push themselves to breaking point.
"They will put a huge amount of pressure on themselves to constantly succeed," says Avery.
Working long hours and through illness, they seem the ideal employee. But their working life is not sustainable; prolonged pressure of this sort can lead to a raft of symptoms - headaches, hyperactivity and sleeplessness, lack of energy - all of which are warning signs that things are getting out of hand.
Avery says it's important for people who are feeling "a bit spinny" to take a step back from their situation and assess exactly what's happening in their working life.
"People need to ask themselves, 'what am I trying to prove?'. By self monitoring what is happening it's possible to mitigate the damage and avoid things reaching a crisis stage."
She says managers need to be cognisant of the demands they are placing on their staff, ensuring that staff members showing signs of stress are given the help and support they need.
One early indicator of high stress is frequent illness, such as colds. "If you find yourself getting sick a lot don't just shrug it off," she says. "Go to the doctor and be honest about what is happening in your working life."
She says it's a good idea for your doctor to give you a stress certificate for a few days off work. This can help you begin to readjust your internal equilibrium and start heading back on the right path.
"When you are highly stressed you need to give yourself time and space to recuperate," she says.
During this break Avery advises that you completely cut yourself off from your working environment. "Turn off your phone, don't check your emails. Go for long walks, eat good food," she says.
She says it's also good to use your break time to formulate strategies around future work practices and think of ways in which you can balance your workload with healthy lifestyle choices.
"Good nutrition, limiting alcohol, and regular exercise can all help to create a more balanced lifestyle," she says. "Yoga, for example, is a great stress reliever."
She also says that learning correct breathing can help you to manage stress. "Often when we are in a stressful environment we stop breathing properly and don't get replenished. There are many places that help teach you the correct breathing method - this can be really helpful."
While some career burnout is self induced, the demands of an unreasonable manager can also lead to major stress in the workplace.
Avery says managers are responsible for ensuring their staff aren't pushed beyond what they can endure. She says workers are well within their rights to push back if they feel unfairly pressured.
"The Employment Contracts Act is a two-way agreement," she says.
"Both employers and employees have obligations under this. If you are being asked to work beyond what is fair you have every right to stand up for yourself."
Approaching a boss with solution-based alternatives to seemingly impossible tasks is a good way to deal with such issues. "Be creative around the way you work. By providing good alternatives to what has been proposed you will be able to show you have initiative and offer a solution that works well for everyone."
While Avery thinks it's important to share how you feel with others, she urges people not to let this end up becoming a spiral of negativity.
"Others may feel the same way as you and it is important that you have allies in the workplace," she says. "But don't let things become too negative - this can lead to a toxic work culture and make things much worse."
While eating well, exercising, proper breathing, limiting alcohol, and developing good sleeping patterns can all help mitigate career burnout, so can taking a fresh perspective on your working life.
"Boredom can also lead to career anxiety, so if you are experiencing this be creative about ways in which you can reassess what you do. Analyse your work from new angles, ask for more challenges and take on tasks that interest you," she says.
Conversely, if your work is over-stimulating, you can also use these techniques to work out ways in which to get your work and life back into alignment.
