Sometimes when you sit down at the end of the day to calculate what you have accomplished during the day, you realize that you have spent most of it sitting or lying down. The net productivity of that day comes out to be zero.
There is also a likelihood that you feel tired all the time, and never fully rested. You may also feel a lack of motivation. You can call this laziness but it may just as well be burnout. The two often share the same indicators with the same outcome; procrastination. To rectify this, it is important to know the difference.
From blogs, self-help channels on YouTube, academic reading materials, vlogs, and podcasts, there is no shortage of helpful materials. You can even use some apps that can help you get rid of procrastination as a habit as that is the main outcome of both laziness and burnout.
We would recommend getting out there and acquainting yourself with these aspects and finding the remedies. All you need is a working internet connection that does not fail you to access the right informational material and tailor your habits accordingly.
Xfinity is such a provider that keeps you connected for all your needs, be it reaching out to friends or engaging in self-help.
Let’s get down to discussing how burnout is different from laziness.
What is Burnout?
A negative emotional state of exhaustion both physically and mentally. This can be caused by excessive workload-induced stress. Burnout gets triggered when you are unable to manage this stress.
The current rate of burnout in job-going adults in the USA is about 40%. Gen Z and millennials seem to be taking the hit far more than the ones before them. We must educate ourselves and make efforts to counter the negative effects of burnout.
Signs of Burnout
Six evident signs of burnout seem like laziness.
1. Feeling disconnected from everything
You may feel like everything you do during the day is muscle memory. It can seem like you are operating on autopilot. This can also be characterized as feeling detached and dissociated from one’s self. It may be hard to nail down this experience of depersonalization.
There are also some other feelings like emotional bankruptcy, numbness, or emptiness. You may also feel that you are watching your life from the outside, failing to feel engaged. The inability to take control of your life is also a prevalent emotion while going through burnout.
2. Lack of Motivation
The major difference between laziness and burnout is that a burnt-out person used to feel motivated at some point before they were hit with it. Laziness is a character trait and lack of motivation is a constant for lazy people.
A person who had been excelling previously and was a high achiever feeling lazy and demotivated now is a sign of burnout. If you are feeling apathy and exhaustion causing a depression in motivation and productivity, you are likely going through burnout.
3. Losing Interest or Passion
This is also a huge indicator of burnout. You used to have things that you were very passionate about. It can be related to your professional work, your hobbies, or even friends and family. If you are struggling to stay interested in things that you used to love doing, there is a high likelihood of burnout.
How is this different from laziness? A lazy individual may have always struggled to stay interested. For a person going through burnout, this is a relatively new feeling.
4. Becoming moody and irritable
Feeling moody or irritable is also a tell-tale sign of burnout. Not having control over your emotions can result directly from mismanaged stress. How is it different in people with laziness? Lazy individuals tend to be relaxed and laid back.
If not being able to control your emotions is a new experience for you, you are likely suffering from burnout.
5. Ignored self-care and poor hygiene
Poor personal hygiene is one of the more alarming manifestations of burnout. In the aftermath of this, neglecting yourself becomes somewhat second nature. This also comes as a result of direct social withdrawal and isolation.
A person suffering from burnout can start to avoid putting themselves out there and this may directly result in ignoring your physical appearance. This is not just about hygiene and appearance, in some people, this is directly related to your eating habits and other self-destructive tendencies.
Summing Up
The more you know about burnout, the better equipped you will be to deal with these issues holding you back from achieving your true potential. You see, behavioral problems have a way of sticking around until you deal with them. Try not to procrastinate addressing this problem.