Identifying Burnout

Three reasons I think the church is so prone to burnout.

1. We carry burdens for problems that don’t belong to us.

2. The mission of the church has nothing to do with what we are good at.

3. Our gifts aren’t needed in the body we are serving.

Symptoms of Burnout:

you lose your ability to be self aware You say things like “I’m not capable of anything, let alone this job”. you try to lead people into what you feel, not what you think. You share stories that provoke others to feel frustrated. You struggle to think rationally. you try to let everyone else know how hopeless things are Your conversations are focused on finding all the problems, and dismissing the solutions. you try to get someone to help you You’ll talk to anyone that will listen, but you don’t know how to ask for help. you can’t hear help when others try to offer it Even when you receive advice that could be helpful, you aren’t able to see it as such. You can’t pace yourself. You are trying to solve every problem and finish every problem concurrently. You can’t allow some things to be finished later. You wonder why no one else is helping you.You feel like you’ve walked into a sandstorm. All your self awareness is gone. You can’t hear or see as well as you used to. God is quiet. Does anyone care?

Two tests that can help you identify if you are burning out:

Fire Drill Test: - Are things as bad as you feel?

Write down a specific problem you are dealing with, then rate your response to these questions 1-10. 1 is lowest importance, 10 is highest importance.

How important do you think it is that this problem is solved?How important do you feel it is that this problem is solved?How important do others say it is that this problem is solved?How important is it to your job that this problem is solved?

Compare you answers. 

Are they far apart?Do you know why they are far apart?

If you keep coming up with large gaps between what you think, feel, and hear, it probably means you aren’t recognizing reality accurately.

Reality Check Test: - Are you wasting your time?

Recalibrate regularly on the tasks you have. We often try to accomplish all the change needed in a single project. That isn’t possible. Here are questions to ask yourself when you find yourself frustrated with a project.

What have I been asked to accomplish?Why is this helpful to the client?What goals do I see that aren’t being met?Is this project an appropriate vehicle to accomplish those goals?What can I do outside of this project to help further those goals?

How big is the gap between what you are gifted to do and what you are being asked to do?

Can you leverage your gifts in any way in your current role?If you can, why isn’t that good enough? Write it down. Define it.