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Overwork at work: warning signs & tips that help immediately

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Overwork at work: warning signs & tips that help immediately

Career success takes effort. That means stress, which may overwhelm you. But how are feelings of stress and the impression of not being good enough connected? If you want to learn more about this, you've come to the right place at Greator. We will show you how your life can be successful and happy at the same time. With the new vision you will succeed in finding fulfillment, both professionally and privately.

You feel overwhelmed at work? Our coaching offer provides the right support for every situation. In the course of personal development, our experts help you to master the daily challenges.

What exactly is excessive demand?

If you feel overwhelmed, this is your subjective feeling. You seem to lack the necessary strength for the tasks at hand. You can't deliver your performance. Often it is about being overwhelmed at work. It often triggers anxiety: You shy away from work and suffer from stress and tension. With this strain you find it difficult to carry on sensibly. The professional overload weakens you psychologically and physically. When you look at the unfavourable ratio of the required performance and your own resources, you feel dizzy. You can't go on like this. You have to do something about the constant overload. Otherwise it will get worse.

Possible Fologies in the event of excessive demands

When you feel overwhelmed, you feel bad - that's why you should do something about it in time. Otherwise, you will experience physical symptoms such as nervousness and stomach aches. Another possible consequence is a high stress level. You make more mistakes at work and you get in a bad mood.

You want to feel better and less stressed? Self-awareness will help you to do this. If you find the causes for the excessive demands, you are on the right path.

The following 5 tips are a good start on the path to inner self-healing:

  1. Talking with friends
  2. Seek professional help (coaching)
  3. Think positive
  4. Change the perspective
  5. gather energy

Soon you'll be enjoying what you do more - in your personal life and also in your job.

7 warning signs you can tell you're overwhelmed

Being overwhelmed at work leads to typical warning signs. But with overwork, the symptoms are different for each person. Often there are physical or mental problems. Characteristic symptoms of overwork are:

  • declining motivation,
  • Fear of too much responsibility and new tasks,
  • reduced Self-confidence,
  • growing pessimism,
  • the boundary between job and private life is fading,
  • increased susceptibility to disease,
  • physical and mental imbalance.

When you're overwhelmed, symptoms are important warning signs. But they do not appear suddenly and they are not clearly recognizable as a warning shot. This makes it difficult for you to assess the situation correctly in time. Perhaps you burst into tears more often than usual, have back pain or the feeling that someone is strangling your throat. In conflicts you want to flee, you can't find a way out and you become restless inside.

Your inner turmoil is often joined by sleep disturbances, loss of energy and hopelessness. This leads to severe problems such as depressive moods or even alcohol and drug consumption in many people. Statistics prove. But there is help against the overload and its symptoms. By working on your personal development, you strengthen yourself and your self-confidence. With every little thing you do good to yourself, you become more courageous and optimistic again. inner reserves and gather your courage and optimism.

Physical and mental overload - differences

Who unhappy quickly feels psychologically overwhelmed. This can have private as well as professional reasons. If you are unhappy with your figure or find yourself unattractive, your body automatically produces stress hormones. This creates mental stress, which leads to anxiety and anger. You can actively combat these psychological symptoms. But you don't always have the necessary inner strength to do so. To change your own life circumstances, you need the help of good friends or psychotherapy.

It is important that the negative emotions have an outlet. In sports or creative activities you convert them into another energy - and get rid of them in this way. Meditation and breathing exercises also help.

Physical overload is an excessive effort that triggers physical symptoms. In addition, psychological stress also has a negative effect on the physique. Physical and mental stress often go hand in hand.

In addition to the mental and physical overload, it can also lead to professional and time overload. You can fight against these problems with further training and better time management. At Greator you can find out which tools are suitable for this.

What is burnout and what does it have to do with overwork?

The definition of burnout has no professional basis and is therefore not considered a clear diagnosis. In the case of an enormous overload, a strong state of exhaustion and other burnout symptoms occur, such as Performance slump and depressive moods. The feeling of burnout arises from high time pressure, often combined with conflicts. Excessive demands on the job and burnout are therefore closely linked.

For the diagnosis and treatment of Burnout there are no uniform procedures. 

However, there is a burnout questionnaire available Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which can be used to identify possible warning signals. This questionnaire comes from the psychologists Corinna Maslach and Susan E. Jackson. With this scientifically based paper, you can find out how much work is overwhelming you.

The typical burnout and overwhelm symptoms can also show up when you feel underwhelmed. In fact, more and more people seem to suffer from boreout. This under-demand arises, for example, from over-qualification or spending too much time on too little work. This also leads to internal stress. Increased vulnerability, fear of job loss, and flagging Self-esteem are logical consequences.

What are the situations on the job for overwork?

When there are many deadlines to meet and you have little time for your tasks, you soon feel overwhelmed on the job. Too few staff, a poor working atmosphere and a lack of further training - all of this means that your team can no longer manage the work at hand. Every deadline becomes a threat. On top of the time Overload are often accompanied by other problems.

A job change, a change in management, or a special project will lead you to overwhelmed in the new one. For Fear of work is often triggered by excessive demands - it is therefore important that you recognize the problematic factors in good time. To do something about the problems, you can raise the team's awareness or talk to the boss. If that doesn't help, there are other possible solutions:

  1. Maybe it's time to work on yourself. During a personal coaching session you become aware of your own emotions. You can develop yourself further and balance your negative feelings with helpful techniques. It might make sense to strengthen your conflict readiness and team competence.
  2. If you are in a quandary, you should think fundamentally about your situation. Is this really your dream job? Or do you just feel overworked and unmotivated? Before you are completely drained by your work, a change of job is the better decision.

Typical situations for overwork on the job are:

  • High deadline pressure,
  • many different tasks,
  • excessive demands on competence,
  • unforeseen, uncontrollable emergencies,
  • no demarcation between work and private time,
  • constant accessibility.

Under these conditions your Hopeto change or improve the situation. Especially in a new job, the fear of being overwhelmed is great: After all, you want to do everything right. You also feel overwhelmed in a stressful relationship. When both come together - work stress and relationship stress - you need a balance to withstand the double burden.

But financial problems and other difficulties, such as caring for relatives, make it difficult for you to cope with everyday life. You think you've always managed, so why shouldn't it continue? At the same time, you overlook the fact that your own demands on yourself are becoming greater and greater. To get out of this misconception and the Hamster wheel to escape, you need expert help.

Stress: difference between distress and eustress

Stress is not necessarily bad. Positive stress, called eustress, challenges your performance. This eustress helps you to cope with certain tasks. The feeling of elation when you master the situation awakens your motivation and the joy of working or playing sports. With the tension of the positive stress feeling you can call up the full performance, whether in a competition or in a presentation that you have prepared thoroughly.

However, if you are constantly under eustress, the positive effect will diminish. Therefore, you should be careful that the pleasant stress does not turn into a feeling of being overwhelmed.

The negative burden is called distress. This state of tension makes you ill in the long term because it feels threatening. It has an unfavorable effect on work motivation and decision-making ability. Due to a lack of competence or too little time, you do not complete your tasks to your own satisfaction. Satisfaction.

How can I relieve stress?

In today's world, constant accessibility and the double burden of job and family life add to the daily stress. Factors such as existential fears and financial problems have a negative effect on the life of the soul. This makes it difficult to counteract the distress. By taking a close look at your current situation at work and in your family, you can see whether you are still under positive stress or whether the negative elements predominate. It is important that you do something against the feeling of being overwhelmed in time.

At Greator, you will learn how to relieve stress lets. With the tips for Self-reflection and personal development, you will be able to step out of the stress maelstrom. How realistic are your own performance expectations? Wouldn't it be better to stay a little more relaxed? You don't have to be perfect to live happily.

Overwhelmed? These 7 tips help

If you recognize the overwhelm, this is the first step to getting better. With something Serenity and courage, stressful situations won't get you out of rhythm so quickly. Are you wondering what you can do when you're overwhelmed? We hope that the following seven tips will be a good guide for you.

1. build in breaks

When you have urgent appointments, you cancel your lunch break to gain time. But your head, your organism and your soul need to regenerate. Otherwise, your concentration will soon be gone and you will no longer work productively.

2. switch off and be unavailable

You want to really relax? Then put down the mobile phone. You don't have to be permanently available - unless there are professional reasons. But let go of the expectation that you always have to respond immediately to private messages. . 

3. resolve conflicts in good time

Subliminal conflicts bubble up inside you and cause a constant feeling of stress. The sooner you address a problem, the easier it is to resolve. In an open conversation, misunderstandings can be resolved, be it in a professional or private environment.

4. singletasking

The so-called Multitasking has had its day. Doing multiple things at once doesn't make you more productive. Instead, you find it hard to focus on one task at a time. Instead, do one thing at a time: That way you work conscientiously and can look at each result individually.

5. time management

Sensible time management helps to reduce stress. Under deadline pressure, many colleagues work as quickly as possible. However, by making a list first, you can keep a better overview. Prioritise the to-do items and don't be afraid to go too far. delegate.

6. do sport

Reduce stress at work, you can do this with sports activities. In ancient times, people fought or fled when they felt stressed. Today, you let off steam with sports. In this way, you reduce the excess of physical energy and can then relax better.

7. be mindful

Mindfulness is a big topic today. It doesn't just involve the ability to enjoy yourself. Your appreciation for yourself also plays a role. Treat yourself regularly to some time out - for example, a spa day or meditation. Musical activities such as painting, writing or making music are also a good way to wind down. Your own oasis of calm can also look different. Watching movies, reading novels or enjoying nature - everyone has their own comfort zones.

Preventing excessive demands: How to take precautions!

If you feel overwhelmed in your private life or at work, this is often due to your own inner attitude. Maybe you expect too much from yourself. But you are not responsible for everything. Think about your own wishes and get help. Behavioural therapy has a simple but effective tip: stop saying that you "should" do something and start thinking in terms of "can" or "prefer". This way you increase your power of self-determination.

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Reviewed by Dr. med. Stefan Frädrich

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