There’s nothing like having a well-earned break over the summer to get some perspective, regain a sense of calm after a frenetic year, and have a chance to recuperate and reset for the year ahead.

That sense of calm, though, can serve to mask the need to reset your work situation to one that is more healthy on an ongoing basis, one that doesn’t burn you out to the point where all your weekends are spent just trying to recover from the week days.

At the end of 2022, I was inundated with requests for career coaching as people couldn’t bear the thought of another year like the last one and were motivated to change their situations. So much so that the first quarter of 2023 is already booked out.

Interesting that after the break, I’m hearing people say things like “I’m less wound up now. Maybe my job isn’t so bad. Maybe I’ll give myself more time to think about things before making any changes”.

And that’s great, if a break was all that was needed. Oftentimes though, it’s not. If people are suffering from burnout, for example, that doesn’t go away in a few days, or after just a week or two off work.

If you were burnt out by the end of last year, even if you are feeling a little better for having had a break, it might be time to reassess your work life because if you don’t change what got you there in the first place, nothing will change and this year may end up looking much like the last, if not worse.

Burnout is insidious so people won’t necessarily realise they are suffering from it, but that feeling of having nothing left in the tank is a good way to characterise it. Words that will now be forever associated with our former Prime Minister Jacinda Adern following her resignation this month. No doubt she was able to see that the conditions that led to her feeling that way were not about to change, and so she made the courageous decision to step down.

If you were feeling burnt out by the end of the year, ask yourself:

How likely is it that the conditions that led to your burn out will change?
What is within your control that will help you recover and avoid burn out in future?

If you are struggling to answer the last statement, get in touch. I’d be happy to help.