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Burnout Self-Test

Checking Yourself for Burnout

Burnout occurs when passionate, committed people become deeply disillusioned with a job or career from which they have previously derived much of their identity and meaning. It comes as the things that inspire passion and enthusiasm are stripped away, and tedious or unpleasant things crowd in. This tool can help you check yourself for burnout.

Introduction:

This tool can help you check yourself for burnout. It helps you look at the way you feel about your job and your experiences at work, so that you can get a feel for whether you are at risk of burnout.

Using the Tool:

There are three easy ways of using the test. Either:

• Use the online test below, and click the 'Calculate my total' button at the foot of the test,
• Work through the table on paper and calculate values manually, or
• Download the template and fill in values appropriately on the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This will automatically calculate scores for you and interpret these scores, showing the score and interpretation in row 30.

If you choose to use the manual method, then calculate the total of the scores as described in the instructions (note that this uses a slightly different scoring method from the spreadsheet). Apply the score to the scoring table underneath to get the interpretation.

Checking Yourself for Burnout

Instructions:

#	Question	Not at all	Rarely	Some times	Often	Very Often
1	Do you feel run down and drained of physical or emotional energy?
2	Do you find that you are prone to negative thinking about your job?
3	Do you find that you are harder and less sympathetic with people than perhaps they deserve?
4	Do you find yourself getting easily irritated by small problems, or by your co-workers and team?
5	Do you feel misunderstood or unappreciated by your co-workers?
6	Do you feel that you have no one to talk to?
7	Do you feel that you are achieving less than you should?
8	Do you feel under an unpleasant level of pressure to succeed?
9	Do you feel that you are not getting what you want out of your job?
10	Do you feel that you are in the wrong organization or the wrong profession?
11	Are you becoming frustrated with parts of your job?
12	Do you feel that organizational politics or bureaucracy frustrate your ability to do a good job?
13	Do you feel that there is more work to do than you practically have the ability to do?
14	Do you feel that you do not have time to do many of the things that are important to doing a good quality job?
15	Do you find that you do not have time to plan as much as you would like to?
	Total of weighted scores (see instructions):

Score Interpretation

Score	Comment
15 – 18	No sign of burnout here.
19 – 32	Little sign of burnout here, unless some factors are particularly severe.
33 – 49	Be careful - you may be at risk of burnout, particularly if several scores are high.
50 – 59	You are at severe risk of burnout - do something about this urgently.
60 - 75	You are at very severe risk of burnout - do something about this urgently.

See our article on Avoiding Burnout if you think you might be at risk of it. See our article on Recovering From Burnout if you think it might already have occurred.

Summary:

This tool helps you to assess your likelihood of burnout. To use the tool, fill in the table above and score appropriately, or download the template and fill it in.

If the tool shows that you are at risk of burnout (or if your common sense indicates that you could be at risk of burnout), then see the next two tools (“How to Avoid Burnout” and “Coping With Burnout”) to see how to manage the situation.

It may also be worth talking to one of our career coaches - they specialize in helping people rebalance their lives and regain job fulfillment.

Warning: Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, can cause death. While these stress management techniques have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only, and readers should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if they have any concerns over stress-related illnesses or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. Health professionals should also be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.

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Extension Resources (Not included in the Mind Tools E-book.)

* Shows articles available in full only to Career Excellence Club members.

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Rest, Relaxation & Sleep*
Toffler's Stability Zones - Finding peace amid chaos*
How to Relax After a Hard Day - Leaving work at work*
Locus of Control - Finding out who's in charge of your destiny
The Wheel of Life - Finding balance in your life
Using the Life Career Rainbow - Finding a work/life balance that suits you*

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