Burnout Immunity summary

Have you ever had a wake-up call in life, something that opens your eyes to a huge issue or makes you reconsider everything? For academic researcher and educator Kandi Wiens, such a wake-up call came in her early forties. Her blood pressure became so high that she needed to be on bedrest for days and was at high risk of having a stroke or heart attack. This experience made her realize she was terribly burnt out – the result of chasing other people’s goals for years and feeling disconnected from her own purpose.

So, what exactly is burnout? 

Three things characterize the condition: feeling exhausted and having no energy, feeling cynical or negative about your job, and feeling professionally ineffective or underperforming. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that burnout results from chronic workplace stress.

After learning a bit about emotional intelligence and burnout while training people at work, Wiens decided to officially study this critical area. In her research, she discovered a group of leaders in severely stressful jobs who showed absolutely no signs of burnout. The common factor amongst them? Emotional intelligence.

Luckily for the rest of us, emotional intelligence – or EI – is something that can be learned and practiced by anyone. It’s not dependent on how we were raised, where we went to school or what industry we work in. So, if we can learn EI, we can essentially learn how to protect ourselves from burnout.

As with most things, it’s easiest and best to prevent burnout before it occurs. But even if you’re currently in a state of burnout, EI and burnout immunity skills can help you get out – and stay out – of burnout. Of course, if your work environment is toxic, abusive or is affecting your health – whether mental or physical – you should immediately start creating an exit plan. Reach out for help if necessary and pursue a healthier career path. And even in this last, least ideal situation, EI practices can help you.

So, how do you learn EI? Well, it starts with awareness, which is what we’ll explore next.