Most people dedicate a substantial part of their lives to a career. Jobs can be so important to us that they almost completely define who we are. Because we spend so much time and effort on our jobs, we can experience overload, stress, and burnout. Here are some resources that may be helpful if you are experiencing these things.

This article provides a very detailed list of what to do when experiencing work burnout. In addition to telling us how to behave, it suggests simple exercises we can follow. For example: “Instead of being harsh and critical of yourself, try pumping yourself up. Encouraging thoughts will help motivate you to achieve and ultimately train you to inspire others.” Nothing is more helpful than an optimistic attitude.”

This blog starts with a story of a worker suffering from job burnout and follows with tips on how to deal with burnout. “If you face an unrealistic workload or some other persistent problem in your workplace, discuss your situation with your employer…Reassure your employer of your commitment to your work, and explain what you are willing to do; but be clear and firm about what you are not able to do.” The hardest thing for us to do is often to learn how to say “No.” However, if we try to do an unrealistically high level of work, we may place an unbearable level of pressure on ourselves.

This post gives a detailed explanation of work overload and how a task list can help. It also provides an example of good task list and explains how it works. “Once you develop the ability to quickly evaluate your time and the value of things in your life, you may find task lists indispensable. With task lists you will always live in comfort of doing things optimally: at work and privately at home.”

This blog discusses what causes overload, offers stories of dealing with it, and makes suggestions on how to solve it. Suggestions are made for both employees and administrators so the problem can be solved in both ways. “When you come right down to it, perhaps we can’t prevent ‘Mr. Overload’ from coming to our offices altogether. But we can learn to work with him more consciously and intelligently.”