Moreover, your engine may get into a burnout. That\u2019s even an original meaning of the word \u2018burnout\u2019 itself: an engine gets into too high a gear and starts to smoke. It literally burns itself.<\/p>\n
No smoke without burnout.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is not about the pace of work, but about the pace at which you \u2018spend your motivation.\u2019 It\u2019s about your \u2018inner wheels of motivation.\u2019 With inner wheels turning loose, your engine may \u2018burn-out itself.\u2019 Unfortunately, you can invite, yet not directly control these \u2018inner wheels.\u2019 So, take care:<\/p>\n A \u2018too high a gear motivation\u2019 occurs when you coerce yourself to feel motivated.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is: you think you should feel motivated more than you actually are and thus you \u2018act as if\u2019 you have this motivation, even to yourself. You are simply fooling yourself. How do you know? When it\u2019s too late: burnout.<\/p>\n Or also: by daring to look at yourself in a really open way. A coach may be helpful.<\/p>\n So, when feeling \u2018burned out,\u2019 one shouldn\u2019t simply point to the fire, even if it\u2019s a big fire. Quality is more important. Very inefficient is burning while at the same time trying to stop your burning. In translation: being motivated in a certain direction and at the same time in the opposite direction. As a caregiver for instance, one may want to \u2018give oneself fully\u2019 to the job and yet precisely not.<\/p>\n Also not efficient: burning into a direction with no end. For instance, you try to be a perfect mother \/ father, but \u2018perfect\u2019 is unattainable. You spend a lot of energy and it\u2019s never enough. Your efforts become more and more inefficient.<\/p>\n You get into a vicious circle: the harder you try, the less efficient you become.<\/strong><\/p>\n Negative work-stress by itself may make you switch gears even quicker. You want to get out of the stressful situation. You spend more energy but by doing so, you heighten the vicious circle until your energy is depleted.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have the solution for this in a few sentences, but: find the domain in which you want<\/em> to burn. Within that domain, try to find how you can \u2018work\u2019 (whatever that means to you) in such a way that you get deep rewards, given by yourself, to yourself. You can sincerely pat yourself on the back.<\/p>\n Finding the right gear is your responsibility. In this, you deserve optimal support.<\/strong><\/p>\n Without any feeling of guilt. Guilt is irrelevant as well as inefficient. It makes you spend a lot of energy in the wrong gear. That may be a main reason why it\u2019s bad for health in general.<\/p>\n Like a car\u2019s motor, internal physical organs may \u2018burn out.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Contrary to this, guilt-less responsibility makes your wheels grip into each other and the wear and tear becomes minimal. The more you sensibly go for it, the more efficient it gets.<\/p>\n The lesson: take care of your motivations. Try to find out what<\/em> really makes you tick and how<\/em> it does so. Your motivations are \u2018why\u2019 you do things. Therefore:<\/p>\n Search for the WHAT and the HOW of your WHY.<\/strong><\/p>\n Part of this lies within you: your inner strength needs nurturing by you<\/em>. No one else can do your growing. However, a lot of help is available.<\/p>\n Being assertive towards molding your surroundings where possible, is another part.<\/strong><\/p>\n At work, this molding of the environment is a leader\u2019s job but don\u2019t wait for one. Leaders are people like you (and me).<\/p>\n To deal with your motivations (fire), your leader may need you more than you need him.<\/p>\n