If You Start Feeling This One Emotion At Work, You’re About To Burn Out

It’s no secret that work is one of the biggest contributors to burnout. Doing the same tasks day after day and feeling the pressure of doing them well can take its toll. Most people would assume that a bad boss or feeling unappreciated and overworked are the biggest contributors to feeling like you need to throw in the towel in the workplace, and those are definitely signs that things aren't good.

However, according to a career expert on TikTok, one of the biggest precursors to inevitable burnout is an emotion we don’t often think of.

If you feel cynicism towards your work, you’re well on your way to burning out.

A workplace wellbeing coach named Kelsea, known as @theseamlesscoach on TikTok, is also a former therapist. Her credentials prove that she’s well-versed in all things work and well-being.

Kelsea shared one emotion you need to watch out for, particularly in relation to work, to know if you’re on the road to burnout.

“The most dangerous emotion you can have at work is cynicism,” she declared. “Not only is it referred to as the second stage of burnout, it’s also one of those compounding emotions, which means it doesn’t just happen overnight.”

Kelsea continued, “If you’re feeling cynical at work, you’ve probably passed the point where you’re just annoyed or exhausted. You’ve reached full-on distrust of your manager or the company that you’re working for.”

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Once you've started feeling cynical about your job, it just pushes you deeper into burnout.

“They say this is dangerous because once you’ve reached this point, it’s really hard to pull back from it,” she said. “‘Cause even if they were to turn things around on their part, you don’t trust them to do it.”

“So it leaves you feeling kind of stuck. Like you have no control or almost this feeling of helplessness, which pushes you in further stages of burnout,” she stated. 

“Or you’re losing confidence in your ability to get things done, and maybe you’re even dropping some balls.”

“As cynicism is present, you bounce back and forth between not really caring about this, that you’re dropping balls, and feeling really bad about it,” Kelsea said. “This could be due to something in your role or the work environment, or maybe a little bit of both.”

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When you reach the point of feeling so cynical that you stop caring about your performance, quitting is on the horizon.

“When you reach this point, what I found is a lot of people are quick to just leave their job without identifying the root cause first,” she explained. 

“So they don’t know what to avoid in their next role, and they bring that cynicism along with them.”

This creates a vicious cycle as you carry your cynicism with you instead of finding out what the real problem is so that it can be addressed.

Cynicism is a proven part of burnout.

We don’t often discuss cynicism as it relates to burnout, but it is a part of the process.

According to James Madison University, “Burnout is a three-component syndrome that arises in response to chronic stressors on the job. Elements of burnout include exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy.”

They went on to say, “Cynicism refers to detachment from or even negative emotions about assignments, projects, colleagues or clients.”

Kelsea was correct when she said that cynicism is the “second stage of burnout.” If you feel cynical, you are already well on the way to becoming burnt out.

The majority of employees in the workforce have experienced burnout.

While we would all like to pretend burnout is something that we are immune to, most of us have felt it at some point.

A survey from Deloitte found that 77% of employees have felt burnt out “at their current job.”

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The Mayo Clinic said that some common causes of burnout include having a poor work-life balance, working a lot, and feeling a loss of control over work.

Feeling cynical isn’t something that people necessarily enjoy, but it is a sure symptom of burnout. Recognizing this in yourself can help you make the needed changes in your life before it’s too late.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.