Why Burnout is bad for your finances

Why do you spend more money during hard times?

The world isn’t in a great place right now, more and more people are feeling burnt out at work. Yet spend average household spend on luxury products is at an all-time high, despite the increased cost of living.

You could put this down to the fact that the cost of everything has gone up, so logically the average spend on these products would increase. However, I believe it has a lot more to do with the mindset we have had to adopt over the past few years and as a side effect of the expectations set by social media.

What is Burnout?

Even before the pandemic in 2019 burnout was recognised by the world health organisation as an occupational hazard of working from home.

Burnout is defined as “A physical or emotional state, of exhaustion. Often a result of long-term stress of working in an emotionally or physically draining role long term”

With the dawn of the pandemic, and over 46% of people having to complete so form of work from home and the rest of the populace trapped with nothing to do, this spawned a secondary mental pandemic.

While you may or may not have experienced burnout in the pandemic, it’s likely you know someone who has. 1 in 4 workers was affected by it during the pandemic. However it is in fact, statistically, more likely you experienced burnout post-pandemic. Which we will get to shortly.

Common Symptoms include.

• Feeling drained most of the time
• Feeling helpless or trapped.
• Feeling detached from the world
• Having a cynical outlook.
• Self-doubt, or imposter syndrome.
• Procrastinating or lack of attention.
• Feeling overwhelmed

You can only take so much stress

Once lockdown began to ease up people began to feel a lot better overall and were able to return to relatively normal lives, however. That built-up stress and burnout remained. Eventually being intensified as many employers brought in stricter monitoring and control as people returned to work in the office.

This fairly standardised return to work procedure, likely paired with a second surge from the actual pandemic among other more mundane illnesses, resulting in a second larger, burnout boom. While many workers made it through the pandemic. This final step was enough for them to consider the level of stress they were experiencing as too much.

1 in 5 workers, reported burnout symptoms either directly to their employer or to a trusted college. This is believed to be one of the leading factors in 2021’s Great resignation. Where over 40% of employees either had quit or were considering doing so, during the months of June through to September of that year.

Why does burnout matter now?

Technically we are overdue for a mass outbreak of burnout, in fact considering all that is going on in the world it’s likely that burnout has hit similar levels as it did last year. However, with the world returning to the way it is, this is likely being overlooked and not reported.

What is being seen is the side effects of said burnout on the marketplace as people are resorting to alternative methods to try and solve, a seemingly unsolvable problem in their lives.

Why Burnout is bad for your wallet

Unwise Spending:

Many people who are experiencing burnout do not feel like themselves and are met with a series of draining and stressful emotions that they do not know how to manage. In an attempt to temporarily mitigate these emotions they spend money.

While this initially may make them feel better, long term it can cause debt and further stress. Treating yourself is no longer a nice reward, it’s turned into a coping mechanism.

Instead of spending money on things. We advise that if you must spend your money you spend it on activities you can enjoy with your friends or family (Not a holiday)

Not only will this work as a temporary fix, but it will work long-term. By doing an activity it’s likely you will get rid of some residual stress.

Being able to talk to your allies and support network is a good first step for identifying what in your life is causing you stress. Allowing you to work towards remedying the problem. Allowing you to move away from coping and onto resolving.

Unhealthy Habits:

As discussed above one of the symptoms of burnout is feeling drained, or not having energy. This often results in certain easy household tasks being ignored. The big one is cooking.

Instead of cooking or shopping, many people are opting to order in, nearly every night. Which can devastate your finances. I myself have experienced this, for me and my partner, it evolved into having a takeaway once a week, which isn’t great for your wallet or your health.

Instead, we opt to use something convenient, cheaper and better for you long term. Food delivery services such as Gousto, Hello Fresh and Simply Cook are a great stopgap. They come with all you need to make several tasty meals and can teach you some new tricks in the kitchen.

4 meals for two people is around £35 which is the price of an average takeaway on deliveroo. You can quickly turn your bad habit around and start eating a lot healthier.

Quick Fixes

Substance abuse is a really common side effect of any mental health issue. It can seem really easy to pick up a bottle or cigarette. While these activities might be fun in a social environment, as a coping mechanism they are always a recipe for self-destruction.

Back when I worked in the corporate world, I got many early promotions because people above me killed themselves with these vices. Look after your health and wealth in one easy step.

While it’s not easy to quit these vices, pouring that energy and frustration into a new hobby, alongside several other supporting services, is the best route to take.

The best way of dealing with burnout

Quit your job.

The world has transformed massively over the past three years, the everyday person has more power than they ever had. They just don’t know it.

Over 45% of employers, were unable to fill a role for a period of 8 weeks because job seekers would not show up for interviews. The corporate world is on the back foot because many prospective job seekers have so many offers they do not need to attend every single interview.

Pre-pandemic new roles in organisations were oversubscribed on average by nearly 500 qualified candidates. Now post-pandemic, these same roles are a real struggle to fill for companies.

So if you feel burdened or burned out by your work, know your worth. Find another role and leave that stressful world behind.

Need some extra advice?

If you are looking for some extra help or advice on how to manage your stress or transition out of your current role. Do get in touch, while we are not taking on any new coaching clients at this point in time. I’m more than happy to give you any pointers I can.

If are interested in Mindreading, Marketing or Magic you can find more information in blue.

Have a great week and try your best, it’s the only you thing, that you can do.