Feeling burned out? Then consider this: To be burned out means that, at one point in your life, you must have been on fire.
If you are burned out now, then you must have been ignited to a temperature of almost white-hot excitement once. You were a roaring sphere of energy, enthusiasm and results. There was no stopping you.
What? You’re thinking you were never quite that hot but you’re still feeling burned out?
Then consider instead that maybe you’re experiencing “rust out.” The doctrine of entropy means that if you are not putting energy into something to make it better, then by default, it will become worse. If you don’t use it, you lose it. This law applies to anything in the universe. If you don’t exercise, you lose tone. If you don’t feed your mind, your mental capacity and creativity diminish.
To see the physical results of entropy, look around you. If not maintained, paint peels, metal rusts, wood rots, cement crumbles and teeth decay. The same principle applies to relationships and to your business. If unattended they, too, will gradually deteriorate and you’re left wondering what happened.
So, before acknowledging burn out, do an assessment and determine if, instead, you may be suffering from a severe case of rust out. Burn out is usually physical — you’ve pushed yourself too hard, too long. Rust out is most often psychological and the result of losing passion, energy and motivation. Your diagnosis will determine your direction.
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