Personality Traits that Increase the Burnout Risk
There are so many factors that can cause burnout, such as hostile working environments, negative managers or employees, stifling job structures, or lifestyles. However, these are just external factors. While some factors are unavoidable or at least hard to change, there are also internal factors that can make you more susceptible to burnout. While much of personality is inborn, your personal makeup and tendencies can contribute to your stress response, so you can adjust what you can. The following personal characteristics can affect your stress level and put you at an increased risk for burnout.
1. Perfectionist tendency
While dedicated workers strive to do their best to achieve optimal results and can be happy with a near-perfect job well-done, perfectionists beat themselves up if everything is not. Perfectionists sometimes will not even try to accomplish a task because they are too terrified of failure.
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Herbert Freudenberger, author of “Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement,” first coined the term ‘burnout’ in 1974. He described the word as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” While burnout is not a recognized psychological disorder, it shares similar features with conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, or mood disorders.