We’ve all had bad days, when nothing seems to go right; the buyers don’t buy, the managers don’t manage and everybody else’s job seems better than our own. It’s when those isolated tough moments seem to become the routine that it’s time to take action and make changes before we’re burned out.

There wasn’t much to distinguish Bill Meade from the other sales representatives attending our two-day training seminar in Chicago a few months ago. Middle-aged, a salesman for 20 years, moderately successful – Bill might have been just another of the many career-minded professionals who have attended our meetings, hoping to improve their selling skills.

But Bill did distinguish himself. Before the two-day training was over, Bill stood out as a man in trouble, a man literally fighting for his life.

He talked in short bursts, his words like gusts of wind rushing at you so fast and hard you felt you had to brace yourself against them. And he was always in motion; hands, feet, and body perpetually shifting to and fro. He, more than most, complained about the reluctant buyers, rising prices, and aggressive competition that make any salesperson’s job tough. His face flushed as he threatened to quit his job, tell off his buyers, and maybe start over somewhere else. He longed for escape. The perspiration beading on his forehead, the deep sighs he used to punctuate his speech, and the "indigestion" that nagged him seemed to promise he would soon earn his rest – fretting his way into a hospital.

Sound familiar? This salesman, perhaps like someone you know, is but one of dozens we have encountered over the years. Angry, frustrated, and depressed, they were burning out. The stress of their profession, combined with the overly critical expectations they had of themselves, was threatening their careers and their lives.

That’s right, stress and burnout can kill. Desperate and depressed, the burned-out salesperson becomes a "victim" able to make victims out of all those with whom he or she comes in contact.

"Burned out workers become detached, cynical, suspicious, and even hostile," says University of California psychologist Christina Maslach. "They begin to dislike not only themselves and the work they do, but also the very people they are supposed to be working with and for."

Some experts estimate that job-related stress is responsible for up to 80 percent of all worker illnesses. Heart disease, ulcers and diabetes are but a few of the many maladies linked to employment, as each year over $20 billion in lost pay and benefits is forfeited by workers who stay away from their jobs due to illnesses real and feigned.

Worse yet, the pattern of job displeasure and burnout can spread contagiously from worker to worker to management, crippling the operations of an entire company or industry. There is absenteeism, job-related carelessness, and job turnover, all of which mean a loss of talent and training, of income and profit.

Obviously, burnout is not just a problem for a few temperamental salespeople who would rather complain than work. It is a serious menace to the professional lives of anyone whose job is stressful or emotionally draining. To the extent that it can get in the way of your sales success, burnout is a problem you must avoid or work to overcome.

What is burnout?

Burnout has no simple cause. A grouchy boss, a frantic work schedule, or piles of paperwork do not necessarily lead to burnout. A combination of unfortunate external circumstances and internal attitudes must be present to produce burnout.

Burnout is not temporary. Nor is it easily reversed. A three-day weekend or a two-week vacation can provide you with a momentary escape, but more is needed to overcome the problem.

Burnout casualties are not poor workers. Even the company "star" may burn out under the strain of severe job stress. No evidence links burnout with laziness or inefficiency; these are the symptoms of the problem, not its causes.

Burnout casualties are not weak "quitters." Some burned-out workers leave their jobs; many do not. What most lack is the knowledge and ability to overcome the conditions pushing them into distress.

In short, burnout results from the combination of job stress and job dissatisfaction. If you’re the type who:

1) expects each sales call to result in the perfect sale;

2) thinks of your job success as a reflection of your value as a person;

3) hates to let anything remain undone or put anything off until tomorrow;

4) puts all your energies into your work to the neglect of everything else;

5) feels the 24 hours you have available to you each day aren’t enough for you to get all you want accomplished; and

6) thinks of each day on the job as a battle in which you have to be the winner–

…then you may have a burnout-prone personality.

Fighting back

You can defend yourself against the harmful effects of stress and burnout in three ways: monitoring, managing, and maintaining.

Monitor your body’s signals of distress so that you can pick up the early warnings that you’re heading for trouble. When you catch yourself on edge, take a break. Stand tall and stretch, walk around, close your eyes and picture a sunny seashore for a moment or two. Make it a habit to pace yourself – the amount of work you do, the demands for perfection you place on yourself, and the ways in which you try to please all those around you.

Manage your health and life so that you will have the energy to resist the stress you will naturally encounter on your job. A good nutritional diet can go a long way in keeping your body healthy and trim. Exercises, sports, hobbies, and crafts can help you unwind and provide you with a pleasant balance after difficult days in the office or on the road.

Consider learning one of the dozens of techniques that can help you routinely and systematically reduce your stress (biofeedback, guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, etc.). Finally, manage your time and be stingy about giving it away. Don’t be afraid to say "no," even to family and friends. Be friendly but firm, gentle but assertive, and avoid the extra demands on you that can mount to an impossible load.

Maintain yourself in a position of competence and stability. Begin to express your feelings openly to coworkers, friends, and family, rather than allowing your feelings to build up inside you and wear you down. Work to improve your selling skills, but remember to do so with self-confidence and self-esteem, not with self-doubt and worry.

Perhaps most importantly, remember Murphy’s Law: "What can go wrong will go wrong." Learn to expect the tiny setbacks we all experience every once in a while. All of us go through periods of success and failure. What matters is that you take your failures and your successes in stride. After all, only Superman flies and walks through brick walls.

Burnout is not inevitable but is a serious and growing problem for anyone who works. By monitoring, managing, and maintaining, you can make sure burnout never becomes a deadly problem for you.

Burnout Signals

Are you burning out?

At the heart of burnout is an increasing disability to handle stress and mounting dissatisfaction with your job and yourself. While all of us, on occasion, have been unhappy with our lives or jobs, the problem of burnout goes much deeper and is more prolonged.

After three years of conducting burnout and stress management workshops for sales representatives and others in the work force, we have found the following self-test useful in determining just who may be burning out. Ask yourself these questions:

Yes or No

Do you feel you’re working harder and accomplishing less?

Are you unhappy during work hours and irritated with fellow workers?

Do you feel powerless or helpless to change the situation?

Are you using more of your sick leave or other kinds of leave to stay away from work?

Do you find yourself frequently saying, "I don’t give a damn anymore," "I just can’t keep up," or "It doesn’t ever really matter what I do, it will turn out the same anyway"?

Do you find your relationships with others–family and friends–more agitated because of the frustrations of the job?

Do you find you’re ignoring or angry at your buyers because of your work-related tensions?

If you’re answering "yes" more often than "no," you may be a candidate for burnout. Some people are able to cope with their job frustrations and stress, but this might be the time for you to take stock of where you are in your job, where you’re heading, and what you would like to change for the better.

A person has to decide what is creating stress and how best to handle it. While you may try to change your organization or company, it might be easier and better if you change your attitudes, work habits, values, goals, and how you spend your time.