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Doc, I'm 40 and used to be a
real "go getter."
I've now seeminlgy hit a wall where
I don't want to do much of anything. I'm
slightly depressed and cannot focus
on much of anything, including
activities I used to enjoy.
I'm overly concerned about what I want to do
with the rest of my career and
cannot think of any job that interests me.
Is this burnout?
What can/should I do to improve
things?
Burnout is a motivational problem
- you can't get moving
like you used to be able to.
You can think of it as job
depression. Your description
is classic. You say you are
"slightly" depressed - but it sounds
more than "slight."
You are DEmotivated!
Use the scientific method to determine
the causes. Collect
data, then analyze it. Each
time you get "that feeling",
stop and rate the intensity of
the feelings - using a scale
form 1 to 5 can help and then identify
what just happened to
trigger the feeling. Write
this down- this is your data.
After dong this for a while - several
days is good, then
analyze your data, look for patterns.
This will tell you much.
Don't think in terms of "jobs that
interest you" - without
realizing it you are thinking in
terms of slots to fit
yourself into. Instead, identify
what activities you enjoy
and what you value. Then
work on figuring out ways to
integrate these into your work
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