For most of my 20’s, I had a nagging feeling that something wasn’t right at work.

At the time, I couldn’t zero in on what that feeling was all about.

But I can see it now.

I was putting my job ahead of my life, choosing my work ahead of my wellbeing and prioritising my boss over myself.

Work had such a stranglehold on me that it took a mental breakdown in the form of burnout to wake me up to this. 

The upside is that, nowadays, I can spot the warning signs as soon as they go from green to amber. Whereas back in the day, the warning signs went from amber to red and on to flames and I still couldn’t see them.

Being a bit grumpy didn’t seem like a big deal. 

When that grumpiness turned into anger, when I started laying into the whole corporate circus and even when my personality began to change, that also didn’t seem like a big deal.

Same thing with getting a bad night’s sleep. 

Even when I was lying in bed at 3am with my head spinning, it didn’t seem off. If anything, I was telling myself “great job Tom, you’re really putting in a shift at the moment”.

So it just looked like a phase. Like work was rather stressful and a bit full on.

But it didn’t look like I was burning myself to the ground.

It’s the proverbial frog in boiling water effect. If you put a frog in a pan of boiling water it will hop straight back out. But if you put a frog in a pan of cold water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will boil to death. 

That’s what it all “boils” down to. 

This all might sound rather gloomy. 

But actually, it doesn't have to be. Not if you get a sense for when your temperature is increasing.

If you have the sneaky suspicion that you could be a frog in boiling water like I was, here’s a short temperature check you can take right now.

Just rank where you are on a scale of 1 to 10 (or 0 if you’re not on the scale at all), then add up your scores.

Here goes:

*** You get the Sunday Scaries (1) vs you dread going to work (10)

*** You’re sometimes critical (1) vs you’re utterly cynical about work and everyone in it (10)

*** You’re low on energy (1) vs you’re emotionally drained at the end of every day (10)

*** You’ve lost some interest in your hobbies (1) vs you’ve abandoned activities you used to enjoy (10)

*** You’re drinking more coffee to get through the day (1) vs you're running on empty 24/7 (10)

*** You’ve become a bit snappier (1) vs you’re always picking fights with family, friends and colleagues (10)

*** You sometimes use coping tools like the gym, food or alcohol (1) vs you rely on these to get through the week (10)

*** Work plays on your mind now and then (1) vs you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep because of work (10)

*** You feel underappreciated (1) vs no matter how hard you work, it's never enough (10)

*** You get sick more often than usual (1) vs you feel totally run down (10)

*** You sometimes feel stuck in your job (1) vs you feel like you’re trapped in your job with no way out (10)

Take a note of your score.

Then answer the questions again in a couple of weeks and see if your score has gone up, down or has stayed the same.

If your score is creeping up, now’s the time to turn down the heat before it boils over.

That would be my advice anyway.

If you relate to any parts of this and you’d like to get ahead of it, I can help.

More details on my 1 on 1 coaching here:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com