Burning Out

At times we go from a state of inspiration and motivation to ones ones that include the descriptors: fed-up, over it, tired or burnt out. What gets us into this state of being burned out. How can we be one moment full of energy and interest and the next we are all of these opposites. After recently completing an assignment for my course I experienced a feeling of being burnt out. I felt this coming on as the assignment drew to a close at perhaps the most crucial point in its development. I was forced to admit this to the other group members and hope they could pick up some of the slack. I noticed that there are a few elements involved in being burnt out.
1. I had initially felt inspired and motivated and spent much of my time with the project.
2. I failed to plan explicit goals about what I wanted to achieve in the project.
3. In the absence of goals and structure my enthusiasm was spend on menial elements of the project and I wasted a lot of time learning about things that weren't relevant to the tasks assessment or the task itself. Just frills.
4. When I realised that I had diverged and was faced with all that I had to make up I was overwhelmed and didn't know where to start.
5. I lacked energy to apply myself to what had now become an overwhelming task.
We can get burnt out in any area of work or study or even family life. I think we are most at risk when we are overcome with energy and enthusiasm that is not tempered with realistic planning, time management and goal setting. Each time we are burnt out we are left a little weaker and that much energy is gone from the subject that we once had. Its a terrible shame and not so easily avoided.