Thinking has weight. As does multi-tasking. And stress. We have some pretty serious metaphors for what happens when the weight is too much – overload and burnout.

Unlike physical pain, cognitive overload can be hard to recognize, especially if you are used to pushing yourself regularly, because your baseline will be out of whack. However, many people do have physical symptoms when they are burning out as well:

• Feeling overwhelmed or run down
• Feeling out of touch with your feelings and emotions
• Lacking enthusiasm for things that typically bring you joy
• Stomach aches and digestive problems
• Head pain
• Changes in appetite
• Sleep problems, including disrupted sleep or fatigue.

In addition to the symptoms that are only recognizable to the person experiencing burnout, there are other clear signs that can begin to manifest in our day-to-day duties and working relationships:

• Slower response times
• Impatience with requests or types of email that you handle regularly
• Difficulty processing new information
• More mistakes than usual, including frequent “silly” mistakes and missed deadlines
• Resistance to change (e.g., new processes, new change initiatives)
• Predominantly negative interpretations of other people’s comments, conduct, or actions.

What is cognitive overload? What is burnout?

Cognitive load describes how much of your working memory resources are in use. There are 3 types of cognitive load:

1. Intrinsic: General effort associated with a specific topic. The more complicated the topic, the more effort required to process it.
2. Extraneous: The way information or topics are presented to you. Complicated, disorganized or dense materials/interfaces take more processing.
3. Germane: The effort associated with creating a permanent store of knowledge. This is done via schemas (a framework or system for processing new information). If you can redirect extraneous efforts to building schemas, then you can decrease cognitive load.

Cognitive overload happens when we try to process more information than our minds can comfortably handle. Add some stressors and a super busy schedule, and it gets worse.

On top of that, when it comes to decision-making you might look for more information in hopes of making better decisions. However, if you are in overload conditions, that might actually delay/confound your ability to make decisions (e.g., analysis paralysis).

Burnout describes a combination of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by a sustained period of stress or a sudden and critical stress event, such as a change in health, parenting, caregiving, or other life factors.

With burnout, it’s common to feel disconnected emotionally and interpersonally. You will have a lack of interest, a lack of energy, a lack of accomplishment, and feel more cynical than usual.

If you don’t address it, cognitive overload at work can affect not only your well-being, but also team dynamics and overall productivity. Burnout is a serious condition that can have long-term impacts on your health, your career, and your team.

The brain needs some hacks to better manage information coming in

Srini Pillay suggests you imagine your brain has a vacuum cleaner. Left on default, it hoovers up every piece of information in its path. Fine-tuning the settings helps you to reduce overload:

1. Tune the feedback setting from “global” to “local”: With global feedback you reflect on all prior activities while with local feedback you reflect on what just happened, and that helps you to multi-task more efficiently. When you’re busy, take a brief “unfocus” break to simply evaluate how the last task went, and how it might relate to the next task. Avoid thinking about the entire day.
2. Place a filter on the container. Short-term memory has limits. When information you don’t need to remember takes up space, it’s a distraction. TMI is reactive filtering which sends a message to your brain to not absorb what you just heard. With proactive filtering you prep you brain to ignore instead of waiting for TMI to hit. For example, turning off notifications or managing your inbox.
3. Turn the blender on. You can make space in your brain by connecting ideas which helps you to handle more information. When you are focused, your brain is in collection and not connection mode. Unfocus times turn your brain’s connection circuits on. This is why stepping away or taking a walk can be so helpful; it facilitates connection mode.
4. Deliberately forget. There are things we can’t forget, like a reprimand or if you messed up. As we get older, we hold onto things longer and we are worse at deliberately forgetting. To practice, as soon as the troublesome memory starts to form, turn on your favorite music or look up your favorite image.
5. Re-energize. When your body lacks energy, your brain will suffer too. Exercise, yoga, and other energy-generating activities give your brain a break. Building time in your day to take your mind off your work will help to rejuvenate your brain.

Some causes of cognitive overload and burnout

While they are related, the causes of cognitive overload and burnout are somewhat different in nature. And you can have one without the other.

Cognitive overload can be caused by:

1. Distractions. You may experience work and personal distractions. Things such as noise, interruptions, personal stressors, frequent notifications, or even current events can all be distractions. For some, open plan offices also impact concentration.
2. Information everywhere, all the time. Email, questions, requests, data, charts, reports – it’s a lot of input and it never stops. It can become difficult to sort out what is relevant, and difficult to retain the information that is needed to make good decisions.
3. Lack of clarity. Unclear goals or expectations can overwhelm you, especially when you are already busy. You have to spend mental energy to figure out what needs to be done. Think of it as mental friction.
4. Multitasking and task switching. Sometimes we don’t have a choice, but multitasking and task switching often result in cognitive strain. The energy we use to re-focus can impact efficiency and productivity.
5. Sustained attention. On the other hand, during tasks or blocks of work that require sustained attention and concentration without breaks, you are constantly consuming mental energy without recharging.
6. Workload. Tight deadlines, high expectations, and an excessive workload can leave employees feeling perpetually behind. Your drive to deliver quality work and to keep strong focus on what needs to be done will create more cognitive stress.

Specifically in a work situation, some causes of burnout might be:

1. Change fatigue. Two types of change fatigue can contribute to burnout: continuous change in multiple aspects of your job, or multiple changes to one area that you are highly invested in. In both cases, your ability to manage the changes will decrease over time and impact how engaged you feel.
2. Insufficient rewards/lack of recognition. If you put in effort and there are no adequate rewards or recognition, you have lower tolerance for any other factors that impact your work conditions. Sufficient frustrations can lead to burnout.
3. Lack of control. If you feel powerless over your work schedule, tasks, or environment, it can contribute to burnout. Some examples: if you aren’t involved in decisions that impact your role; multiple teams have some element of ownership over shared outcomes without clear assignments; micro-managers.
4. Job expectations. Not knowing what’s expected of you can create anxiety and reduce job satisfaction. Overwhelming expectations will also increase stress and anxiety, and these may come from demanding leaders, or unexpected situations such as a key colleague leaving and you having to pick up the slack.
5. Values. Sometimes, your personal values don’t align with those of your direct manager, your team, or your company. This can make you feel conflicted and disconnected from your work. It becomes especially difficult if there are reasons why you can’t change your job or change the situation.
6. Work relationships. If you feel excluded by colleagues, experience conflicts at work, or don’t have psychologic safety, you will have a lower capacity to deal with stressors.
7. Work-life balance. Your time and energy are finite and when you are expected to give more in either work or life over a sustained period, burnout is more likely.
8. Workload. Consistently high demands and long hours can lead to chronic stress and burnout.

Preventing burnout

Here are some preventative or proactive measures one can take to reduce overload and fend off burnout:

1. Take care of your physical & mental health. So much comes back to regular exercise, a good diet, getting enough sleep, taking breaks, and a healthy support system for you. Unfortunately, when things get busy people forego the first three; when things are overwhelming, people disconnect from their personal and work supports. Make taking care a behavior that is hard to break.
2. Improve your project management skills. The time to establish good project management practices is now and not when overload hits. That includes ensuring that you have clear guiderails about your priorities so you can exercise good judgement about what needs your attention, what can be delegated, what can be pushed off, and so on.
3. Improve your time management skills. There are many techniques and models for how to manage your time. Having a good process in place can help to remove some of the factors that lead to cognitive overload and burnout. Any good approach needs to include time to take a break.
4. Limit/contain high concentration tasks. Don’t overload your day with high-effort tasks or long periods that require lots of concentration. Try to limit it to no more than four hours a day.
5. Review and streamline information channels. You should have some control over how much information you get and when you receive it, so think about how you can improve the flow. For example, getting your team to reduce the number of communication channels, harden the guidelines on when to use which channel, or reducing/grouping up notifications.
6. Seek supports for better balance. This may involve your family, your manager, or other supports. There may be ways that they can help you to better balance work and life, which will increase your capacity to handle both.
7. Talk about it and ask for help. For many of us, this is a hard one. But recognizing the symptoms of overload and burnout early and talking to someone about it can reduce the overload in itself.

Addressing it

If you find yourself with multiple symptoms of overload or burnout, here are some actions your can take. Especially with burnout, it’s important you don’t put it off.

1. Step back to evaluate. Even if you feel like you can’t spare the time, take a step back to evaluate your workload and to identify stressors/challenges that are impacting your productivity. Map them out or write them down so you can see them. Then, write out specific actions you can take to address them. The actions may include those listed in the “prevent” section.
2. Do some self care. Everyone unplugs in their own way, so taking time for yourself will look different from person to person. The key is not to indulge in harmful behaviors to compensate, such as overindulging.
3. Talk to your manager. Share your situation with them, talk about concerns and options, and ask for their input. They may be able to clarify your priorities and give you a realistic forecast for what is coming next. In some circumstances, you may look at jobs that would be a better fit for you.
4. Seek medical/professional advice. If burnout is severe, it can lead to depression, anxiety, and chronic stress. It’s important to seek medical/professional advice – your company may have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) that can help you with resources.