It’s mid-year and while this year might be flying by, it’s usually this time of year that people start feeling the burnout.

Our plugged-in lives make it easy to work anytime, anywhere … and difficult to mentally “clock out.” It’s no wonder that more and more people are battling with stress, and overworking themselves until their personal well being suffers. The concept of “career burnout” is a hardly-talked-about condition that affects so many young professionals. What exactly is it?

Burnout is the depletion of internal resources due to chronic stress. What makes burnout so dangerous is that it’s rarely visible on the outside, and creeps up on the individual slowly.

This is what you can do to avoid it:

1.      Prioritize. You should overachieve only on the things that truly matter. Your boss will notice when you overachieve on things that matter to them and the senior leaders; this typically means excelling in areas that directly impact revenue, the strategic priorities of your company, or ideally both.

2.      Learn how to say “No.” Every “yes” you say adds another thing on your plate and takes more energy away from you, and your creativity.

3.      Self-care. We all know this. We all need to take this seriously and not shrug it off. It is vital for your mental health. Self-care comes in 100 forms, find what works for you whether it is meditation, exercise, going for a walk in nature, having a massage or getting together for a laugh with some friends.

4.      Separate Yourself. A change of scenery can do wonders to change your perspective. Even if it’s just a weekend away. Before the words “I can’t take time off” pop into your head, consider this: You’ll be much more productive in the long run if you take a few days to recharge, as opposed to fizzling out so badly, you can’t perform at your job anymore.

5.      Seek professional help.  If you’re right on the brink of a breakdown, self-care and vacations may not cut it. Getting professional help will be the best thing you can do just talk it out, get things off your chest and even get some fresh perspective or some fresh ideas on how to handle things.