General patterns of living or behavior play a major role in determining whether or not you develop stress, anxiety or burnout. Research studies consistently show that those who live a life of specific stress-filled patterns of behavior experience a greater risk of serious physical and emotional consequences.

One of the keys to reducing your susceptibility to burnout and poor health is to examine your current behavior patterns and lifestyle.

The following lifestyle patterns will help you gain an awareness of your own personal susceptibility to stress.

1) Sense of Time Urgency

Impatience

• Is it hard for you to wait in line?
• Do you find yourself hurrying the speech of others?
• Do slow drivers in the fast lane make you boil?
• Do you move, walk and eat rapidly?

Scheduling More and More in Less and Less Time

• Do you unrealistically try to schedule too many tasks without regard to the time available to you?
• Are you experiencing overload due to poor time management?

Feeling Guilty While Relaxing

• Do you feel like you always have to be doing something and can’t ‘do nothing’ for a few hours?
• Is your self-talk full of the ‘shoulds’?
• Is it difficult to do something that isn’t work related and is just for fun?