If you are a hard worker who gives 110 percent, an idealistic, self-motivated achiever who thinks anything is possible if you just work hard enough, you are a possible candidate. The same is true if you are a rigid perfectionist with unrealistically high standards and expectations. In a job with little recognition and a few rewards for work well done, particularly with frequent people contact or deadlines, you advance from a possible to a probable candidate. There is certainly nothing wrong with being an idealistic, hardworking perfectionist or a self-motivating achiever, and there is nothing wrong with having high aspirations and expectations. Indeed, these are admirable traits in our culture.
Unreality is the villain.
Unrealistic job aspirations and expectations are doomed to frustration and failure. The burnout candidate's personality keeps her striving with single- minded intensity until she crashes. Burnout proceeds by stages that blend and merge into one another so smoothly and imperceptibly that the victim seldom realizes what is happening even after it is over. During the honeymoon phase your job is wonderful. You have boundless energy and enthusiasm and all things seem possible.