What Is Burnout?

Burnout is defined by the World Health Organization as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It’s not a personal failure or a lack of resilience — it’s a response to ongoing, unrelenting pressure.

Officially, burnout has three components:

1. Emotional exhaustion

2. Depersonalization or cynicism

3. Reduced sense of accomplishment or effectiveness

Burnout isn’t the same thing as stress. Stress is short-term. Burnout is what happens when that stress becomes continuous, unmanageable, and unsupported.

The 15 Most Common Symptoms of Burnout

Burnout shows up across four dimensions — emotional, cognitive, physical, and behavioural. You do not need all of these symptoms to be experiencing burnout. Even a handful of them can signal that your system is overloaded.

1. Emotional & Cognitive Symptoms

Chronic overwhelm - Feeling like everything is “too much,” even tasks that used to feel easy.

Irritability or short fuse - You snap quicker. You’re frustrated faster. Things that never bothered you before now feel heavy.

Cynicism or negativity - You start assuming the worst about situations, people, or work outcomes.

Mental exhaustion - Your brain feels depleted — thinking, planning, or problem-solving takes significantly more energy.

Difficulty concentrating - You lose focus easily, forget small tasks, and feel mentally unorganized.

Brain fog - That “cloudy” feeling where thoughts feel slow or scattered.

Reduced motivation - Tasks you once cared about now feel pointless, draining, or unmanageable.

2. Physical Symptoms

Chronic fatigue or exhaustion - Not just tired — worn down. Rest doesn’t fix it.

Sleep disruption - Trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up wired at 3am with your brain racing.

Headaches, stomach issues, muscle tension - Burnout activates the stress system. Your body absorbs it.

Increased illness - Colds, flu, and infections happen more often — your immune system becomes compromised.

Appetite changes - Eating far less or far more than usual.

3. Behavioural Symptoms

Withdrawal - Avoiding coworkers, meetings, or social interactions you once valued.

Procrastination or performance decline - Tasks take longer. Mistakes increase. Everything feels harder than it should.

Detachment - You feel emotionally disconnected from work, your role, or even your achievements.

4. Existential Symptoms

Loss of meaning - Feeling like your work no longer matters.

Purpose fragmentation - You question your career path, identity, or long-term goals.

These “big picture” symptoms usually emerge after long periods of chronic stress — they are key warning signs that intervention is needed.

Early Warning Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore

Most burnout is preventable when you notice the early signals. These are the ones people tend to miss:

• Feeling like you’re “walking through cement” in the morning

• Needing more recovery time after even normal workdays

• Dreading Monday by Friday afternoon

• Losing interest in things you used to enjoy

• Feeling emotionally numb

• A creeping sense of disconnection

• Feeling like you always need a vacation, even after you just had one

👉 If any of these feel true, take the Burnout Self-Assessment.

Workplace-Specific Signs of Burnout

Since burnout is fundamentally a workplace condition, many symptoms show up in your daily experience at work.

Unsustainable workload - You never get to the bottom of the list. The pressure is constant.

No recovery windows - Too many meetings, too much context switching, not enough deep work.

Lack of control or autonomy - You feel like you’re reacting to everything instead of influencing anything.

Low psychological safety - You don’t feel safe speaking up, asking for help, or making mistakes.

Poor manager relationship - Lack of communication, clarity, or empathy increases burnout risk dramatically.

Always-on expectations - Emails, Slack messages, or demands at all hours.

Burnout isn’t about individual weakness — it’s about system design.

→ Learn more in “Why Are We Here?”

What Causes Burnout?

There are six core causes of burnout, based on the Maslach model and expanded through Jen’s research:

1. Workload

2. Control / autonomy

3. Reward / recognition

4. Community

5. Fairness

6. Values alignment

The more misaligned these are, the faster burnout accelerates.

👉 Internal link: What Causes Burnout (full page)

Burnout vs. Depression: What’s the Difference?

Burnout and depression can look similar — but they are not the same.

Burnout

• Tied specifically to workplace stress

• Improves when work-related stressors change

• Characterized by exhaustion, cynicism, reduced effectiveness

Depression

• A clinical mental health condition

• Impacts all areas of life, not just work

• Includes persistent sadness, loss of interest, hopelessness, and physical changes

Important:

If you are experiencing hopelessness, thoughts of self-harm, or an inability to function, seek professional care immediately. Burnout can overlap with depression, and treatment should be taken seriously.

👉 Burnout vs. Depression

How to Recover from Burnout

Recovery depends on reducing the stress sources and creating conditions for restoration.

If You’re an Individual

• Reduce or negotiate workload where possible

• Create firm boundaries around availability

• Rebuild physical reserves: sleep, rest, nutrition

• Seek connection instead of isolation

• Reconnect to purpose in small, manageable ways

If You’re a Manager

• Redistribute work where possible

• Clarify expectations and priorities

• Increase fairness and transparency

• Check in meaningfully — not performatively

• Recognize effort, not just outcomes

If You’re an Organization

• Address systemic workload issues

• Improve meeting hygiene

• Build psychological safety

• Train leaders in human-centered management

• Align expectations with capacity

Burnout recovery is rarely solved through self-care alone.
It requires environmental change.