Phantom Burnout

Most of know what burnout looks like.

We know it’s coming when we feel frazzled and over-worked. We imagine it’s brought on by 80-plus hour work weeks while we try to chase the carrot: impress the boss, get that promotion, hit a sales goals, hit a deadline, etc. “Maybe if I work out 3 times a week and do a yoga session on Sunday that’ll keep me balanced”, we think to ourselves. But we don’t do those things, do we? Even if we did, it wouldn’t matter. The type of burnout that comes from over-working yourself – an overall lack of balance in your life – seems unavoidable.

And then for some reason we think the solution is a week or two on a sunny beach to “recharge the batteries.”

Rinse and repeat.

It’s not as if that narrative of burnout doesn’t exist – it does, and it’s no fun.

But there’s another type of burnout that’s much harder to see coming. It’s more subtle, but just as...