If hard work alone caused burnout, the most engaged and fulfilled people would be the first to collapse. But they aren’t.
Elon Musk, for example, has worked 80 – 100 hour weeks for years on end. Similarly, Barack Obama, former USA president, and Angela Merkel, former German Chancellor, routinely worked long days through multiple crises in probably some of the most demanding jobs in the world for years. Serena Williams, an elite athlete who consistently pushed herself far beyond what most people consider sustainable in one of the most physically and mentally demanding domains imaginable, is another example of hard work not leading to burnout. What kept these people going was not work-life balance but intrinsic motivation and a near-obsessive identification with the mission at hand. This post will explore the real cause of burnout and give practical strategies to navigate burnout proactively.
Burnout isn’t caused by working too hard or not having work-life balance. Rather, it’s caused by misalignment with your purpose and values.
To further illustrate this, Arianna Huffington, for example, collapsed from burnout in 2007 after building the very successful The Huffington Post media empire. In later reflection, she stated the reason for her burnout was a life driven by external validation rather than internal meaning. Similarly, Prince Harry has spoken openly about burnout, anxiety, and emotional collapse due to living a life that conflicted with his values and identity. When he exited his role in the royal family, his reported wellbeing improved significantly despite continued public scrutiny and long working hours.
Essentially, burnout is not about what or how much you are doing. Burnout is related to the reason you are doing what you are doing. Are you doing something to perhaps please your boss, parents, or friends? Or are you doing it because it’s something you simply can’t stop doing, regardless of the number of setbacks you’re faced with?
The Impact of Burnout
According to Gallup’s research in 2025, roughly three in four employees say they experience burnout on the job at least sometimes, and more than one in four report feeling burned out “very often” or “always.”
The impact is real.
Employees who experience burnout are 63% more likely to call in sick and significantly more likely to need emergency medical care. Furthermore, nearly half of workers experiencing burnout are actively looking for a new job, and many are even willing to take a pay cut or quit without another role to protect their mental health, according to a recent Forbes magazine article.
If not the amount of hours at work, what exactly then is causing burnout, and how can you manage it better?
Causes of Burnout
According to the Gallup research report, the top factor most highly associated with employee burnout relates to how employees are managed. People, for example, who have more job flexibility tend to work longer hours while also reporting higher wellbeing. When people feel motivated and supported in their job, they experience their workload as far less stressful than when they lack management support, are unclear on their goals, or feel they are being unfairly treated.
Going even deeper than these reported causes of burnout in the research, burnout is the result of either believing you don’t have the resources needed to complete a task or when what you are doing isn’t aligned with your personal values, goals, and beliefs. Essentially, burnout is nature’s way of telling you that what you are spending your energy on is not leading you closer to your life purpose, and ultimately your joy.
At its core, burnout is caused by either insufficient resources or a misalignment between what you do and what you value most.
Dealing with Burnout
Understanding the root causes of burnout is the first step toward preventing it. Once you recognise that misalignment, rather than sheer effort, drives exhaustion, you can take practical steps to restore energy and engagement. Here are some strategies:
1. Schedule an hour of intentional pause.
Simon Sinek, in his Brilliance of Boredom podcast with Elle Cordova, recommends blocking an hour each week to do absolutely nothing. Pauses between tasks give your mind room to wander, reflect, and reset, creating space for creativity and mental recovery. Listen here
2. Cultivate self-compassion.
Most of us let our inner critic take the lead, judging ourselves more harshly than anyone else would. Practices like parts work help you understand why your inner critic exists and develop more compassionate strategies to achieve your goals.
3. Identify your energy rechargers.
Make a daily list of activities that energise you and notice what drains you. Start small, scheduling five minutes a day for something restorative, then gradually increase the time. Over time, these micro-moments build a positive energy snowball.
4. Build a support network.
Social support is critical in navigating burnout. While peer support is valuable, supervisor support is even more important. Agree on strategies to address overwhelm early, before it escalates into a crisis. If you don’t have anyone to reach out to for support, consider a coach.
5. Clarify purpose-aligned goals.
Rather than focusing on material goals like promotions or possessions, ask yourself what feelings you want to achieve by having these things. Coaching can help you define a purpose-aligned life and identify actionable steps to get there.
6. Focus on what you can control.
Energy spent worrying about things outside your control is wasted. Direct your effort toward actions where you can make a real difference. Look for support by example, asking your supervisor or peers for help with things that are not in your control.
7. Measure progress in small increments.
Track moments of joy, satisfaction, and accomplishment, rather than only external achievements. Success can be measured in energy and engagement, not just outputs. Each day, rate your mood on a scale of 1 – 10, 1 being miserable, 10 being ecstatically joyful. Notice any patterns and systematically eliminate the energy drainers.
8. For employers: offer coaching or counselling.
Even if employees don’t use these resources, providing them signals that you care about their wellbeing and goals. It supports a balanced flow of energy between staff and management. By simply making a company-sponsored coaching service available, people are more likely to feel supported to achieve demanding goals.
9. Prioritise enjoyable work.
Identify the parts of your work or day you enjoy most, and schedule more of it. Small doses of engaging activity can replenish energy and motivation. While you might not have control over your whole schedule, you do have the power to schedule in even just 5 minutes of something you enjoy each day.
10. Delegate and audit your energy.
Assess where your energy is going. What tasks drain you? What restores you? Apply the “spoon theory” – a simple theory that tracks where you’re spending your energy by equating it to a spoon. One spoon for getting ready, one spoon for a meeting with a customer, another for going through your inbox, etc. Make sure you end each day with more spoons than you spent, and make sure you keep at least one spoon for self-nurturing, not spending all your spoons on other people.
Take Action To Prevent Burnout
Burnout doesn’t have to be inevitable. It’s a signal, not of weakness, but of misalignment between what you’re doing and what truly energises you.
If you want to move from surviving to thriving, consider working with a coach to clarify your purpose, redesign your daily energy flow, and create actionable strategies to prevent burnout before it takes hold. The first step is simply to explore what a life aligned with your energy, values, and goals could look like.
