Burnout is real. Burnout is tough.
It’s the depressing feeling that descends on a Sunday night. The weariness that fills us when waking up before work.
Most people have experienced episodes of this at points in their career. A few have experienced the pain of chronic burnout.
The cause? Most assume it’s because they’ve got too much work on their plate. That they’re just working too much.
Workplace stress and an unbalanced lifestyle certainly increase the risk of burnout.
But an often overlooked truth is that the type of work we’re doing and our sense of control over that work often play a bigger role.
Think about a time when you were fully engaged – working hard, solving meaningful problems and feeling a sense of momentum. Even if you were putting in long hours, it didn’t drain you, because the work mattered and you had the autonomy to do it well.
Now contrast that with a time when you felt overwhelmed – not just by workload, but by unclear priorities, constant firefighting and a lack of control. Even if you weren’t working excessive hours, you likely felt exhausted.
That’s the difference.
When you combine deep engagement with a sense of control, you can work hard – sometimes even long hours – without tipping into burnout.
It’s like running a marathon every day and still feeling fresh.
My point here isn’t to push long hours – I think balance is important. And that long hours should be a tool we use by exception, not as the default setting.
Rather, it’s to encourage us to think more broadly about burnout – not just as a workload issue, but as a lack of purpose and control issue.
So if you’re feeling burned out, don’t just ask, “Am I working too much?”. Ask “Am I working on the right things? Do I have control over my work?”
Because the difference between burnout and deep engagement isn’t just hours – it’s meaning and autonomy.
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