From Burned Out to Flourishing

Publish date: 2024-05-27

Well-being is not a binary state with "well" and "unwell" categories.

Instead, well-being exists on a continuum. On the lowest end of the well-being continuum is burnout or being in crisis. On the highest end of the continuum is flourishing—experiencing an overall high state of well-being.

Unfortunately, while flourishing allows us to both do our best work and experience life to the fullest, research shows more people are experiencing burnout than flourishing.

For example, new research from Deloitte's annual Workplace Well-Being Study shows that in 2023, workplace well-being worsened. And globally, burnout is at a record high. In fact, more than half of managers report feeling burned out, according to Harvard Business Review (HBR).

Importantly, burnout is not an individual failing or problem. Instead, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon "resulting from chronic workplace stress." Burnout researchers repeatedly point to systemic, organizational causes of burnout. As burnout expert Jennifer Moss explains, "burnout is about your workplace, not your people."

Yet, while burnout is caused by organizational cultures that create chronic stress, not by individual failings, our journeys to burnout recovery are individual and unique to each of us.

Here's how to identify causes and symptoms of burnout, plus how to begin the recovery process.

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Burnout Causes and Symptoms

While burnout is widespread, misunderstandings about its causes and symptoms are common.

Many of us think that too much work causes burnout. But in reality, unsustainable workloads are just one of the six causes of burnout, according to HBR. The six causes of burnout include:

  • Overwork or unsustainable workloads
  • Lack of control or autonomy
  • Lack of reward and recognition
  • Feelings of isolation and lack of belonging
  • Unfairness and bias
  • Values mismatch

    • You do not need to experience all six of these causes to experience burnout. Instead, sustained, unaddressed experiences of any of these six factors can lead to burnout.

    As with the causes of burnout, symptoms of burnout vary from person-to-person. Common symptoms of burnout include:

    If you're experiencing one or more of the symptoms above, you may be at risk of burnout or already in burnout. Importantly, many of the symptoms above are caused by other physical and mental health issues, so seeking the professional opinion of a health care professional is critical.

    Fortunately, while burnout is rampant among employees and leaders at all levels, burnout recovery is possible.

    The best news is that the same strategies that help prevent burnout and support burnout recovery also support the highest level of well-being: flourishing.

    Burnout Recovery Stages

    Burnout recovery doesn't happen all at once—it happens gradually and in stages over time.

    The first burnout recovery stage is simply recognizing burnout.

    Many people avoid admitting—even to themselves—that they are burned out. Yet without admitting we are at risk of burnout or already there, it is impossible to recover. Taking a few minutes to complete a burnout self-assessment can help you evaluate your risk.

    The second burnout recovery stage involves identifying the specific causes of your burnout and making a plan to address those specific causes.

    Let's say lack of autonomy is one of the causes of your burnout. Taking steps to increase your control over when and how you work, and what projects you take will be an important recovery step. This can involve making small changes to your day-to-day work, a conversation with your leader and team members about ways of working or even changing jobs if your organization is resistant to supporting increased autonomy.

    What's most important in this recovery stage is addressing your own specific causes of burnout. If isolation and unfairness are causing you to burn out, but you focus on adjusting your workload when burnt out, you won't make progress toward recovery.

    The third burnout recovery stage involves implementing long-term practices and strategies to help prevent future burnout.

    Unfortunately, recovering successfully does not prevent us from burning out in the future. Being intentional about cultivating practices that prevent burnout and support flourishing helps us dramatically reduce our risk of future burnout.

    Burnout Recovery Timeline

    Burnout recovery time varies significantly from person-to-person.

    While it would be nice if a long weekend vacation were enough to help us recover, the reality is that burnout recovery can take months to years.

    And, while time away from work is one of many factors that can contribute to burnout recovery, vacation time alone is rarely enough to address the underlying causes. Instead, making significant, sustained changes to how we work is necessary.

    As you focus on recovering from burnout, know that there is no one single or most common recovery timeline. Instead, each person's recovery is shaped by the severity and causes of their burnout.

    The specific burnout recovery strategies we implement, our commitment to those strategies, and support from our personal and professional networks significantly influence how fast or slow we heal.

    Fortunately, these strategies can help you recover from burnout more quickly:

    Recovering from burnout takes intentional, sustained effort.

    But fortunately, following evidence-based burnout recovery strategies can help you move to the opposite end of the continuum and experience flourishing.

    About the Author

    Brandy L. Simula, Ph.D., ACC (she/they) is an award-winning consultant, speaker and executive coach. She has spent the last decade leveraging her doctoral training in behavioral science and social psychology to help organizations and senior leaders address critical workplace culture, leadership and organizational development challenges. An ICF-certified executive and leadership coach, they write and speak frequently on leadership and organizational development, DEIB, workplace culture, well-being, and women's and LGBTQ+ career and leadership development.

    Uncommon Knowledge

    Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

    Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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