WELLNESS
Burnout is not a flex. Yeh we said it, because for some reason even in 2026 we look at burnout like a badge of pride. Wild right considering most of us aren't changing the world for better or savings lives (for those of you who are doing that, you have our utmost respect and we love you for it) but for the rest of us, why are you burning out to line someone else's pockets or build someone else's dream?
Most advice tells you to set boundaries, take a some time off, or find your passion. Cool. Except you have responsibilities, a mortgage, and a life that doesn't pause while you "find yourself" in Bali. As if the problem is that you're not managing stress well enough, not that the system itself is designed to extract everything from you until there's nothing left. So what do when quitting isn't an option?
Before you can recover from burnout, you need to know what's causing it. And no, it's not just "work." That's too vague to be useful.
The Problems
If It Can't Be Done in Working Hours, Something's Wrong
Let's get one thing straight: if your daily task list genuinely cannot be done in a normal working day, you've got one of two problems.
Either it's a you problem - poor time management, saying yes to everything, not prioritising properly, getting distracted every five minutes. That's fixable. Learn to focus, cut out the time wasting and stop pretending multitasking works.
Or it's a workload problem - your company has given one person the work of three people and expects you to just figure it out. That's not fixable by working harder. That's a staffing issue disguised as your problem.
Working until midnight every night doesn't make you dedicated. It makes you exploited. And the worst part? Your company won't reward you for it. They'll just expect it as standard and pile more on.
If you're consistently working beyond your contracted hours and nobody's addressing the root cause, you're not solving a problem - you're enabling a broken system. Stop it.
Carrying Dead Weight Will Kill You
Nothing burns you out faster than watching other people coast while you're drowning.
You know exactly what we're talking about. The colleague who takes two-hour lunch breaks while you eat at your desk. The one who somehow always has "personal emergencies" when big projects are due. The person who contributes nothing in meetings but still gets the same credit as you.
And you pick up the slack because someone has to, right? The work needs to get done. You care about doing it properly. You don't want to let the team down.
But here's what happens: you work twice as hard to compensate for people who don't care, you get more and more resentful, your mental health tanks, and meanwhile the person doing nothing gets paid the same as you and goes home stress-free every day.
Stop protecting people who wouldn't do the same for you. If someone isn't pulling their weight, that's a management problem to fix, not your burden to carry. Let the system show the cracks. Let things fail if they need to fail. You are not responsible for other people's incompetence.
Your Company Would Replace You Tomorrow
This one stings but it's true: your company does not care about you the way you care about your company.
Doesn't matter if it's a scrappy startup or a multinational corporation. Doesn't matter if your boss is nice or if you've been there for years. The second the numbers don't add up, you're gone. They'll call it "restructuring" or "strategic realignment" or whatever corporate speak makes them feel better, but the result is the same - you're out.
So why are you giving them everything? Why are you sacrificing your health, your relationships, your actual life, for an organisation that sees you as a line item on a spreadsheet?
We're not saying don't do your job well. We're saying stop treating your employer like they're doing you a favour by paying you for your labour. It's a transaction. You give them your time and skills, they give you money. That's all it is.
The loyalty you're showing them? They don't deserve it and they likely won't reciprocate it. Save that energy for the people who actually matter - your family, your friends, yourself.
Tomorrow Isn't Guaranteed
Life is fragile and unpredictable and tomorrow is not promised. Yet we're still living like we've got unlimited time. We're putting off the things we actually want to do because we're too busy working ourselves into the ground for jobs that wouldn't hesitate to replace us.
That trip you've been planning for "when things calm down" Things don't calm down. That hobby you'll start "when you have more time" You don't magically get more time. That person you keep meaning to call. Stop waiting. Life doesn't pause while you get your work sorted out.
If you died tomorrow, your company would have your role advertised within a week. But the people who love you? They won't stop missing you and all the experiences you missed out on, you can't get them back.
Burnout recovery isn't just about working less or setting boundaries. It's about fundamentally rethinking what you're willing to sacrifice and for what. Because trading your life for a paycheque from a company that sees you as disposable isn't a fair exchange.
You deserve more than that. Act like it.
The Fixes
Work Your Contracted Hours and Stop
Seriously. Work your hours and log off. If the work doesn't get done, that's information your employer needs to have. Stop staying late to finish things because you feel guilty or checking emails at 9pm because "it'll only take a minute".
When you constantly work extra hours for free, you're teaching your company that the workload is manageable. It's not, but they'll never know that if you keep covering the gap with your own time.
Let things be late if they need to be late. Let your manager see the actual capacity issue. If they want more output, they can hire more people or extend deadlines. That's their job to figure out, not yours to fix by working yourself into the ground.
Stop Covering For Other People
If someone on your team isn't doing their job, let it show. Stop picking up their slack, stop making excuses for them, stop protecting them from the consequences of their own laziness. When a project is late because someone didn't deliver their part, let it be clear why it's late. When someone misses a deadline, don't jump in to save them. When they drop the ball, let it drop.
This feels uncomfortable because you're worried about letting the team down or looking bad. But you're not the one letting the team down - they are. And as long as you keep covering for them, nothing will change.
When someone doesn't deliver, send a clear email: "Still waiting on X from [person] before I can proceed with Y." Create a paper trail and make it visible that you're doing your part and someone else isn't. If management won't deal with dead weight, that tells you everything you need to know about whether you should stay there.
Treat Your Job Like The Transaction It Is
Do honest work during your working hours, be professional, deliver what you're paid to deliver, meet your deadlines, go for the promotion. But stop going above and beyond for a company that wouldn't do the same for you.
They pay you for a set number of hours. Give them exactly that. Not less - you're not trying to get fired - but definitely not more. Save your best energy for your own life. Your side project, your relationships, your hobbies, your rest. The things that actually belong to you and can't be taken away in a restructure.
Live Now, Not Later
Probably the most important piece of advice in the whole article. Book the holiday, take all your annual leave in one year, go to your friends wedding in Italy in peak season, leave work on time, take your lunch hour with a good book or away from your desk. Stop treating your life like it's something that happens after work. Work is the thing that funds your life, not the other way around.
If there's something you want to do, do it now. Don't wait for the "right time" or for when you're less busy or for when you've saved more money. The right time is now, you're never going to be less busy.
Burnout recovery isn't about adding meditation apps or buying fancy candles. It's about fundamentally changing how you value your time and your life.
Your job will take everything you give it and ask for more. It's up to you to decide what you're actually willing to give.