Definition
Burnout
A state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion caused by sustained, unmanaged work stress, distinct from ordinary tiredness because rest alone does not resolve it.
Burnout develops from prolonged exposure to demands that exceed your resources to cope with them, without adequate recovery. It typically presents as exhaustion, detachment from work, and a drop in perceived effectiveness, and does not reliably improve with a weekend off.
Why it matters: treating burnout as a willpower problem delays the structural changes to workload, boundaries, and recovery time that actually resolve it. Recognising the pattern early is cheaper than recovering from full burnout later.
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