EXPECTATIONS, BURNOUT & CAPACITY
Reset unsustainable demands.
Protect your wellbeing.
When work feels relentless, boundaries are ignored, and your energy is draining faster than it can recharge, this category helps you reclaim control, set realistic expectations, and prevent burnout before it takes hold.
If you're feeling burned out right now
Stop everything. Your first priority is to stabilise your energy, not solve the problem. Start here:
- Book one hour of protected time today to step away from all screens and work.
- Identify the single most draining task and give yourself permission to pause it for 24 hours.
- Send one boundary-setting message using the scripts below before you try to solve anything else.
- Drink water, go outside, and take 10 deep breaths. Seriously.
What this category covers
Use this category when you're consistently working beyond capacity, feel constantly exhausted, and notice your motivation draining away. It's built for situations where "just push through" has become the norm, but the cost to your health and performance is becoming unsustainable.
When to use this category
- You're working evenings and weekends just to keep up with basic expectations.
- You feel guilty for taking breaks or time off, even when you're entitled to it.
- Your workload consistently exceeds what's humanly possible in regular hours.
- You're experiencing physical symptoms: fatigue, headaches, sleep issues, or illness.
- Your motivation has dropped and tasks that used to feel meaningful now feel pointless.
- You're irritable, cynical, or detached from colleagues and work outcomes.
If the main issue is unclear priorities or shifting direction, try Clarity, Priorities & Direction first. If it's about toxic leadership, try Manager Relationship & Leadership Style.
What this category helps you do:
- Recognise burnout symptoms before they become severe.
- Set and defend realistic boundaries around workload and availability.
- Communicate capacity limits professionally without appearing unwilling.
- Rebuild sustainable work patterns that protect your energy.
- Create a personal recovery plan that addresses both work and wellbeing.
- Advocate for structural changes that prevent burnout for everyone.
Recognising burnout before it's severe
Emotional & mental signs:
When your psychological resources are depleted
- Chronic exhaustion that doesn't improve with rest
- Cynicism, detachment, or irritability at work
- Reduced sense of accomplishment or effectiveness
- Cognitive difficulties: trouble concentrating, memory issues
- Loss of motivation for work you used to care about
- Feeling overwhelmed by small decisions or tasks
Physical & behavioral signs:
When your body and habits show the strain
- Frequent headaches, muscle pain, or stomach issues
- Changes in sleep patterns (too much or too little)
- Using food, alcohol, or other substances to cope
- Withdrawing from colleagues, friends, and family
- Procrastination on tasks you normally handle easily
- Neglecting self-care, exercise, and personal needs
Note: Burnout exists on a spectrum. Early signs are easier to address than full burnout. If you're experiencing multiple symptoms for more than a few weeks, it's time to intervene.
How burnout really happens
Burnout isn't a personal failing or lack of resilience. It's the predictable result of chronic workplace stress combined with inadequate recovery. Understanding the mechanics helps you address the root causes, not just the symptoms.
- Energy deficit: You're expending more mental/emotional energy than you're recovering, creating a mounting deficit.
- Control imbalance: High demands combined with low autonomy create the perfect conditions for burnout.
- Reward mismatch: When effort isn't matched by recognition, fair compensation, or career growth, motivation drains away.
- Community breakdown: Lack of social support at work leaves you carrying stress alone.
- Values conflict: Working in ways that contradict your personal values creates internal friction that drains energy.
- The "sunk cost" trap: The more you invest in unsustainable patterns, the harder it feels to change them.
Your core moves for sustainable work
These moves define your recovery approach — how to rebuild sustainable capacity while protecting your wellbeing. They work together to create structural change, not just temporary relief.
- Identify and eliminate non-essential energy drains immediately.
- Create strict boundaries around work hours and communication channels.
- Schedule recovery activities with the same priority as work meetings.
- Practice saying "no" or "not now" to new demands without justification.
- Frame capacity limits as a planning issue, not a performance issue.
- Present data about current workload vs. realistic capacity.
- Offer structured options for prioritization and delegation.
- Focus on sustainable outcomes rather than heroic efforts.
- Analyze which work patterns consistently create overload.
- Redesign processes to eliminate unnecessary work or complexity.
- Build systems that prevent rather than manage burnout.
- Advocate for team-wide changes that protect everyone's capacity.
Recommended from The Toolkit
Start with the burnout assessment to understand where you are, then move into boundary-setting and capacity planning. Each tool is designed to be gentle on depleted energy while creating meaningful change.
- Measures burnout across emotional, physical, and cognitive dimensions.
- Tracks symptoms over time to identify patterns and triggers.
- Provides a clear baseline to measure recovery progress.
- Helps differentiate burnout from temporary stress or other issues.
- Identifies where and how boundaries are being crossed.
- Creates specific, enforceable boundary plans for different contexts.
- Provides scripts for communicating boundaries without defensiveness.
- Includes strategies for maintaining boundaries when tested.
- Calculates your actual available capacity based on energy, focus, and recovery needs.
- Matches workload to sustainable capacity rather than optimistic estimates.
- Creates visual representations of capacity vs. demand for conversations.
- Helps plan workload with built-in recovery margins.
Compassionate scripts for capacity conversations
Feeling overwhelmed right now?
For workplace-specific recovery, The Coach can help you create a personalized step-by-step plan.