Why Passion Is No Cure for Burnout (and What To Do Instead)

Burnout is widespread—and ruthless. But the causes may surprise you. Because the very things we think we need to do, such as be more passionate, productive, or capable, may be a big part of the problem. Discover the deep roots of burnout, and how to begin to untangle yourself from one of the biggest risks of modern life.

I was recently asked to give a keynote at a symposium for women in tech. When I asked about the temperature of their organization, they had two words for me: Burned. Out.

We hear a lot about burnout, especially now. But what is it exactly? Depends on who you ask.

The World Health Organization refers to burnout as an “occupational phenomenon,” or “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

Hallmarks include: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, as well as feelings of negativism or cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy.

APA’s 2021 Work and Well-being Survey of 1,501 U.S. adult workers found that 79 percent of employees had experienced work-related stress in the month before the survey. Nearly 3 in 5 employees reported negative impacts of work-related stress—with 36 percent reporting cognitive weariness, 32 percent with emotional exhaustion, and 44 percent with reported physical fatigue.

Burnout is widespread—and a full-body hit. But what it isn’t is a specific diagnosis.

“Surprisingly, the DSM-5, the manual medical professionals use to diagnose mental health conditions, doesn’t recognize burnout as a “mental disorder,” says licensed psychotherapist and coach Maegan Megginson (who helps entrepreneurs redefine work, rest, and profit outside of the capitalist model). “That means there is no official diagnosis for burnout, which is wild, considering how many people suffer from burnout symptoms!”

Burnout is a complex problem, which means there is no “one” cause or entity to blame. There are many and I’ve got a lineup for you of all the culprits to be aware of—and what you can do to begin to recover from burnout. (Hint: working harder won't help.)

CULPRIT: PROGRESS
How settling down as a species set us up for burnout

Burnout is a symptom of modern life, to be sure — but the roots run deep, long before the internet.

Some people suggest that Edison may be partly to blame — since the invention of the light bulb allowed us to extend our work days (and nights) and basically ignore our circadian rhythms. We no longer rose with the sun or slept when it set. But let’s not be too hard on him, after all.

Others blame the Industrial Revolution, thanks to its basic manifesto: favor profit, scale, and expansion over people, health, and natural resources (and put all the power and money into the hands of a few white dudes). I mean, we should have seen that coming.

But it may have started even before that.

In his (fabulous) book The Mismatched Human: Our Fight for a Meaningful Existence, philosopher Mark Hawkins, PhD, points to the dramatic (and in many ways, traumatic) shift from Paleolithic times, when we lived in small tribes of hunters and gatherers, to the Neolithic era 10,000 years ago, when we literally and figuratively settled down and started growing our own food and raising livestock.

This is where our sedentary lives began, and the beginning of a bitter, drawn-out divorce between humans and nature (and nature was the one to move out). With nature “out there” and us “in here,” we became distrustful strangers engaged in a centuries’ long power struggle. And we were never quite the same again.

This, Hawkins says, “set us on a path of what is called evolutionary mismatch, when our lifestyles were no longer in sync with our DNA,” he writes. “There’s nothing “natural” about burnout,” says Hawkins. “It’s a product of civilization—and inevitable given it’s out of whack with our natural hunter-gatherer instincts.”

Progress? Pshaw. For all of our efforts to dominate and bring nature to heel, this shift also gave rise to existential crisis, anxiety, and boredom, as we went from living in the moment to trying to manage—and control—the future.

After all, if you put everything you’ve got into one crop, and it fails, you’re shit out of luck. It’s no surprise that this is around the time institutionalized religion began to take root, as a way to channel our existential fears and restore the sense of power we’d lost. But that’s a whole other story.

CULPRIT: TOXIC PRODUCTIVITY
Believing that being productive means being “good” puts us closer to burnout

We all know that anxious sense that we should be “doing” something—the result of a toxic blend of capitalism, religion, fear of boredom fed to us from an early age by parents, teachers, and bosses. We’re taught that to produce is a virtue.

“Toxic productivity says that we’re only worthwhile when we’re producing,” says Patty Lennon, speaker and author of Make Space for Magic. “If you produce, you’re good, if not, you’re bad.”

Megginson agrees. “The conditions of capitalism sink their hooks in our psyches from a very early age,” she says. “We grow up watching caregivers work endlessly. We learn to work hard to earn good grades and positive feedback. Then we enter the workforce and add money to the mix. By the time we’re adults, it’s hard to imagine a successful and happy life that doesn’t include symptoms of burnout.”

And what’s it all for? That’s the big question. Back in the Paleo days, the connection between effort and survival was quite clear. Now? Not so much (is this Powerpoint deck going to feed me today? Not really). And that disconnect leads to burnout, says Hawkins.

“Most of us are living so far beyond survival now that we need to convince ourselves that what we are doing is truly important and worth the drudgery.”

And there it is, the point of most of corporate life: The ongoing effort to convince ourselves what we’re doing is really important. To forge what is a missing link in the work/reward cycle. (Ask yourself these questions to find vision and purpose.)

What we’re lacking, says Lennon, is discernment, like a muscle we let atrophy while we’re doing everything for everyone. “Just because an opportunity to produce becomes available doesn’t mean we have to do it,” she says. “When we think we must produce at all costs, we stop defending our most precious resources: Time, money, energy.”

TRY THIS: Check your motivation.

In her 2011 book, Fried: Why You Burn Out and How to Revive, Harvard-trained medical scientist and renowned psychologist Joan Borysenko, PhD, says it’s worth being really honest about yourself about why you’re pushing so hard. Is it about productivity (and if so, is it for its own sake?), is it because you want to do a good job or because you believe somehow that working harder makes you a better person?

Borysenko herself admits that when she gets attached to results (say, hoping her book makes the New York Times bestsellers list), “I’m setting myself up for burnout. But if I can be content to concentrate not on the results but on the value…then there’s nothing to prove.”

And while we may see all the work we’re doing as virtuous or selfless, adds Borysenko, there’s often an underlying goal: to prove our value and worth. And that is what causes the burnout. It’s one thing to have a great reputation at work. But are you willing to sacrifice your health for it?

CULPRIT: SUPERHERO COMPLEX
Why your “can do” attitude is basically killing you

When we’re not being warned to stay busy and work harder by our superiors and our culture, we’re being lured by the siren song of self-development which, at its worst, can encourage us to believe that we are without limits—and that we can do anything. Everything. All of it.

As the author of a book that sits squarely in the self-development aisle, I realize this is weird for me to say. Because while I love lots of great self-development titles, others are cringeworthy. And dangerous—because if you believe you can do everything, you’ll be less likely to set, or even acknowledge, limits.

True freedom and agency isn’t doing everything; it’s deciding where and how to spend the limited time and energy you have—and from embracing our limits, not denying them.

In his book 4,000 Weeks, Oliver Burkeman calls our effort to get more done in less time the “paradox of limitation.”

“The more you try to manage your time with the goal of achieving a feeling of control, and freedom from the inevitable constraints of being human, the more stressful, empty, and frustrating life gets.”

The point: Burnout is not simply the effect of too much work; it’s due in part to our chronic refusal to reconcile our ambition, goals, and the desire to please with the very real limits of time, energy, and attention. And to consistently put others’ needs ahead of our own.

TRY THIS: Redefine rest.

You don’t need me to tell you that good sleep is essential. But Megginson says what we need goes much further than that. Rest must be part of our busy lives, too, and not just restricted to the hours we’re unconscious.

“Rest is any activity that quiets the mind and calms the nervous system,” she says. “These restful activities will be different for everyone! Some common examples are running, dancing, meditation, doing yoga, painting, singing, playing an instrument, reading a good book, or having dinner with a friend.” If it quiets your mind and recharges your batteries, she says, it counts.

They’re not just “nice to haves,” either.

“These calm, regulated states help you tap into your natural intuition and creativity, the critical ingredients to navigating your way out of burnout for good.”

CULPRIT: PASSION
Why it’s more problem than cure

Remember that symposium for women in tech? Guess what their theme was?

Passion.

I thought it was an interesting choice, given that they’d just told me that burnout was their biggest problem.

If burnout is the death of meaning and motivation, well, passion will surely rekindle that flame, right? Not quite.

Passion is no cure for burnout. In fact, it may be a serious liability.

In Fried, Borysenko cites burnout expert Herbert Freudenberger who said that the people most heavily invested in their work are likelier to burn out than those who are less attached.

Read that again. The more passionate you are about your work, the more likely you are to burn out.

Freudenberger defined burnout as the “painful affliction of good people who are trying to give their very best.”

So if you’re suffering the blows of burnout right now, where life feels flat, useless, physically and emotionally painful, and devoid of meaning, please know that you did not “fail” at passion. It’s not that you weren’t passionate enough to do all the things that you were told to do, wanted to do, believed you could do.

The outsized expectations we have set for ourselves, and which have also been set for us, are eating us alive. And enough is enough.

TRY THIS: Get ready to disappoint some people.

The people who are less attached to outcomes—as well as other people’s opinions of them—are going to by and large fare better than those of us who care too damn much.

You cannot do it all. No one ever has or will. No one can keep going endlessly without making specific choices about what to do and not do. And if you do not stop the endless push, your body will do it for you.

So get ready to tell some people that, no, you’re not going to be able to stay late (again). You’re not going to that after-work party. Go ahead and cancel some dinner plans, as well as some of the other stuff you look at and think oof.

The line between burnout and recovery may require letting go of ego and other people’s opinions.

The benefits of doing less, of insisting on it in fact, will not only save your health and quite possibly your life, it’s the only way to get back the energy you had—and the life you want.

“Moments of astounding flashes of creativity are filled with examples of breakthroughs that came by working less,” says Borysenko. “If you take time out, amazingly enough, the world actually keeps spinning in its orbit.”