The Warning Signs of Burnout, and Why We Ignore Them

But things do not calm down. The difficult week becomes a difficult month. The month becomes a season. Somewhere along the way, you realise you do not quite feel like yourself anymore.

That is what I wanted to explore with leadership strategist Jason Chadock on The Luca Savazzi Podcast. Jason has more than two decades of experience helping leaders, teams and organisations create healthier ways of working. He also knows burnout from the inside. Years ago, after ignoring the warning signs for months, his body finally forced him to stop.

His story raised a difficult question for me: have we started treating burnout as an acceptable price for being responsible?

What is burnout, and how is it different from everyday stress?

The word burnout is used very broadly in everyday conversation. The World Health Organization defines it more specifically as an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Its three dimensions are exhaustion, growing mental distance or cynicism towards work, and reduced professional efficacy.

That distinction matters. A stressful week, temporary overwhelm and burnout are not automatically the same thing. At the same time, long-term stress can show up physically, emotionally and behaviourally. Sleep disruption, irritability, difficulty concentrating and changes in eating can all be signs that something needs attention, even if you cannot yet name exactly what is happening.

Jason described the uncertainty well. Is it temporary pressure? Is it chaos? A lack of clarity? Or are your work, values and life no longer aligned?

The first step is not to diagnose yourself from a checklist. It is to stop dismissing a pattern simply because each symptom seems manageable on its own.

Why the “busy season” story can hide burnout warning signs

One of the most recognisable parts of our conversation was the story we tell ourselves about seasons.

I just need to get through this week.

Then it becomes: I just need to reach the end of the month.

By the time that deadline arrives, another one has taken its place.

Jason compared it to an athlete playing through a sprain. At first, the adjustment seems small. You tape the injury, compensate and keep going. In daily life, that might mean another energy drink, working an extra hour or sacrificing sleep because you believe the pressure is temporary.

The problem is not one late night or one demanding week. It is the repeated pattern of masking what your body and mind are telling you.

“We think we just need to power through this difficult week or month. Then it becomes a season.”
Jason Chadock

That is how the baseline quietly changes. Waking up at 3 a.m. becomes normal. Being short with people becomes understandable because you are under pressure. Eating poorly, skipping movement and feeling constantly behind become the cost of keeping everything running.

You may still be functioning. You may even be achieving. But functioning is not the same as being well.

Why high achievers can miss the signs of burnout

Burnout does not always look like someone visibly falling apart. Sometimes it looks like the person everybody depends on.

Jason was opening major new facilities, raising a family and coaching high school football. He was known as the person who could make things happen. People praised his leadership and introduced him as someone the organisation could not do without.

That recognition felt good. It also made stopping harder.

His identity had become connected to being strong, capable and needed. Admitting that he was struggling would not only have meant acknowledging his limits. In his mind, it would have threatened the role he had learned to play.

This is where responsibility can become complicated. Reliability is valuable. Commitment matters. But if praise consistently rewards you for ignoring your limits, you can begin to confuse self-neglect with leadership.

Jason could see warning signs in other people and still dismiss them. Telling someone else that their experience was real might have required him to admit that he was experiencing something similar.

That is brutally human. We are not always blind because the evidence is missing. Sometimes we are blind because seeing it would ask something difficult of us.

What are the early signs that chronic stress is costing you?

Jason’s experience became extreme. He was sleeping as little as two and a half hours on some nights. His mind raced when he woke. He developed severe tension headaches, lost his appetite, became irritable and stopped feeling like the person he wanted to be.

Still, many of the individual signs were easy to explain away:

• Poor sleep was blamed on a demanding project.

• Weight loss was mistaken for looking fitter.

• Irritability was excused because everybody knew he was under pressure.

• Loss of enjoyment was hidden by occasional moments of visible success.

• Headaches were treated as isolated physical symptoms.

No single item proves that someone is experiencing burnout. These signs can have many causes and persistent or severe symptoms deserve professional medical assessment. What matters in Jason’s story is the accumulation and the change from his usual way of functioning.

Instead of asking only, “Can I still get through today?”, it may be more useful to ask:

• What has changed in my sleep, energy, appetite or mood?

• How long has this pattern been continuing?

• Am I recovering when the immediate pressure passes?

• Am I becoming more detached, cynical or ineffective at work?

• What am I repeatedly promising myself I will address “later”?

• What are people close to me noticing that I keep explaining away?

The purpose of these questions is not to attach a label. It is to notice the direction in which you are moving.

When being needed becomes part of your identity

There was another layer beneath Jason’s workload: the emotional reward of being needed.

Why a holiday may help without solving the cause

I told Jason about a neighbour who recognised that he was burned out but believed a few weeks away would make everything fine.

Jason’s response was direct: time off can help you recharge, but time off alone may not change the system, beliefs or conditions that depleted you.

Research summarised by the American Psychological Association similarly suggests that holidays can reduce stress and improve wellbeing, while those benefits may fade after returning to the same working reality.

If the workload is unchanged, if there is still nobody to share responsibility with, if your boundaries disappear as soon as you reopen your laptop, or if your self-worth remains attached to being indispensable, rest may offer relief without creating sustainable change.

This is also why burnout should not be framed purely as an individual failure of resilience. Personal habits matter, but organisations influence workload, control, staffing, support and psychological safety. Guidance from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health emphasises changing workplace policies and practices alongside supporting individual coping.

You can take better care of yourself and still need something around you to change.

That feels far more realistic than telling someone simply to “open up.” When you have spent years being the strong one, complete vulnerability may feel impossible. But you can name one thing.

I am struggling to sleep.

I do not feel like myself.

I am carrying more than I know how to manage.

And if somebody says one of those things to you, you do not need to diagnose or immediately fix them. You can slow down and ask, “Why do you think you are feeling this?” Then listen long enough for the first answer to become a deeper one.

If symptoms are severe, persistent or affecting someone’s safety or ability to function, a trusted conversation should be a bridge to qualified professional support, not a substitute for it.

What are health, heart and habits in Jason Chadock’s H3 formula?

After his experience, Jason gradually developed what he now calls the H3 formula: health, heart and habits. It is his personal framework for creating a more sustainable way of working and living.

Health: protect the foundation that allows you to function

For Jason, health includes movement, nutrition, hydration, sleep and time to decompress. The point is not that everybody should copy his schedule or wake up at 4:30 a.m. It is to discover what helps your own body function well and to notice when those foundations start disappearing.

Heart: reconnect with purpose, people and service

Heart is about how you show up for the people around you and the purpose behind what you do. Jason believes we serve others better when we are aligned, clear and able to empower people instead of trying to do everything ourselves.

That last part matters. Service is not the same as self-erasure. Sometimes the more responsible act is to trust, delegate and let other people carry their share.

Habits: turn good intentions into something repeatable

Jason uses preparation and protected focus time to make supportive choices easier. He plans food in advance, schedules movement and looks at the next day before ending work so that unfinished tasks are less likely to follow him into the night.

My own version is booking focused blocks in my calendar. It gives me permission to do one thing without constantly switching, scattering my attention and then feeling as if I accomplished nothing.

These habits are not a cure or a guarantee against burnout. They are practical ways to notice and support your capacity. Sustainable performance also depends on whether the demands around you are realistic and whether you have enough resources, autonomy and support.

What is one small step you can take before reaching the valley?

Jason’s advice was not to redesign your whole life on Monday morning. Start with one action small enough to keep.

That might be:

• taking a 15-minute walk after dinner;

• protecting one class or movement session each week;

• spending the last 15 minutes of the workday preparing for tomorrow;

• booking one uninterrupted focus block;

• telling one trusted person that your sleep, mood or energy has changed;

• asking which responsibility can be shared, delayed or removed.

The goal is not to turn recovery into another performance project. It is to interrupt the pattern of postponing yourself.

Burnout rarely begins with one dramatic collapse. It often begins with a series of small signals that we keep explaining away because we are still managing to perform.

You do not have to wait until your body makes the decision for you.

If something feels off, notice it. Name one part of it. Let somebody in. Then look honestly at what needs to change, both in your own habits and in the conditions around you.

If you want more conversations about becoming who you know you can be, follow The Luca Savazzi Podcast on YouTube.