Beyond Burnout: Exploring Burnout & Our Role in Prevention
- Regis Peeples
- Aug 19
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 22
If you've spent any amount of time on social media lately, you've probably seen someone talk about burnout. The word gets thrown around so often that it's fair to ask: Is burnout real, or has it become another buzzword?
According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness’s poll done in January of 2024...
Half (52%) of employees reported feeling burned out in the past year because of their job, and 37% reported feeling so overwhelmed it made it hard to do their job.”
Both “Experienced” and “Manager"-level employees report higher rates of burnout than “Entry”-level employees.
62% of the employees who reported feeling uncomfortable sharing about their mental health also felt burned out because of their job.”
These findings show the depth and complexity of burnout and its impacts while also highlighting that employees don’t always feel safe to express their burnout or mental health struggles that are resulting from their jobs.
A historic look at the word "burnout" and its true meaning...
The term "burnout" was coined by Herbert Freudenberger in 1974, and later, Christina Maslach developed the Maslach Burnout Inventory (a measurement tool for assessing burnout).
Burnout isn't just about feeling tired after a long week. It's about what happens when the demands placed on us—by our jobs, our communities, and even ourselves—begin to outweigh our ability to recover. Whether you're leading a company, teaching in a classroom, or simply trying to juggle life's many responsibilities, burnout has a way of showing up when we least expect it.
People often confuse burnout with simply being overworked.
The two are related, but they aren't the same. There are seasons when all of us have to work harder than usual. Maybe you're launching a business, preparing students for finals, writing a dissertation, or managing a major project. Those moments are demanding, but they usually have an endpoint. Once the deadline passes, rest becomes possible.
Burnout feels different. It's waking up exhausted even after you've slept. It's losing excitement for work you once loved. It's finding yourself emotionally disconnected from people and responsibilities that once gave you a sense of purpose. Rest helps, but sometimes a weekend off doesn't solve the problem because the issue isn't just physical fatigue—it's chronic emotional and mental exhaustion.
According to Mental Health America, common signs of burnout include...
Constant exhaustion, no matter how much you rest
Dreading responsibilities you once enjoyed
Feeling detached, unmotivated, or emotionally numb
Struggling to focus or making more mistakes than usual
Feeling irritable, anxious, or overwhelmed more often than not
Having frequent physical symptoms like headaches, digestive issues, or muscle tension
What are the main causes of burnout?
Sometimes the source of burnout is external, whereas other times it is internal.
External burnout is easier to recognize because we can usually point to the source. It might be an unrealistic workload, toxic leadership, constant staffing shortages, unclear expectations, or an organizational culture that rewards exhaustion more than effectiveness. These environments slowly convince people that doing more is the only way to prove their value.
External burnout can result from…
Unrealistic workloads
Poor communication
Lack of resources
Organizational culture
Internal burnout can be harder to identify because the pressure comes from within. Maybe you're a perfectionist who struggles to accept "good enough." Maybe saying no feels uncomfortable because you don't want to disappoint anyone. Perhaps imposter syndrome convinces you that every success has to be earned twice. These internal narratives often push us to exceed our limits long before anyone else asks us to.
Internal burnout can result from…
Perfectionism
Fear of failure
Difficulty setting boundaries
People-pleasing
The truth is, burnout usually isn't either/or. It's both. External pressures meet internal expectations, and together they create the perfect conditions for chronic exhaustion.
What role should Business Owners and Entrepreneurs play in preventing/reducing burnout?
For business owners, this conversation takes on another layer. Entrepreneurship often comes with freedom, but it also entails responsibilities many people never see. As business owners ourselves—or as people who work closely with leaders—we know the emotional weight that leadership carries.
There's the moral responsibility that comes with knowing your decisions affect employees, customers, families, and communities. Every difficult conversation, hiring decision, or financial setback carries emotional weight. Then there's the constant pressure to become more efficient. We celebrate productivity so much that slowing down can feel irresponsible, even when our minds and bodies are asking for it. Add employee turnover into the mix, and leaders often find themselves repeatedly rebuilding teams while trying to maintain momentum. That's exhausting—not just professionally, but personally.
Here's how different types of burnout manifests in business spaces...
Constant responsibility for employees and customers
Decision fatigue
Feeling responsible for everyone else's success
Efficiency Burnout
Pressure to always produce more
Chasing productivity instead of sustainability
Difficulty slowing down
Turnover Burnout
Hiring and training repeatedly
Loss of institutional knowledge
Emotional impact of employee departures
Financial strain
Example of a company hiring and firing someone excessively
The American Psychological Association employees experiencing true workplace burnout face significantly higher health risks. Studies have found a 57% increased risk of workplace absences lasting more than two weeks due to illness (Borritz et al., 2010), a 180% increased risk of developing depressive disorders (Ahola et al., 2005), an 84% increased risk of Type 2 diabetes (Melamed et al., 2006), and a 40% increased risk of hypertension (von Känel et al., 2020).
It is important that business owners properly delegate, build healthy systems of support and efficiency, prioritize healing and recovery from burnout, and create and maintain a healthy workplace culture to deter and avoid burnout they can control as leaders.
Here's how different types of burnout manifests in education spaces...
The academic world tells a similar story.
Higher education has long celebrated excellence, but excellence often comes with invisible costs. Professors are expected to teach, mentor, conduct research, publish, serve on committees, advise students, and remain active scholars—all while navigating changing institutional expectations. It's no surprise that burnout has become increasingly common across higher education.
One concept we've discussed before is energy transference. Whether you're standing in front of a classroom or leading a meeting, people respond to the energy you bring into the room. Students don't simply absorb information; they often absorb enthusiasm, curiosity, stress, and fatigue as well. A burned-out educator isn't just carrying a personal burden—the effects can ripple throughout an entire classroom. The same is true for leaders in business. Teams often mirror the emotional climate created by their leaders.
That's why conversations about burnout aren't simply about self-care. They're about leadership. They're about culture. They're about the environments we create for the people who depend on us.
And perhaps that's the biggest takeaway!
Burnout doesn't only affect individuals. It impacts organizations, classrooms, businesses, and communities. It influences creativity, innovation, decision-making, collaboration, and trust. It shapes how we lead, how we teach, and how we show up for one another.
What role can we all play in promoting healthy work environments?
We begin by changing the conversation. Instead of celebrating exhaustion as proof of commitment, we can celebrate sustainability. Instead of asking who can do the most, we can ask how people can do meaningful work without sacrificing their health. Instead of believing that rest has to be earned, we can recognize that recovery is part of high performance—not the reward for it.
So, is burnout fact or fiction? It's undeniably real. But it doesn't have to be inevitable. The better question might be this: What would change if we stopped treating burnout as the cost of success and started treating well-being as part of the definition of success itself? That's a conversation worth continuing.
Whether you're leading a classroom, a business, or your own family, the energy you bring into those spaces matters. Healthy leaders create healthier environments. Healthy educators foster stronger learning communities. And healthy organizations retain people who feel valued—not just for what they produce, but for who they are.
Peeples & Co. offers communication trainings and educator/business owner mentoring that helps leaders boost team efficiency by strengthening communication, improving collaboration, and building the skills needed to lead with clarity and confidence. To learn more about our services, click here.
On our seventh episode of The Peeples Exchange, Regis Peeples and Keara Peeples have a vulnerable and honest conversation about burn-out, its impacts, and our ethical responsibility to promote stronger workplaces and classrooms. Check out this snippet of the episode below!
To watch the full episode, click here!
Written by Regis Peeples
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