Why The Cure for Burnout Takes Self-Work, Not Only Less Work

In recent years, many American employees are working fewer hours, getting more paid time off, and working from home for a day or two per week — yet burnout levels are at an all-time high.

Corporate trainer (and TikTok sensation) Emily Ballesteros has spent years interviewing burned-out professionals and consulting businesses on how to solve this very issue. Her new book, The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life, presents a methodology that could rejuvenate the hearts of 9-to-5-ers. After all, you can only hit your stride and produce your finest work when you’re not weighed down by stress.

Ballesteros spoke with b. and gave us a road map back from the edge.

b.: Your book provides practical strategies for managing burnout in five key categories. Can you describe them?

Ballesteros: Mindset, personal care, time management, boundaries, and stress management.

Mindset is being able to recognize and then change the burnout patterns that you find yourself in. Also, any bad habits that you might have picked up or learned somewhere. It’s all about how you manage yourself.

Personal care is being able to take care of yourself consistently. I like to break it down into sustainable, practical, and easy personal care that you can incorporate weekly — and not just force into weekends as damage control.

Time management is getting as much important work done as you can in the most effective way possible. A lot of people who are burned out report feeling like they’re constantly busy but not making progress, or at least the progress they’d want to see.

Boundaries: identifying and setting personal and professional limits without feeling super guilty.

And finally, stress management is about reducing your stress experience day to day. A lot of people who are experiencing burnout just live in fight-or-flight mode and don’t realize how activated their stress responses are.

b.: What is the main cause of burnout you see? Why has it gotten worse in recent years?

Ballesteros: I would definitely say that burnout seems to have increased, and it has also become more of a buzzword. When I started this work around 2017-2018, pre-COVID, it was already prevalent, but it has become increasingly prevalent with the flux of working from home, office work, and the hybrid model, compounded by the economy in general and global stressors.

Many people are experiencing heightened levels of baseline stress. … If people normally sit at a stress level of 1, 2, or 3 — and everyone has floated up to a 6, 7, or 8 — with burnout at 10, then burnout is much closer for practically everyone.

b.: Once people could work from home, especially for those with long commutes, the overall perspective on burnout shifted significantly.

Ballesteros: That’s a really good point. When you start doing something a certain way, you don’t realize that it could be done a different way. So many structures were changed.

I was commuting an hour and a half each way, like three hours each day. So many things have changed since that point, but it’s like, “How did I ever do that? And why would I ever do that?”

People have experienced increased frustration after getting potentially a little bit more freedom when they got to work from home or having a little bit more flexibility

b.: Is there a difference in burnout between generations?

Ballesteros: I’m a millennial. With previous generations, there was absolutely burnout and also their dollar went a lot further — if they were really burdened, they could also afford a lifestyle. So the burnout might have been more worth it.

My dad delivered for UPS our whole life, and we were still comfortable. We had a house, a car, and could do activities. And then, the millennial generation saw the American Dream die. You’re told that if you go to school and get a degree in a certain field, you can get a job in that field. Then you can buy the house, afford the kids, and retire at 55. We saw that and then watched it crumble.

[Millennial] burnout is that frustration, and then a lot of people have stereotypes about Gen Z of like, “Oh, they’ve given up before they’ve even started” or “they’re not even working towards the dream.” But they didn’t even see the dream. They’re so cynical and feel even less inclined to go through the motions because they didn’t even get to have that dream.

All of the burnout experiences at the end of the day have the same signs and symptoms. It’s going to be anxiety around work, troubled sleeping, mental and physical and emotional exhaustion. So the burnout experience is the same, but the circumstances are slightly different depending on when you were born.

b.: What feedback have you been hearing on the book? How has your perspective changed on the topic since you started researching it?

Ballesteros: A lot of people have used the words “practical” and “easy.” That was my goal. I’ve read all the burnout books, and there’s so much good information out there, but I wanted this book to focus on offering the transformation as well. It’s born from one-on-one coaching, and I facilitate trainings for groups and companies.

All of these strategies have been vetted. I’ve been given feedback on all of these individual tools, what works, and what doesn’t work. It’s practical tools that people can actually apply as they go through it.

As far as perspective change, this book is just reaching different people. I typically market through social media, so I get a lot of real honest feedback. You’ll quickly know if your idea is bad. It’s also baptism by fire for getting feedback. When you’re talking to people on social media who are cutthroat — versus clients who are paying you, versus people who just want to read a book — they’re all expecting such different things. It’s like a dance.

The Cure for Burnout is available now.

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