Dealing with Burnout When You Do Work That You Freakin’ Love

What happens when the very thing you're passionate about starts to drain you?

In this episode, George and Liz tackle burnout from an angle most people skip over. Not the burnout that comes from hating your job. The kind that sneaks up on you when you genuinely love what you do. If you've ever pushed through exhaustion because the work matters too much to stop, this conversation is for you.

The Burnout Thermometer

George doesn't sugarcoat his history with burnout. He's been there. Multiple times. In ways that weren't pretty.

"Historically, it usually ends up with me binging TV for a couple of days with copious amounts of snacks and beverages, maybe like a large blanket, all the lights are off. Or it ends up in that I get sick and I'm in bed for multiple days because I've just run the course of dragging me right into the ground. Or let's be honest, there's been conversations on this podcast where I've been in the hospital."

He's spent the last six to eight years trying to get better at recognizing the warning signs before they become hospital visits. He calls it his burnout thermometer.

"I can literally feel physically and mentally when I'm close to done, exhausted. More importantly, when I need to refuel before what I would call burnout sets in. It's almost like I can thread the needle, get really close to it, but then pull myself out before I get sucked into the vortex."

What Burnout Actually Is

Liz brought the science. The World Health Organization has documented three pillars of burnout, and understanding them matters because you can't avoid something you can't define.

Emotional exhaustion isn't just having a long day. It's deep, bone-level fatigue that doesn't go away with a nap or a good night's sleep. You're constantly tired. You have trouble sleeping even when you're exhausted. Every task, no matter how small, feels like climbing a mountain.

Depersonalization or cynicism shows up as detachment from your work and the people around you. You become negative, overly critical, apathetic. The thing that once brought you joy now gets a shrug. You're irritable and short-tempered because you're stuck in a situation you don't want to be in.

Reduced personal accomplishment isn't imposter syndrome. It's chronic feelings of incompetence and inefficiency. You're constantly doubting everything you do and experiencing a complete loss of confidence in your abilities.

The key differentiator? All three need to be present, and it's chronic. This doesn't go away with rest or touching grass.

The Planning Fallacy

Here's where it gets uncomfortable. Liz introduced a scientific principle called the planning fallacy that explains why so many of us architect lives that lead straight to burnout.

Humans are terrible at estimating how long tasks take. A study of university students found they estimated 33.9 days to complete their honors thesis. Reality? 55.5 days. That's 64% longer.

It's not just students. The Sydney Opera House was supposed to take 4 years and cost 7 million dollars. It took 14 years and cost 102 million. A 1,300% miscalculation.

"We plan our days as if once we get in that car, we are pushing it to its limit the entire time. We're going 140 miles per hour, never hitting a stoplight, never stopping. Which sounds actively stupid, doesn't it? That's not how cars work. There are speed limits. You're going to hit stop signs, stoplights. There will be traffic. There are turns."

But that's exactly how we plan our days, weeks, and months. Peak performance. No breaks. No friction. No humanity.

Three Strategies When You Feel Like You Can't Step Away

George offered three key strategies for those moments when stepping away feels impossible.

Ask yourself: Is it truly impossible? What would actually happen if you took a break? Would everything crash down? Or would things just move a little slower? Most of the time, it's the slower option. Questions to ask yourself:

• What would happen if I stepped away for an hour, a day, or a week?
• Would work stop entirely or continue, perhaps slower but effectively?
• Is there a specific reason I feel like I can't step away?
• Can someone else step in?

Break it down. If stepping away completely isn't in the cards, break your work into chunks. Prioritize the high-impact stuff and handle it piece by piece. Time block your day so you're not juggling seventeen things at once.

As David Allen said: "You can do anything, but not everything."

Set boundaries and communicate. Let colleagues, employees, families, friends, and clients know when you're available and when you're not.

"I've gotten really good at 5:15, 5:30 saying, done. I'm gonna go live life now. It's okay to say I'm offline after 6 PM. The world's not gonna end. Trust me, when you set those boundaries, the people in your lives will adjust."

Lou Holtz put it this way: "It's not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it."

When You're Locked In and Can't Leave

For those moments when you truly cannot step away, George offered three tools.

Micro breaks are your friend. Not hour-long lunches or vacations. Five-minute walks. Deep breathing at your desk. Short intentional moments where you hit pause.

Anne Lamott said: "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you."

Prioritize ruthlessly. Not everything on your to-do list is a priority, even if it feels like it. Identify high-impact tasks that need your attention right now. Everything else? Delegate it, defer it, or drop it.

Communicate your workload. If you're maxed out and stepping away isn't an option, be upfront with the people around you. This isn't complaining. It's setting expectations. When people know you're at capacity, they're more likely to offer help, push back on deadlines, or at least understand if you can't take on more.

The Consequences Nobody Wants to Talk About

George laid out what happens when you don't step away:

• Decline in mental health: increased stress, anxiety, risk of depression
• Physical health issues: weakened immune system, fatigue, illness, long-term chronic problems
• Strained relationships: personal and professional connections deteriorate
• Decreased creativity and problem-solving ability
• Career stagnation: you plateau, you hate what you used to love
• Loss of passion: the worst one

"Burnout doesn't just make you feel bad. It also makes you less productive. You're working harder, putting in longer hours, and somehow you're getting less done. It's super ironic that by not stepping away, you end up losing the very thing you're trying to hold on to: productivity."

Rebalancing for Employees vs. Business Owners

If you work for someone else:

• Have open conversations with your manager. Frame it solution-based: "I want to make sure I'm delivering the highest quality work. Can we look at what's on my plate?"
• Negotiate deadlines and delegate where possible
• Focus on high-value tasks
• Set boundaries, even with your boss

If you work for yourself:

• Reevaluate and refocus. Are you spending time on tasks that don't move the needle?
• Automate and outsource. Email, scheduling, invoicing, content creation. Free yourself up for what truly drives you.
• Set realistic expectations. It's easy to over-commit when you're your own boss.
• Schedule playtime and rest. If you block it out, it becomes important.

A Lesson From a Health Scare

Liz opened the episode sharing that she'd just come through a significant health scare. Days of waiting, not knowing if the diagnosis would be manageable or catastrophic. She got the all-clear the morning of recording.

What struck her wasn't the relief. It was how clarifying the experience became.

"It made me very mindful and observant of where am I spending my time. I have a thousand little projects I'm working on. What are the ones that are actually important? What are the ones that have accidentally gobbled up the ones I should be focusing on? It made me do a lot of thinking about certain relationships that have run their course. It just started making me ask the right questions."

The lesson? Sometimes you don't need a crisis to ask those questions. You can ask them now.

Quotable Moments

"Sometimes the best way to love what you do is to step away for a moment and come back refreshed."

"It's not the load that breaks you down. It's the way you carry it." — Lou Holtz

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." — Anne Lamott

"You can't help other people keep the lights on if you can't keep your own lights on."

Your One Thing

Liz's takeaway: It's better than you think it is. The parts you think are the hardest are probably going to be the easiest. More is possible than you think. A lot more is possible than you're telling yourself right now.

George's takeaway: Burnout is closer than you think. You could feel okay right now and be completely burnt out by 5 PM. It's a ninja that creeps up on you. Start to plan before you arrive at the destination you're not trying to get to. Managing to not get there is a lot easier than migrating out of the deep pit of burnout.

Reflection Questions

1. Am I suffering from my own planning fallacy? Am I operating as if I'll be at peak performance all the time?
2. What would actually happen if I stepped away for an hour, a day, or a week?
3. What can I delegate, defer, or drop?
4. Have I set clear boundaries, and do the people in my life know them?

Ready to go deeper? Press play above and let George and Liz walk you through the full conversation. If you're feeling the early signs of burnout, this one's essential listening.