While stress is a natural and typically productive response to our environments, burnout is the result of prolonged exposure to stressors with no active recovery or release. Left unchecked and unrelieved, chronic stress can evolve into burnout, but what if the way we’ve been thinking about burnout is part of the problem? What if burnout is not just an individual problem but a reflection of the environments, values, and systems we are living and working within? Perhaps it’s time to challenge common assumptions about burnout and reimagine what it means to live and work sustainably.

Here are seven ideas that can help shift the perspective on burnout:

1. Burnout shouldn’t have to be the price we pay for success. For many high-performing professionals, it is almost as if burnout is considered an inevitable part of the job. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, burnout researcher Kandi Wiens writes that “burnout has become the new baseline in many work environments.” The unfortunate truth is that many people now expect to eventually feel burned out, however, success shouldn’t come at the cost of our health and well-being. This calls for a need to build supportive environments and sustainable practices where success and well-being can co-exist.

2. Burnout is a signal we need to slow down, reassess, and reprioritize. In this fast-paced and ever-evolving work landscape, we are often urged to do more, be more, and excel no matter the cost. In many ways, hustle culture is still praised and celebrated as the only way to get ahead. We see exhaustion being worn like a badge of honour. And all too often, symptoms of burnout—like chronic fatigue, cynicism, and emotional detachment—are........

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