Am I Burnt Out? Take Our Quiz

If you've found yourself asking that question, chances are you already have a sense of the answer. Burnout tends to creep up slowly, and by the time most people start wondering whether something is wrong, they've already been running on empty for a while.

It's easy to mistake burnout for ordinary tiredness. You tell yourself you just need a good weekend, a holiday, a quieter week at work. But the rest comes and goes, and the feeling doesn't shift. That's usually when the question starts to feel more urgent.

This page won't give you a diagnosis. What it can do is help you get a clearer picture of what you've been experiencing — and point you toward support that can genuinely help.

Why This Question Is Hard to Answer

Burnout doesn't announce itself. It tends to build gradually through months of overcommitment, pressure, or simply giving more than you've been able to replenish — until one day you notice that something has changed.

Part of what makes it hard to recognise is that the people most affected by burnout are often the ones least likely to slow down. High standards, a strong sense of responsibility, difficulty saying no — these are qualities that tend to drive burnout rather than protect against it. By the time exhaustion sets in, it can feel like a personal failure rather than a reasonable response to an unsustainable situation.

There's also the question of what burnout actually is. It's not just being tired. It's a particular kind of depletion — emotional, mental, and physical that doesn't respond to ordinary rest. If you've had time off and still come back feeling hollow, that distinction matters.

Common Signs of Burnout

These aren't a checklist for diagnosis — they're things worth paying attention to.

You're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix

The tiredness that comes with burnout goes deeper than a few late nights. It's a bone-level fatigue that's there when you wake up and still there at the end of the day, no matter how much rest you've had.

You've become cynical or detached about things that used to matter

Work, relationships, responsibilities you once cared about — when you notice yourself going through the motions without any real investment, that emotional distance is a hallmark of burnout.

Your effectiveness has dropped, even though you're working just as hard

Concentration is harder. Small tasks take longer. You're putting in the effort but the output isn't there — and that gap can become its own source of stress and self-criticism.

You've stopped finding any real satisfaction in what you do

Even when things go well, it doesn't register the way it used to. The sense of accomplishment has flattened out, replaced by a kind of numbness or indifference.

Your body is telling you something

Frequent headaches, getting sick more often, tension you can't seem to shake — burnout has physical symptoms as well as emotional ones, and the body often signals distress before the mind catches up.

You're struggling to be present outside of work

Burnout doesn't stay neatly contained. If it's affecting your relationships, your ability to enjoy time off, or your sense of who you are outside of what you do — that spillover is significant.