Simple Guide to Life

Fixing this needs my job to change shape.

First, stop burning. Take yourself off the heat. You can't make good decisions while you're literally on fire (trust me, I've tried a solid 5 times).

Burnout recovery requires 3 things working together:

• Physical reset: sleep, exercise, actual nutrition instead of surviving on coffee and stress.
• Mental reset: therapy, meditation, or at minimum stopping the doom-scrolling.
• Environmental reset: getting away from whatever's burning you, whether that's taking a sabbatical, setting boundaries, or in my case, dropping out entirely.

Behavioral psychology shows that burnout isn't just "being tired." It's depleted dopamine, elevated cortisol, and a nervous system stuck in fight-or-flight mode. You can't think your way out; you have to actually change your inputs.

If you're burnt, step 1 is literally stop cooking, turn off the fire. Everything else comes after you're off the heat.

What the worksheet does here

It sorts your last bad week into 2 columns: what you could change on your own next week, and what would need your job to change shape. Then you pick 1 thing to change first.