Take the Burnout Assessment - simascoaching.com

The truth about burnout.

Burnout doesn't happen overnight. It develops gradually, often without you noticing.

It starts small – skipping a workout, staying late to finish an email. Then it escalates: sleepless nights, missed meals, canceled plans. Eventually, work takes priority over everything.

The signs often come from others before you recognize them yourself. “You've changed.” “Is everything okay?” Maybe you lose your temper at a coworker or feel overwhelmed by something trivial.

By the time you identify burnout, it's usually severe. Recovery feels daunting, often requiring drastic steps like extended leave, a job change, or quitting without a plan.

The Burnout Assessment is your opportunity to identify burnout early – before it takes over. It's the first step toward reclaiming your balance, health, and focus.

Take the Burnout Assessment

The truth about burnout.

Burnout doesn't happen overnight. It develops gradually, often without you noticing.

It starts small – skipping a workout, staying late to finish an email. Then it escalates: sleepless nights, missed meals, canceled plans. Eventually, work takes priority over everything.

The signs often come from others before you recognize them yourself. “You've changed.” “Is everything okay?” Maybe you lose your temper at a coworker or feel overwhelmed by something trivial.

By the time you identify burnout, it's usually severe. Recovery feels daunting, often requiring drastic steps like extended leave, a job change, or quitting without a plan.

The Burnout Assessment is your opportunity to identify burnout early – before it takes over. It's the first step toward reclaiming your balance, health, and focus.

Discover Your Burnout Stage

When burnout strikes, living fully feels out of reach.

Remember those dreams you had as a kid? To live boldly, make an impact, support causes you care about, and leave the world a little better than you found it.

Do those dreams feel like distant, childish fantasies now? Because today, your only goal might be to survive the day and collapse into bed.

Burnout doesn’t just drain your energy – it strips away your dreams and passions. That’s why true recovery isn’t just about regaining your strength; it’s about rediscovering what drives you.

But before you can rebuild, you need to understand how burnout happens.

The burnout test identifies the 12 stages of burnout

Herbert J. Freudenberger’s research outlines 12 stages of burnout, each escalating in how it affects your well-being and relationships. These stages don’t follow a linear path – you might find yourself in multiple stages at once.

Do any of these sound familiar?

1. Compulsion to prove yourself

A relentless drive to demonstrate worth through work and achievements. Struggling to find satisfaction, constantly seeking validation.

2. Working harder

An all-consuming focus on success, taking on too much and pushing beyond healthy limits. Prioritizing work over balance and well-being.

3. Neglecting personal needs

Sacrificing basic self-care like sleep, meals, and leisure for work demands. Gradual disconnect from personal priorities and health.

4. Displacement of conflict

Avoiding stress or frustration by suppressing emotions and ignoring problems. Deflecting challenges rather than addressing them directly.

5. Revision of values

Abandoning personal relationships, hobbies, or values in favor of productivity. Work becomes the sole measure of identity and success.

6. Denial of problems

Downplaying stress, health concerns, and relationship challenges as “manageable” or temporary. Rejecting feedback and rationalizing growing difficulties.

7. Withdrawal

Pulling back from social interactions and enjoyable activities due to exhaustion. Seeking isolation as a coping mechanism for overwhelm.

8. Behavioral changes

Uncharacteristic irritability, detachment, or forgetfulness. Behavior shifts are noticeable to others and may feel unsettling.

9. Depersonalization

Feeling emotionally numb and disconnected from work, relationships, or self. Life feels like “going through the motions.”

10. Emptiness and anxiety

A persistent void or sense of purposelessness. Turning to unhealthy habits or distractions to escape feelings of dissatisfaction.

11. Depression

Overwhelming hopelessness, exhaustion, and disinterest in activities. Feeling trapped and unable to find motivation or joy.

12. Burnout syndrome

Complete emotional and physical exhaustion. Struggling to perform even basic tasks and feeling utterly disconnected from self and purpose.

Our jobs make burnout worse

Work has shifted from physical labor to knowledge-based tasks, where the lines between work and life are now non-existent. Globalization and technology have created a culture of constant availability, where the pressure to stay “on” leads to mental fatigue and burnout. At the same time, hustle culture glorifies overwork, turning stress into a status symbol.

Remote work and a hyper-focus on individual performance have left people more isolated than ever. Without strong communities or support systems, employees are stuck competing in a race they can't win. The result? Burnout has become the norm, not the exception.

Our jobs make burnout worse

Work has shifted from physical labor to knowledge-based tasks, where the lines between work and life are now non-existent. Globalization and technology have created a culture of constant availability, where the pressure to stay “on” leads to mental fatigue and burnout. At the same time, hustle culture glorifies overwork, turning stress into a status symbol.

Remote work and a hyper-focus on individual performance have left people more isolated than ever. Without strong communities or support systems, employees are stuck competing in a race they can't win. The result? Burnout has become the norm, not the exception.

Our role in burnout

Burnout doesn’t just happen – it’s fueled by habits like perfectionism, people-pleasing, and overcommitment. Saying “yes” too often, avoiding boundaries, and tying your worth to your work create a relentless cycle of exhaustion. When you prioritize validation over balance, rest and self-care take a back seat.

The result? Work takes over, leaving no space for fulfillment outside of it. Combine that with constant self-criticism, and burnout becomes inevitable.

Building a burnout resistant new you

At its core, burnout is the result of chronic stress, and its prevention and treatment hinge on four key components.

Remove stressors

When stress comes from too many sources, eliminating some is essential. In severe cases of burnout, an extended break from work may be necessary to fully recover.

Increase resilience

Some people handle stress better than others, and it all comes down to resilience. Building resilience is about consistently taking on small challenges that push you just enough to grow stronger over time.

De-stress

The ability to let go of stress effortlessly is one of the most powerful tools you can develop. Practices like walking, meditating, or yoga help you proactively release built-up stress and maintain balance.

Do what you love

Burnout isn’t just about doing too much – it’s also about doing too much of what doesn’t matter to you. Prioritizing time for what you love recharges your energy and helps keep burnout at bay.

Discover your burnout stage

You can't defeat what you don't know you have. The first step to conquering burnout is to identify what stage(s) you're in, how you got there, and how it affects you. This way, the next time you're on the edge of burnout, you'll be prepared to tackle it.

Learn How Burnout Affects You