Nearly seventy percent of professionals will experience burnout at some point in their careers. Burnout is not just a buzzword. The World Health Organization defines it as a syndrome marked by energy depletion, cynicism, and reduced professional effectiveness. But for most of us, it’s not the definition that matters, it’s the lived experience.
It’s a quiet reality that shows up in conference rooms, construction sites, and home offices across the country. Burnout rarely arrives with a sudden collapse. Some people frame this as a work-life balance issue, but as I explored in my recent article on the work-life balance myth, balance can be misleading. Instead, it creeps in slowly, disguised as things we often brush off: exhaustion, distraction, disengagement.
The cognitive load of staying current in your technical domain while developing leadership skills creates a perfect storm for rhythm disruption. What worked for previous generations of leaders—clear boundaries between work and home, predictable team dynamics, slower technological change—simply doesn’t exist anymore. That’s why rhythm matters. It isn’t just about productivity—it’s about prevention.
I think of burnout like a pipe under pressure. At first, it’s just a drip—an off day here, a frayed relationship there. The system still works, so you ignore it. But the pressure doesn’t let up. The crack widens, and before long the pipe bursts, spilling over and draining your energy, joy, and health.
If you’ve ever worked harder than ever yet felt emptier by the day, you’ve experienced the early signs. I call this being out of rhythm. You’re not in full burnout yet, but you’re on the path. Unless you stop to reset, the dissonance can grow until work feels meaningless, relationships feel strained, and your energy feels beyond repair. Rhythm is your early-warning system, helping you course-correct before the cracks widen.
The good news? Being out of rhythm doesn’t have to end in burnout. It can be a signal—an invitation to recalibrate before the spiral takes hold.
What Rhythm Feels Like
When life is in rhythm, there’s a cadence to your days. You wake up with a sense of direction. Work, while demanding, feels purposeful. Your schedule has margin for rest, laughter, and reflection. Like a heartbeat or drumline, rhythm isn’t about constant speed—it’s about shifting dynamically between work, rest, and recovery.
Contrast that with being out of rhythm. It feels like moving through fog. You may be doing the same tasks, but they take more out of you. Creativity feels distant. Even victories land flat. What once energized you now drains you, and the line between work and life blurs into a constant hum of strain.
One engineering leader I coached described it this way:
“It’s like I lost the ability to dance to the beat of the music. I’m still moving, but nothing feels right”.
Pre-Burnout Warning Signs
How do you know when you’re out of rhythm and drifting toward burnout? Look for these subtle markers:
- Persistent fatigue. The kind that lingers even after a full night’s sleep. This isn’t ordinary tiredness—it’s mental and emotional depletion.
- Disengagement. You’re present in meetings but feel absent. Tasks get done, but you don’t care about them. Life feels like going through the motions.
- Mental fog. Every choice feels heavy. You spend more time circling options than moving forward—your brain’s way of saying something is off.
- Strained relationships. Short tempers, repeated miscommunications, or a creeping sense of distance from your team or loved ones.
Individually, these may not seem like much. Together, they’re your early-warning system: your rhythm is off, and burnout could be next.
How to Reset Before Burnout
So how do you reset before burnout takes hold? The temptation is to overhaul everything—new routines, new schedules, new goals. But resets don’t have to be massive. Often, the smallest adjustments create the biggest shifts.
- Create margin. If your schedule has no breathing room, you’ll run out of oxygen. Margin doesn’t mean quitting responsibilities overnight; it means inserting pauses. A 15-minute walk between meetings. A lunch you actually taste instead of inhale. A Friday afternoon with no new tasks so you can close the week well.
- Track your energy. Make two lists. On one side, note what energizes you—conversations with certain people, creative work, exercise, prayer. On the other, list what drains you—specific meetings, environments, habits. You won’t eliminate all the drainers, but seeing the patterns helps you rebalance.
- Add micro-rituals. These aren’t grand vacations or weekend retreats (though those help). They’re the five-minute breathing practice before a meeting. The stretch between tasks. The gratitude reflection at day’s end. Small rituals act as tuning notes, helping you return to center.
And remember: there’s no one-size-fits-all rhythm. Yours may look different from mine. Some thrive in early mornings, others at night. Some recover in solitude, others in connection. The goal isn’t to copy someone else’s beat—it’s to rediscover your own. That’s why I often talk about dynamic balance—adjusting in real time, instead of chasing a perfect split. (You can explore more about dynamic balance in my Dynamic Balance article.)
The Coach in Your Corner
Being out of rhythm is a signal, not a failure. It’s your body and mind telling you it’s time to recalibrate—not proof that you can’t handle the load. You may need to shift things around—not because you’re incapable, but because it helps you carry them better.
If you’re thinking, “This sounds familiar, but it’s not that bad yet” or “I can still handle everything on my plate,” that’s exactly when it matters most. Waiting until you’re completely overwhelmed before making changes is like waiting for your car to break down on the highway before getting an oil change.
So if you see yourself in these words, even partially, remember: your rhythm matters. Your well-being matters. And addressing it now—while you still have energy and options—isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom. It’s the kind of smart leadership you’d counsel anyone else to practice.
This week, choose one small reset: One small step can be the spark that restores your rhythm. If you want more practical ways to reset your rhythm before burnout, I share weekly tools and insights designed to help engineering leaders protect their energy, lead with clarity, and win at work and at home. You can subscribe [here] to keep these resources coming straight to your inbox.