Burnout Symptoms: Early Warning Signs, Causes, & When to Act
Most information out there reduces burnout to a problem of exhaustion and stress relief. But this is only a small part of the story.
The first burnout symptoms are often your system whispering to you that the work you are doing doesn’t match who you are.
The problem is we often don’t hear these whispers, or we choose to ignore them.
The cost of this is high.
This article looks at the early signs of burnout, when to act, and the different causes that need addressing.
What is Burnout?
The World Health Organisation views burnout as a syndrome that is seen as an “individual response” to “chronic work stress”.
Burnout develops progressively, and can evolve to become severe.
Researchers also agree on three main characteristics or dimensions of burnout.
Emotional exhaustion
Cynicism - or a detachment and indifference towards the workplace
Reduced personal achievement - a belief that we are not doing our job well, typically accompanied by low morale and low self-esteem
There is debate about the order and way they interact, but together these define what we call burnout.
Burnout Symptoms to Watch for
The first signs of burnout is ongoing low energy combined with symptoms of exhaustion, such as irritability or difficulty concentrating. Poor sleep patterns also often develop.
At work there starts to be some visible signs to others that you are not fully well, present or engaged. Errors in work and lower quality become more prevalent. You start to withdraw and mood swings or other behavioural changes begin.
One of the challenges is that, despite these signs, we don’t realise we have burnout until it is too late.
We think it is just normal to be tired because we have a young family, or we dismiss it as just a phase that will pass. It gets rationalised as “work is called work for a reason” - it’s not to be enjoyed - it is something we just need to get on with and push through.
Take a step back and think - do any of these apply to you, or someone you know?
When should you Act on Burnout Symptoms?
If you think you might have burnout symptoms, you need to take action right now.
If you are waiting for a crash to admit burnout, you’re already too late.
We are often the last ones to realise we are burning out. So if you think there is something going on it’s almost certain that there is.
Burnout symptoms are rarely something that goes away naturally. Some kind of action or change needs to take place to overcome them.
Burnout: Causes and Mismatches
If you have burnout symptoms, the important thing is to understand what is causing the burnout.
Is it from working too hard? From not switching off and a lack of downtime and overall self-care? Or from not having healthy boundaries in place?
Or do the burnout symptoms come from a lack of “fit” with your work?
Is there an underlying mismatch between you and your role; between your values and the organisation; between your needs and what you are getting out of work?
These underlying fit issues tend to be massively overlooked - especially in midlife contexts.
Research backs this up. Maslach & Leiter’s work highlights value conflicts, lack of fairness, and absence of meaning as strong predictors of burnout.
They developed the Areas of Worklife (AWL) framework, which identifies six areas of mismatch that predisposes you to burnout:
Workload (too much, too fast)
Control (lack of autonomy)
Reward (insufficient recognition or compensation)
Community (poor social support or conflict)
Fairness (procedural & distributive injustice)
Values (misalignment between personal and organisational values)
Value conflicts, fairness, and meaning are not just buzzwords but are empirically supported predictors of burnout.
And these issues go much deeper than there being just a failure in personal “stress management”
Burnout Symptoms - Why a lack of “fit” is important
The link between burnout and a potential lack of fit has important implications.
It means you’re not burning out because you’re weak—you are burning out because something in your work doesn’t fit your values.
When people feel their work compromises their integrity—e.g., falsifying data, or being forced to deliver substandard output due to financial pressure—they’re at a higher risk of burnout.
It also means that fairness at work isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it can tip you over the edge into burnout.
Fairness dramatically influences whether early warning burnout symptoms like exhaustion or cynicism escalate into full burnout. Employees who feel supported and fairly treated by their boss are less likely to burn out—even during significant change.
But a mismatch with your work environment also means that the causes of burnout can take time to unravel. Different mismatches predict different burnout symptoms—so addressing just one area won’t necessarily fix it.
Addressing Burnout Symptoms at the Root
Wellness, self-care and stress management is often an essential first step in addressing burnout. This might involve areas like learning to take breaks, eating well, sleeping and exercise. Or a focus on developing skills for managing stress and anxiety.
But if the underlying root cause of your burnout is a fit or mismatch issue, then there is more work to be done.
This extra work could be as simple as getting out of a toxic culture, or moving to a similar role where you feel more empowered or in more control. Or maybe you just need to have a conversation at work about adjusting your role and workload.
There might also need to be work on your mindset. For example, learning to interpret situations from a different perspective, appreciating what your work gives you, or realising that you are actually doing fine in the role. Or maybe you have built up resentments at work over time, or not been engaging as much as you could, or have become negative.
However, it could be about looking deeper and needing to make a bigger change. It might mean having to figure out what is going to fulfill you in the next stage of your life.
The good news? All of these areas are addressable. You just need to take the first step……
Take the Next Step Toward Recovery
If you’re noticing burnout symptoms and suspect a deeper mismatch is the cause, don’t wait until things worsen.
👉 Book a free Discovery Call to explore how coaching can help you regain clarity, confidence, and energy.
Author: Tim Storrie
-------------- About the Author: Tim Storrie
I'm an ICF-accredited career coach with an Oxbridge education, an MBA and a corporate background.
Drawing from my own mid-life experience of burnout and transition to a more fulfilling career - I help men over 40 with symptoms of burnout, and who are feeling lost and frustrated, to find a career that excites them by gaining clarity and confidence.
My coaching approach is both nurturing and challenging, and combines a structured, exercise-based approach with a focus on getting to the underlying heart of the matter.
Would you like to understand how career coaching can help you get clarity on a more fulfilling future?
Book a free Discovery Call at: https://www.timstorriecoaching.com/contact-me