Spot the signs of burnout and plan my recovery
A burnout self-check with your warning signs, the likely causes, and a realistic recovery and prevention plan.
The prompt
Help me understand whether I'm heading toward burnout and what to do about it.
What I'm noticing: [e.g. "exhausted even after rest", "dread Mondays", "cynical", "forgetting things", "getting sick a lot"]
How long it's been going on: [TIMEFRAME]
My main load: [WORK HOURS, CAREGIVING, STUDY, OTHER DEMANDS]
What drains me most: [SPECIFIC TASKS, PEOPLE, PRESSURES]
What still gives me energy: [ANYTHING]
What I can and can't change right now: [e.g. "can't quit, but could talk to my manager"]
Give me:
1. A plain-language summary of what I'm describing, compared with common burnout signs (exhaustion, detachment or cynicism, feeling ineffective). This is not a diagnosis.
2. The likely drivers, sorted into: workload, lack of control, lack of recognition, values conflict, poor boundaries, not enough recovery.
3. This week: 3 small changes to stop things getting worse.
4. Next 4 weeks: a recovery plan covering rest, boundaries, and one conversation I may need to have (with a short script).
5. Longer term: what to watch for, and signs it's time for a bigger change.
Burnout can overlap with depression, anxiety, and physical conditions. Tell me to see a doctor if symptoms are severe, lasting, or affect sleep, appetite, or daily functioning, and to contact a crisis line (in the US, call or text 988) if I feel hopeless or unsafe.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Personal Life & Wellbeing prompts
What to fill in
- TIMEFRAME
- WORK HOURS, CAREGIVING, STUDY, OTHER DEMANDS
- SPECIFIC TASKS, PEOPLE, PRESSURES
- ANYTHING
- e.g. "can't quit, but could talk to my manager"
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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