What does it take to realise you've hit burnout? For me, it wasn't a dramatic collapse. It was a fantasy about being hospitalised just so no one could contact me, and the hardest decision I'd face would be lime or raspberry jelly. 

When I shared that thought with a friend who is also a clinical psychologist, she told me she'd heard it so many times she had a name for it. That moment of recognition, equal parts relief and horror, was the beginning of understanding just how depleted I had become. 

This is part one of a two-part crossover with the This Is Work podcast, hosted by Shelley Johnson. Shelley asked me all about my year of burnout, the early warning signs I missed, and what I found when I went looking for a way out that didn't require completely overhauling my life. We also get into The Energy Game, my new book, and the framework behind it, including the four energy types, the three energy accounts, and why the phrase "I'm tired" is actually making it harder to solve the problem. 

Shelley and I discuss: 

• The "getting hit by a bus" fantasy: what it signals about how depleted you really are, and why a clinical psychologist says she hears this constantly in private practice 

• The three early warning signs of burnout that I missed for months, covering the physical, mental, and emotional dimensions 

• The push through paradox: why working 60 or 70 hours a week can make you progressively less productive until everything goes on strike 

• Why the four energy types (achievement addict, over-committer, perfectionist, and people pleaser) are seasonal, not fixed, and what it means when you take any of them to the extreme 

• Why thinking of energy as one big concept makes burnout harder to solve, and how splitting it into three separate accounts (physical, mental, emotional) gives you somewhere to actually start 

• The minimum viable dose philosophy behind The Energy Game, and why the 53 challenges in the book were designed for people who are too exhausted for anything that takes real effort 

Key quotes 

"When you're in the depths of exhaustion, that advice just doesn't cut it." 

"Clarity is always the first step to problem-solving." 

Connect with Shelley via LinkedIn, or through Boldside’s Instagram and website. For more conversations on meaningful work, sustainable success, and showing up as your best self – check out Shelley’s podcast this is work. 

Find out your energy type here: Energy type assessment