You can't outrun burnout

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Take a deep breath.

It's been that kind of year. Regardless of your industry, 2025 has likely been a hectic one for you. A combination of a new administration, a volatile stock market, and the ongoing disruption of AI has left just about everybody scrambling.

As the year winds down and some of us (hopefully) can ease off the gas pedal, it's important to take stock of how we're doing. For many, that means acknowledging burnout.

So what do you do if that's the case? Business Insider embarked on a five-part series, The Burnout Cure, to unpack the issue. Five individuals who felt burned out detailed how they overcame it.

One important takeaway: Burnout isn't something you can just power through.

A couple of weeks off or deciding to "just push through this quarter" won't solve the problem. Instead, actual lifestyle changes are necessary.

Here are some other tips:

It's OK to be selfish: When Kristi Coulter reached her breaking point as an Amazon executive, she made a new rule: only accept opportunities at work that offered a clear benefit to her, or were important to her boss. Did the world come crashing down as she turned stuff down? No. In fact, Coulter found she was more engaged and effective at the things she said yes to.

Burnout isn't exclusive to the workplace. For some, finding a job can be just as brutal as having one. Kirsten Bradford spent up to eight hours a day for over a year looking for a job. But the constant rejection seeped into her personal life, eventually causing her son to notice. She's now put guardrails around how long she spends job hunting every day.

Curing it once doesn't mean it won't return. Maybe you've already overcome burnout. Congrats! Just don't get comfortable. Natalie Holloway quit her advertising job to go on a burnout recovery trip. While abroad, she came up with an idea for a side hustle that evolved into her dream career. But it wasn't long before her burnout returned.

Even those who are acutely aware of burnout can still fall victim to it. If anyone should recognize burnout, it's Jan Gerber. He runs a $130,000-a-week burnout clinic for executives, founders, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. But even seeing the issues every day didn't stop Gerber from getting burnt out.

Above all else, remember there is no one-size-fits-all solution. When Kirsten Hurley was facing burnout, she spent a lot of time researching different solutions. But instead of helping, she'd get more upset because the fixes didn't work for her. Ultimately, her partner's validation of her decision to quit was what she really needed to start her recovery process.