It isn't laziness. You just don't know what rest feels like anymore.
It isn't laziness. You wake up tired and go to bed tired and in between there's a full day where you did everything you had to do — and still it feels like you did nothing, because nothing touched you. You smile in meetings, answer messages, show up on time. And you know, at the same time, something turned off inside. The odd part: you don't want to rest. You no longer know what rest feels like.
A snapshot before we go further
Burnout isn't one thing. The WHO defines it as three dimensions that can be at different levels. This thermometer gives them back to you separately — not as a single score.
3D Burnout Snapshot (WHO)
The WHO defines burnout as an occupational syndrome with three dimensions. This isn't a diagnosis — it's a snapshot of how those three dimensions look in you today.
Inspired by Maslach (MBI) and Kristensen (CBI). Items reworded — not the official MBI. If your result is high across dimensions, please consult a professional.
Over the last two weeks, how often did you feel this?
Your three dimensions
Saved locally on your device (nowhere else).
Why three bars and not just one
When someone shows up saying "I'm burned out", the mind tends to simplify: I'm all broken. Seeing three separate bars breaks that picture. The three are almost never equally high. And where you start treating it depends on which one dominates — not on an average.
High emotional exhaustion, the rest not so much. This is still tiredness. Recovery — mental detachment from work, real sleep, mastery (something you enjoy that demands skill), control over your free time (Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007) — can bring you back. The BodyScan below is one of the few exercises that activates detachment within minutes.
Exhaustion + cynical distance both high. Rest alone won't be enough. The JD-R model (Demerouti et al., 2001) shows this pattern appears when job demands outpaced resources for months or years. It's time to review the framework of the work, not just the weekend off — negotiating limits, delegating, cutting meetings, or in strong cases, changing roles.
All three dimensions high. This is close to what the WHO (ICD-11, QD85) describes as established burnout. Self-management alone rarely gets you through this. It's a good moment to seek professional support — not because you're "broken" as a person, but because the picture asks for a second set of eyes.
Ethical note: the items in this thermometer are reworded by us, inspired by Maslach's (MBI) three-dimension structure and by the license-free voice of Kristensen (CBI, 2005). This isn't the official MBI and doesn't pretend to be.
BodyScan — for the detachment
Sonnentag (2007) showed that psychological recovery requires mental detachment from work — not just a physical break. BodyScan is one of the few practices that moves that needle. 8 minutes, you can do it lying down.
Body Scan
Mindfulness technique (MBSR, Jon Kabat-Zinn). 12 zones, about 4 minutes. Not about relaxing — about inhabiting your body.
If you have body trauma, the scan can activate strong sensations. You can stop anytime. If something overwhelms you, open your eyes and return to the room.
Breathe
You've returned to your body
It doesn't matter how many times you got distracted. Coming back is the practice.
Sections that overlap with burnout
Three paths that touch different pieces of the picture.
If you aren't sleeping — or sleep doesn't restore you
Broken sleep is a central piece of burnout. The insomnia section has real hygiene and exercises to quiet the head without fighting it.
OpenIf your body is on alert all the time
Tight shoulders, chest, clenched jaw. That's chronic anxiety feeding the burnout. Breathing techniques and the worry window bring that tone down.
OpenIf you no longer know why you keep doing what you do
That cynical distance gets worked with values and the life wheel — seeing which parts are absorbing all the energy and which dried up without you noticing.
Open