Burnout Word List

BURNOUT

Exhaustion from unsustainable work culture

WATCH

1. All the President’s Men — Alan J. Pakula, 1976 · Film · The cost of obsessive work even in service of something just.

2. The Devil Wears Prada — David Frankel, 2006 · Film · Burnout as the price of professional ambition and proximity to power.

3. Chef — Jon Favreau, 2014 · Film · A man reclaiming joy in his work after burning out at the top.

4. Inside — Bo Burnham, 2021 · Film · Creative and existential burnout filmed in real time during a pandemic.

5. Abstract: The Art of Design — Netflix, 2017– · Series · Burnout among creative professionals and how they sustain or lose their spark.

6. Stutz — Jonah Hill, 2022 · Documentary · A director and his therapist discuss burnout, anxiety, and the psychology of creative work.

7. High Maintenance — Various, 2016– · Series · Burnout and disconnection in urban professional life.

8. The Hours — Stephen Daldry, 2002 · Film · The exhaustion of carrying other people’s needs while neglecting your own.

9. Requiem for a Dream — Darren Aronofsky, 2000 · Film · Burnout as the end of desire; obsession consuming everything.

10. Crip Camp — James LeBrecht & Nicole Newnham, 2020 · Documentary · Activist burnout and the long game of disability rights work.

LISTEN

1. WorkLife with Adam Grant — TED · Burnout, meaning, and the science of sustainable work.

2. The Happiness Lab — Dr. Laurie Santos · What actually produces wellbeing versus what we think does; burnout prevention.

3. Terrible, Thanks for Asking — Nora McInerny · Burnout from grief, caregiving, and carrying too much.

4. Unlocking Us — Brené Brown · Burnout and the courage to set boundaries in work and life.

5. Feel Better, Live More — Dr. Rangan Chatterjee · The lifestyle factors driving burnout and how to address them.

6. Death, Sex and Money — WNYC · Honest conversations about the burnout that comes from financial stress and overwork.

7. The Rest Is Politics — Rory Stewart & Alastair Campbell · Burnout in political life; what public service costs.

8. Big Life Journal Podcast — Various · Mindset and resilience as tools for preventing and recovering from burnout.

9. Nobody Told Me — Various · Burnout among parents and caregivers; the unpaid labor that exhausts.

10. Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman, audiobook · Time, mortality, and the radical acceptance that makes burnout less inevitable.

READ

1. Burnout — Emily & Amelia Nagoski · The science of burnout specifically in women and how to complete the stress cycle.

2. Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman · Time management as a spiritual practice; the book that reframes busyness and exhaustion.

3. Can’t Even — Anne Helen Petersen · Millennial burnout as a generational and systemic condition, not a personal failure.

4. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry — John Mark Comer · Slowing down as a spiritual and practical antidote to burnout.

5. Rest — Alex Soojung-Kim Pang · The science of rest as essential to creative and productive work.

6. Laziness Does Not Exist — Devon Price · A psychologist dismantling the shame around rest and reframing it as need.

7. Big Magic — Elizabeth Gilbert · Creativity without the crushing weight of expectations that produces burnout.

8. When the Body Says No — Gabor Maté · The physical cost of unaddressed stress, overwork, and emotional suppression.

9. The Body Keeps the Score — Bessel van der Kolk · Burnout’s relationship to trauma stored in the nervous system.

10. A World Without Email — Cal Newport · How digital communication creates the conditions for chronic burnout.