The 3 steps to burnout prevention
- Sally Clarke
- Aug 5
- 5 min read
Decades of research have established that burnout is caused by factors beyond the control of the individual. Instead, burnout is caused by cultural factors at three levels: organizational, societal and internalized. These factors lead to chronic workplace stress, which was identified by the World Health Organization as the cause of burnout.
To end burnout completely, we need to start and sustain major systemic and cultural change. This will require involvement from governments, institutions and organisations, and bold individual leaders to stimulate and sustain the movement.
In the meantime, individuals cannot afford to sit and wait patiently for systemic and cultural change to happen. They need to take matters into their own hands, because life is too precious and systemic change is too slow. Moreover, for leaders who are endeavoring to make these systemic changes, it’s important to take steps to protect their own wellbeing and ensure they don’t experience a great irony: burning out while trying to prevent burnout.
Alongside systemic and cultural change, an individual approach to prevent burnout is required — starting right now.
The 3-Selfs Framework for burnout prevention
Preventing burnout at an individual level requires commitment and conviction. This is in part because burnout prevention is not a once-off, or a switch that can be flicked to ‘on’. Instead, it consists of an ongoing investment in the individual’s health and wellbeing.
Research for my first book surfaced the ‘3-Selfs’ as a powerful framework for burnout prevention at an individual level. The 3-Selfs is about intentionally, consistently and uncompromisingly prioritizing individual health and wellbeing, with a view to preventing burnout. The 3-Selfs Framework is an ongoing approach that has three aspects:
Self-Compassion:
Believing at a fundamental level that you have intrinsic value; Treating yourself with grace, generosity, courage and kindness.
Self-Knowledge:
A deep understanding of who you are, what matters to you, and how you want your life to look and feel.
Self-Awareness:
Conscious attunement to physical, emotional and mental signals as they arise; The wisdom and courage to act on these signals.
Let’s delve in a bit deeper.
What is self-compassion?
The word ‘compassion’ is derived from the Latin to ‘suffer with’. As such, self-compassion entails adopting a kind, generous approach to yourself, your circumstances and your own suffering in the same way that you might to a loved one.
Self-compassion is the foundational aspect of burnout prevention. Treating yourself with self-compassion means doing so with kindness, respect and dignity. It entails having a fundamental belief that you have intrinsic value by virtue of existing as a human being, so your value is not determined by your title, salary, accomplishments or productivity.
Pioneering research from Dr. Kristin Neff has revealed three elements of self-compassion: self-kindness (versus self-judgment), appreciating our common humanity (versus isolation) and an approach of mindfulness (versus over-identification). And the benefits of self-compassion, according to this research, are profound.
Developing self-compassion can be challenging for those who have felt that their worth as a human depends on academic, sporting, career or other accolades. However, doing the work to foster self-compassion is an essential precursor to making healthy decisions for yourself and others and to setting appropriate boundaries at work and beyond.
Doing the work to foster self-compassion is an essential precursor to making healthy decisions for yourself and others and to setting appropriate boundaries at work and beyond.
Self-compassion comprises the deeper motivating factor: namely, the motivation is to take care of yourself as an intrinsically valuable and worthy being rather than to extract more, hustle harder or otherwise override signals from your body. When action is founded in self-compassion, the individual takes care of themselves because they believe they truly matter and that they are enough, just as they are.
What is self-knowledge?
Self-knowledge means becoming crystal clear on who you are, and what you need and want, as the unique human being you are. It entails knowing your personal core values, attunement to your own goals and priorities, understanding how you want your life to look and feel on a day-to-day basis. This empowers wise decision making in terms of time and energy management, and has an overall positive impact on wellbeing.
Self-knowledge means investigating with curiosity and self-compassion what truly matters to you as a unique individual. This may require identifying and discarding ideas of what matters to you which you have taken on from your parents or caregivers, colleagues or bosses, friends or peers, or from society more broadly.
When you know yourself well, you can make decisions that feel right, aligned and authentic. This kind of healthy decision making can help steer an individual away from environments that may cause them to experience chronic stress, and towards environments which support their wellbeing and their unique needs and desires. As such, it is an important burnout prevention strategy.
What is self-awareness?
The human body is constantly sending information and signals in an array of forms. Often, on the path to burnout, the individual tends to override, ignore or numb physical and other signals received from the body. For example, routinely consuming more caffeine to pull an all-nighter rather than getting adequate sleep, or treating muscular tension and headaches with painkillers and anti-inflammatories rather than seeking rest or preventative strategies.
By ignoring signals and symptoms from the body, further damage is caused at physical, physiological and neurological levels, eventually resulting in full burnout.
Self-awareness means listening to the wisdom of the body. It is the capacity to tune in to instincts, emotions, and physical signals as they arise in daily life. Self-awareness is founded on a strong connection with the body and the signals it gives. It also entails a strong understanding of the thought patterns, emotions and habits that shape your responses to experiences.
When we are under chronic stress, it can be difficult to be honest about the signals or symptoms received from the body. We may resist slowing down, resting, or recovering because it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable: “I’ll rest when the project finishes” or “I’ll take a break after this deadline.” Yet, the human body is a wise alarm system that something is wrong. If we override this system for long enough in a work context, burnout can become inevitable.
By ignoring signals and symptoms from the body, further damage is caused at physical, physiological and neurological levels, eventually resulting in full burnout.
Self-awareness can be developed by using practices including breathwork, physical exercise, yoga and mindfulness. Remaining self-aware is an ongoing, life-long practice that requires humility, candor and ongoing effort. Alongside self-knowledge and self-compassion, it is an essential component of burnout prevention for individuals.
A sustainable and fulfilling career
To get a picture of how these aspects interplay to prevent burnout, it is useful to think of them in the context of boundaries.
Self-compassion is the reason you set and enforce your boundaries.
Self-knowledge helps you know what your boundaries are.
Self-awareness is how you know whether your boundaries are being crossed, or respected.
Self-compassion, knowledge and awareness are not selfish. Nor do they guarantee unmitigated joy, or an end to suffering. They position you to care for your wellbeing in a way that can help prevent burnout and support you to experience a sustainable and fulfilling career — and a more authentic life.
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