Diagnose what is causing your burnout. Is it your own beliefs and attitudes about work? If so, changing jobs won't help. Are your work responsibilities so la

Diagnose what is causing your burnout. Is it your own beliefs and attitudes about work? If so, changing jobs won't help. Are your work responsibilities so large that you don't have time or mental energy for other things in your life? If so, changing jobs would help. Is your diet messing with your brain chemistry? If so, changes in your diet would help. If the causes of your burnout are in the circumstances of your job, then the sabbatical will only help temporarily. Coming back to the job will reintroduce the causes and you'll see the effects of burnout again. If you are able to diagnose the causes well, sometimes only small changes are needed to ameliorate the problem. If you don't diagnose well, you may end up making a large change without much positive effect. For the past two years I've been in the habit of tracking my mood every half-day along with a short sentence or two of what was going on. This process has been great in getting me in touch with what tends to stress me out or make me happy. I'd recommend starting a habit like this.