I think we're seeing what usually happens after psychological concepts "go mainstream". First they start to get over diagnosed (actually, in most cases, over se

I think we're seeing what usually happens after psychological concepts "go mainstream". First they start to get over diagnosed (actually, in most cases, over self-diagnosed) and then they get so overused in the public discourse that almost anybody thinks they can chime in. For me, the opener captured the problem: > Burnout is a motivation problem, a listlessness, a defeatist attitude, and perhaps even a hopelessness, triggered by the lack of progress. Even a quick glance at wikipedia tells you that the major component in Burnout is Exhaustion. Making it about motivation sounds analogous to telling depressed people that they really need to cheer up more. If your main focus in trying to deal with Burnout is to micro-manage yourself better and track your probably already obsessive introspection on work even closer, the only thing you end up doing is driving the car even faster against the next tree. Motivation issues might coincide with burnout, they might play into the spiral of self loathing that feeds your burnout. But they are just one of the components that make you exhausted. The main thing you need to do when you are exhausted is to stop and give yourself time to heal. However: The author isn't talking about Burnout, he is just accurate in using the term as it is broadly understood. It is reasonably accurate for the early stages of a Burnout. Even the title, citing 'antidote' is reasonably accurate since antidotes are mostly given quickly after a person was poisoned. Not when that person is already deathly ill. I would agree with you, however, that this article probably does more harm than good. Particularly hand-wavy "...and exercise, diet, reading" in the last sentence do leave a stale aftertaste, making this more blog spam than content. Funnily enough, it's blog spam around a HN Comment thread. Go figure. Meta article on Burnout articles should surface any day now.