Brendan Kane argues burnout comes from losing your purpose, not from working hard. Viktor Frankl showed that having a clear why lets you handle any how. When work stops matching what matters to you, even simple tasks feel crushing.
Here's the real reason you keep burning out. And this goes back to a simple observation from the psychologist Viktor Frankl, who once wrote, "Those who have a why to live can bear almost any how." What he means is that exhaustion alone doesn't create burnout. Burnout happens when your work and your purpose in life start drifting apart. And when you lose your sense of purpose, you'll get overwhelmed by easy tasks. You'll struggle to make time for the things you really enjoy. But it's not because you're working too much. It's because you start to feel that none of your work is really going to matter in the long run. But here's the good news. Working super hard doesn't have to wear you down. In fact, hard work can make you feel energized, but only if the work feels meaningful. When you have a really good reason for everything that you do, you can do as much as you want without ever burning out.
