What Does Burnout Look Like? My Story and Why I Began Coaching
It was the spring of 2016, and I was sat in a fancy London restaurant enjoying a fine glass of claret with a Swiss friend and fellow alumni from business school.
He and his colleague had very kindly run a workshop for our business during the preceding few days, which had been immensely beneficial for our go-to-market and commercial strategising. It’s useful to get an outside perspective, especially from an expert in the same industry.
Our tech business had been operating for a little over a year, and we had spent nearly two years total on the project by that stage. Neither my business partner nor I had taken any salary by this point, so – as is often the case in the earliest stages of start-up – we were thankful for all the help we could get.
As our evening was ending, my friend said two things to me that would become very prescient. The first will be shared in one of three books I’m writing about business relationships after 25-years in leadership. The second?
“Careful not to burnout hey. I can tell you, it’s not pretty.”
I heard the words, but I largely disregarded them, not fully appreciating what my friend was warning me about as I flippantly thought, ‘I’m no stranger to hard work’…
When Burnout Sneaks Up on You: The Subtle Signs You Might Be Missing
Burnout doesn’t always arrive with flashing warning lights. Instead, it creeps in quietly, disguising itself as normal stress, dedication, or just "having a lot on your plate." I wish I’d known.
In late 2019, our business was in a totally different place compared to the spring of 2016. It was a good place. We were being paid a moderate salary, nowhere near our market rate, but that’s a trade-off for the potential upside as a founder. But it was enough to put aside the money worries that had blighted me in the early days.
We were growing rapidly, and I had spent 6-months negotiating our first enterprise contract. It was an exciting time, but it wasn’t all plain sailing. An external delivery partner was behaving in Machiavellian fashion, causing disruption to our business. We had always acted with honesty and integrity, so it was quite a jolt to be treated in this way. Around the same time, my business and I had our first major disagreement in five years, which I recall feeling deeply upset by. I’d dealt with many difficult and stressful situations in my career, so I simply focussed on the positives and got on with resolving the challenges as best we could.
Growth enabled foreign travel, with a requirement to meet with our new delivery partners in Asia and finalise the enterprise contract with our US client in the States. We were gearing for a big ramp up project, so three of us travelled to Asia in December 2019 and the US in January 2020. After the client meetings finished, I fell ill and spent the next few days confined to my hotel bed. This felt different to a seasonal cold. I was lacking in energy, appetite, felt irritable, dizzy, and on edge. Something felt very off but it had passed by the time we were traveling home.
In March 2020, I was in California to begin our client project, but the trip coincided with the beginning of the global pandemic. Once again, I would find myself confined to a hotel bed, feeling ill but this time it was covid. As the trip was coming to an end and I had largely recovered from illness, it was announced that international borders would be closing. I had a choice to make; fly home to London or travel to Canada a month earlier than I had planned. As COO, I needed to be on the north American continent to recruit and lead the scale up of our client project. I was due to travel to Canada in April 2020 and remain there for three-months but in this fast-evolving scenario, it seemed sensible to travel to Canada a month earlier than planned.
As I was finding my feet in a strange city and the pandemic continued to evolve, I started to have bouts of anxiety. The global project we had worked so hard to secure was shrouded in doubt. Over the next few months, I experienced a range of similar symptoms to those I felt at the turn of the year, dizziness, lethargy, irritableness, occasional losses of appetite, heart palpitations, and a general feeling of being on edge. I visited the hospital emergency room on two occasions because of acute chest pain that wasn’t worth taking a chance on.
Recognising the Symptoms
Many people don’t recognise they’re burned out until they’re completely drained, questioning their motivation, or are physically unwell. This is why it’s crucial to spot the signs early, before burnout takes hold.
Whilst I didn’t experience all of these myself, research around the topic has provided some of the less obvious, yet significant signs that burnout might be creeping up on you:
1. Chronic Fatigue That Rest Doesn’t Resolve
Feeling exhausted after a long day is normal, but burnout-related fatigue is different. You might wake up already feeling depleted, even after a full night’s sleep. Over time, this exhaustion can begin to shift from just feeling "a bit tired" to a deep, unshakable weariness that no amount of rest seems to cure.
This was a long-standing one for me and it frequently led to an increase in general irritability.
2. Small Tasks Feel Overwhelming
Tasks that once felt routine, such as replying to emails, attending meetings, or even deciding what to eat for lunch, can suddenly feel insurmountable. This wasn’t so bad for me, but I did have to push myself harder to complete tasks. When you’re burned out, even minor responsibilities can feel like enormous burdens, which can leave you feeling mentally paralysed.
3. You’re Constantly Irritable or Emotionally Numb
Burnout can manifest as increased irritability, frustration, or even outright anger at minor inconveniences. Alternatively, you may feel emotionally detached, disconnected from your work, relationships, or things you once enjoyed. If you catch yourself thinking, “I just don’t care anymore,” that’s a red flag.
4. Brain Fog and Lack of Concentration
Have you found yourself struggling to focus, forgetting simple things, or zoning out in meetings more often? Burnout can impact cognitive function, making it harder to concentrate, process information, or make decisions. It can feel like your brain is running on a slow, outdated system instead of the usual high-speed processor.
Again, I’d felt like this for a while and was becoming more forgetful with things in my personal life more than with business. As someone who prides myself on being dependable and caring for those closest to me, these symptoms created a great deal of internal frustration.
5. Increased Reliance on Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Have you noticed yourself reaching for more caffeine, sugar, alcohol, or binge-watching TV as an escape? Turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms can be a sign that your mind is looking for relief from underlying burnout stress.
I’ve never been a big coffee drinker, but I found myself drinking 2-3 cups every morning. The pandemic actually had an impact on these unhealthy habits for a lot of people, but – looking back – it may have supercharged them a little more for me. Every box was ticked here.
6. Physical Symptoms with No Clear Cause
Burnout often presents in the body before the mind fully acknowledges it. Headaches, muscle tension, frequent colds, digestive issues, or unexplained aches and pains could be physical signs of stress overload. If your body is sending distress signals, listen.
All my vital statistics and physical health assessments reported that I was in great health, yet I had a range of the physical symptoms described. It wasn’t until I saw a private doctor for a 90-minute consultation that it became clearer the issues were more rooted in the mind and weakening the immune system, causing physical issues.
7. The Feeling That "Something’s Off"
Sometimes, burnout isn’t about specific symptoms, it can be an overall feeling that something just isn’t right. Maybe you’re not as engaged in conversations, not laughing as much, or just don’t feel like yourself. This quiet sense of disconnect can be an early warning sign.
Entrepreneurial Burnout
As an entrepreneur, you put everything on the line to succeed and you need to have the right support network and healthy habits to enable you to build resilience.
An absence of these habits weakens your ability to cope over the long-term and makes you more susceptible to burnout. This is what happened to me, and, to some degree, I had to re-set and begin building a suite of new healthy habits, one-by-one.
A survey by Sifted in 2024 reported that 53% of founders experienced burnout in the past year.
This statistic underlines the high levels of stress and the mental health challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the startup ecosystem.
My experience led me back to various personal growth practices and a realignment with my purpose. As I built a stronger team of mentors to help support me, “coaching” kept coming up as a discussion point. As I continued with personal growth work, I started to feel some important shifts, and there was a realisation that something deeply important was missing from my life… directly helping others. I’ve done a lot of charity work in my life, and it was incredibly fulfilling.
As a founder, you often have ambitions to help a lot of people through your products & services, but it’s rarely in profound that truly matter to the core of their being. Whilst I retain my ambition as a founder to develop an incredible business, I also felt a need to use my skills and experiences to help others. Coaching continually emerged as a vocation that would make me happy and align more with my purpose.
I believe that we all have internal wisdom, often that is blocked. These blockages can prevent us from accessing our internal intuition and, over time, can lead us to misalignment that can lead to burnout. Balancing ambition with wellbeing was a pivotal moment for me and it came – in part – from following my gut, my intuition, my internal compass. This is the foundational essence of the coaching courses I have created for founders, leaders, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
The Bottom Line: Catching Burnout Early Matters
Burnout isn’t just about being "too busy", it’s a state of prolonged stress that can affect your health, productivity, and happiness. The earlier you recognise the subtle warning signs, the sooner you can take steps to reset, recharge, and prevent a full-blown crash.
If any of these signs feel familiar, it might be time to pause, reflect, and prioritise your well-being before burnout takes a heavier toll.