Burnout, Work, and Designing a Life That Works

Conversations about burnout have been showing up frequently in my work lately.

Recently, I’ve spoken with several individuals who feel depleted or stuck in their roles and are beginning to question how their work fits into the broader context of their lives. These conversations have been especially interesting for me because they connect to my own professional journey.

For two decades, I worked inside organizations where the goal was to build leadership development into the culture — helping employees feel more engaged, motivated, and supported in their work.

Now that I’m in private practice, my focus has shifted from supporting organizations to supporting individuals. But in many ways, the core idea is the same: helping people understand their work within the broader context of their lives.

Instead of focusing solely on helping people feel better about their jobs, we take a structured positive psychology approach to help them think more holistically about their lives — and the role work plays within them.

The process I use is intentionally designed to mirror how well-being tends to build psychologically and behaviorally:

Learn → Apply → Reflect → Integrate

We begin with a process called life crafting — a reflective design exercise where individuals step back and examine their lives holistically. They explore questions such as:

• What provides meaning and purpose in my life?

• What kind of life do I want to build over time?

• How do my work, relationships, values, and goals fit into that vision?

After learning about the concept, individuals spend a week working through the life crafting exercise. When we meet again, we reflect on what they noticed, uncover insights together, and begin integrating those insights into their lives.

From there, the following weeks introduce additional evidence-based positive psychology practices such as gratitude, acts of kindness, strengthening social connections, meditation, character strengths, and mindfulness-based goal setting using the WOOP method (Wish–Outcome–Obstacle–Plan).

As people move through this process, a shift often occurs. Rather than trying to simply “fix” their work situation, they begin to see how their work fits into the larger architecture of their life. They often discover the agency they have to shape their role, clarify what matters most to them, and develop psychological tools that help them stay aligned with that direction. 

It’s a deeply empowering process.

While many recent conversations have centered on job and career questions, this model can support anyone navigating a life transition — because ultimately the goal is not just to improve work, but to design a life that supports well-being, meaning, and growth. 

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆, 𝘄𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸,𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀.