WIPE_SCRIPTS

The Science of Burnout: Why It's a Resource Equation, Not a Willpower Deficit

13 scripts this research explains — "I'm just tired" and "I should be able to push through" are the two sentences that keep burned-out people burned out. Oc

“I just need to push through this stretch and then I'll recover.” Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources theory shows the opposite: when energy is depleted faster than it's replenished, the gap widens with every extra push. Working through exhaustion is not grit — it's the accelerant.

The Empty Tank

“I don't hate my job. I just don't care about any of it anymore — and I don't care that I don't care.” The Maslach Burnout Inventory identifies this as depersonalization: emotional detachment that develops as an unconscious shield against further depletion. It isn't indifference. It's a blast door the nervous system installed without asking.

The Glass Wall

“I used to be good at this. Now I'm not. Which means I never actually was.” The Maslach model calls this reduced personal efficacy — a collapse in felt competence that's the third dimension of clinical burnout. The meter is broken: burnout-impaired performance and genuine incompetence produce identical readings on a depleted instrument.

The Broken Meter

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