Signs I wish I paid more attention to
1. Time Doesn't Feel Like Yours Anymore
You’re always rushing. There’s never enough time. Every conversation becomes a transaction — shorter, faster, "efficient." This isn’t productivity. This is fragmentation. Fragmentation shows up in your relationship with time. We react to this famine by shortening our interactions with others for the sake of efficiency.
2. You’re Working More, But Feeling Less
The grind never ends. Instead of confidence, there’s a quiet panic: “Am I doing enough?” Days bleed into nights. You stack hours hoping they’ll give you an edge, but you can’t see the future clearly anymore.
3. You Avoid Stillness Like It’s Dangerous
Silence feels wasteful. Time offline feels reckless. If you’re scared to be alone without your laptop, that’s not ambition. That’s avoidance.
4. Your body keeps score but you keep skipping gym
How many times have you lost your workout streak because “work got in the way”? Is it happening more often? That’s not hustle. That’s depletion.
5. Your Focus Window is Shrinking
Can you concentrate deeply for an hour? Or do interruptions win every time? If your brain only moves in fragments, so will your outcomes.
6. Your Phone Is Always On — Even When You're Supposed to Be Off
When was the last time you had a tech-free day? Do you even remember what it feels like to be unavailable? Ask yourself: who controls your time — you, or your business?
7. Your Last Vacation Didn’t Help
Did you truly disconnect? Or did you spend half the trip checking Slack, dreading return? If you came back just as exhausted, it wasn’t a break — it was a timeout from drowning.
8. You Fantasize About a Simpler Life
This is a sign. Not weakness. Not failure. Just clarity trying to break through.
9. You’re Rebuilding the Org — Again
If every decision feels improvised and your company’s direction shifts every quarter, it’s not just strategy. It might be that you're tired of thinking.
10. you're way more tired than ever before
Somehow you feel you don't have as much energy as you did when ypu were young. You've a feeling sometimes of being past your prime. You know some tasks are important but still get impatient when things don't move fast.
Conclusion
Burnout rarely announces itself with a breakdown. It arrives subtly — through rushed mornings, skipped workouts, and silent dread. If any of these signs feel uncomfortably familiar, don’t wait for the crash. Burnout isn’t a badge of honor. It’s an alert.
Magnus exists for this moment — when you know something’s off, but you’re not sure what to do about it. Don’t recover alone. You don’t have to.