Burnout Early Warning

This is a self-assessment tool, not a clinical diagnosis. Burnout can overlap with depression, anxiety, and other conditions. If symptoms are severe, persistent, or include thoughts of self-harm, this skill is the wrong tool — talk to a mental health professional. The skill says this every time and refuses to play therapist. That boundary is the brand.

Within scope, the skill does one thing well: it catches the signals earlier than you would on your own. Burnout builds over 4-12 weeks through five dimensions — energy trajectory (does it recover overnight, on weekends, or not at all?), motivation (engagement vs. apathy vs. cynicism), output quality (more errors, slower pace, missed commitments?), recovery behaviours (genuine rest vs. numbing — scrolling and Netflix aren't the same as recharging), and interpersonal signals (irritability, withdrawal, people noticing). Each gets Red/Yellow/Green. The combination produces a risk level and — more importantly — a trend, because Yellow trending to Red is more urgent than stable Yellow.

The output isn't just a score. It identifies the root cause — overwork, lack of control, values misalignment, or insufficient recovery — because the interventions for each are different. Cutting hours doesn't fix values misalignment. Adding recovery doesn't fix lack of control. Misdiagnosing the cause means picking the wrong fix.

By risk level the prescription differs. Moderate gets one structural change protected for two weeks. High gets immediate action this week. Critical includes the explicit recommendation to consider professional support — because at that point this skill isn't the right tool. The whole design is built on one principle: small interventions early beat big interventions late. A 30-minute weekly recovery activity added at Yellow prevents a 3-month sabbatical at Red. The skill is direct, not dramatic — if the signals point to burnout, it says so clearly. Comfortable lies don't help anyone.