
As it is with so many things, burnout is both simple and not simple at the same time. You can be either burnt out or not. Many people stop there. However, there are four burnout subtypes linked to different energy types.
You can either be exclusively experiencing one form of burnout, a combination, or a grand slam with all four subtypes. Identifying your specific burnout type can aid recovery and prevention.
The four different types of energy
Before discussing burnout subtypes, we must examine our energy more closely. It may seem like we either have plenty of energy or none. Or we have a complete lack of energy and aren’t able to do what we need or want to do. Usually we fall somewhere on that spectrum.
However, energy, like burnout, has four subtypes:
- Physical energy – what we typically associate with our day-to-day energy levels
- Mental energy – our ability to make good decisions, solve problems and stay focused
- Emotional energy – our ability to connect with work and others and handle difficult situations, whether personally or for others.
- Fulfillment energy – comes from knowing our work has purpose and makes a difference, giving us a sense of accomplishment.
Some of our daily activities and experiences will drain one type of energy, while recharging the other. For example, speaking on stage or giving a virtual workshop recharges my fulfillment energy but drains my physical, mental, and emotional energy.
A walk with my dog drains physical energy, while restoring mental and emotional energy.
Dealing with nit-picky details and frustrating situations? Drains everything across the board.
Feeling like I’m just spinning my wheels, completing tasks but feeling like I’m getting nowhere? Sucks all the energy out of all four tanks.

The four different types of burnout
As we discussed in this article, burnout is an experience of complete or near complete exhaustion. Looking at our energy in this way then allows us to see the four different types of burnout:
- Physical Burnout – your body feels exhausted, making even small tasks like getting a drink of water seem overwhelming. No matter how much you sleep, you rarely wake up rested.
- Mental Burnout – You feel overwhelmed by requests and decisions, even simple ones. Tasks that used to be easy now seem daunting. You struggle with finding the right words, often resorting to charades.
- Emotional Burnout – You’re quick to shut down, get angry, or cry over things that usually don’t affect you. You lose joy in activities you once enjoyed and struggle with patience and listening.
- Fulfillment Burnout – You feel like your efforts are pointless, akin to Eeyore’s “nothing matters” attitude. Your work goes unnoticed or is undermined, and you end up with busywork or projects that are scrapped.

Why it’s important to know your burnout subtype
Now you may be thinking, “that’s all well and good but why does it matter?”
Great question!
Understanding our burnout subtype not only helps us know where to focus our Recovery and Optimization efforts by identifying which energy tank needs the most attention. Identifying our burnout subtype also helps us build our own Red Flag Warning System to help us recognize when we’re heading down the path towards burnout so that we can put the brakes on before we go too far down the stress curve.
Catching Burnout Early
This is key.
It’s rare that we go right from peak performance into full blown burnout across all four energy types. Usually it starts with one, maybe two, and then progresses taking more and more out of you until all of your energy is drained across the board which leaves you in a pretty epic burnout experience. If you can catch it early when you’re only experiencing burnout in one or two energy categories, then your recovery time will be faster and the impact that burnout has on your life may be much, much less.

How to Determine Your Burnout Subtype
Not sure which kind of burnout you’re experiencing? Worried that it might be in all four categories of burnout? Take my free Burnout Self Assessment to figure out which combination of burnout you are experiencing and get specific recommendations for how to start your recovery process.
One last quick note – if you’re experiencing burnout to any degree across any or all of the categories, the last thing you want to do is add anything else to your busy to-do list. I know you’re a high acheiver and want to jump right in and overhaul your habits to follow the ‘better plan’ (whatever that means for you). However, I cannot stress enough how important it is to make small shifts.
Making Small Shifts for Recovery
Small. Shifts.
Instead of setting your alarm clock for 5 am to have your “miracle morning” with a strict routine and list of things that must get done – choose one recovery strategy and implement it in the shortest time possible. There’s a reason why our yoga classes are 15 minutes and we have a bunch of 60 second guided meditations in the Flow State App.
Small shifts, my friend. Small shifts. You’ll be surprised to see how quickly they start making a difference.
