Burnout Is Often a Process Problem
Solve your greatest productivity challenges by identifying which executive functioning skill is getting in your way.
When a task keeps wearing you down, find the part of the process that isn’t working.
My desk often holds two containers of water: a glass of water, and a reusable water bottle. I put them there because I want to drink more water. The water is within reach, and I know it matters to my health to do this. Yet I still end some meetings with two empty containers beside me and no plan to refill them.
The task sounds easy, but this pattern has persisted for months.
Mark Talaga helped me see why during a recent episode of the Time Billionaires podcast. Mark is a licensed professional counselor and the founder of the Center for Identity Potential. He works with people who identify as both gifted and neurodivergent. He also hosts the Hopelessly Gifted podcast.
Mark views many cases of burnout through the lens of executive function. He describes executive function as the brain’s command center. It helps us turn a thought into an action. It also helps us start, continue, rank, and sequence tasks.
When one part of that process takes too much effort, the strain can build. We may keep pushing without seeing the source of the problem. Over time, that repeated strain can leave us exhausted.
Burnout can start with a small point of friction
We often talk about burnout as one large problem. Mark breaks it into smaller skills. These skills include:
Initiation: starting a task
Sustaining: continuing a task over time
Prioritization: deciding what matters most
Sequencing: putting steps in the correct order
Working memory: keeping needed information available
Emotional regulation: managing feelings while we act
Metacognition: noticing and assessing our own process
A person can be strong in one area and struggle in another. You may start projects with energy but lose momentum after one week. You may know every step but freeze because each task feels urgent. You may remember a goal only when a visual cue sits in front of you.
Each problem needs a different response. The response must fit the source of friction.
Start with one specific question: Where does this process break down?
Separate starting from sustaining
Starting and sustaining can look like the same problem from the outside. Both can leave a task unfinished. The cause can differ.
When initiation is hard, look at the first steps you’re taking. You may understand the result but feel unsure about one action in the middle. That gap can make the whole task hard to start.
Write the process in small steps. Then look for the first step that feels unclear, uncomfortable, or too large. You may need information, support, or a smaller action before you can begin.
Sustaining needs another approach. You may start with ease but lack the support to repeat the task. Mark recommends that you review your expectations and your environment. Ask whether the process can work every day or every week. A single success does not prove that the process can last.
You may also need help. An accountability partner can keep the goal present. Another person may take one part of the task. A calendar reminder can prompt the next action. These supports are part of the process.
Treat a repeated problem as a complex problem
Mark gave advice that may sound strange at first. When a simple problem keeps returning, treat it as more complex than it seems.
The task itself may take only a few seconds. Its supporting system can include time, reminders, tools, people, expectations, and competing priorities. One weak part can stop the full process.
As Mark says, “if it was simple, you would have solved it.”
This idea applies to habits that look easy from the outside. Drinking water is easy. Remembering to refill a bottle between meetings requires another step. Replying to a text is easy. Choosing to use family time for messages requires a trade-off.
Look at the full system when a problem keeps returning. You may need more structure for a short time. Later, you can remove support that you no longer need.
Use an external cue when memory is not enough
My water example showed a problem with sustaining. I can take a sip when the water is beside me. The process fails when both containers are empty.
Mark calls the containers a form of external working memory. The visual cue holds the reminder outside your mind. It keeps the task visible when your attention moves elsewhere.
External working memory can take many forms. You can place an item where you will use it. You can add a reminder to a calendar. You can leave a short note beside a door. You can prepare the next step before you finish the current one.
I already care about my water goal. The process needs a set refill time. I could refill the containers between two set meetings. I could keep a full bottle in another room. I could use a calendar reminder until the action becomes familiar.
The cue must appear at the point where the process tends to fail.
Force a choice when everything feels urgent
Prioritization can also create burnout. A long list of urgent tasks gives the brain no clear place to start.
“And if everything is marked urgent, your brain doesn’t know what to do with that,” Mark said.
He recommends a forced choice. Take two tasks and ask which one matters more, even by a small amount. Keep comparing two tasks at a time. This process creates a ranked list with a clear first task and a clear last task.
This method can help individuals and teams. A manager may keep adding work after each meeting or leadership request. The team then moves between tasks, completes little, and stays busy all day. The manager must make the trade-offs visible. A new priority must change the order of the current work.
The same rule applies at home. Faster replies to text messages may sound like an easy goal. But faster replies require time that you now use for rest, family, or another task. The goal has a cost. A forced ranking helps you decide whether that cost matches your real priorities.
Replace a behavior you want to stop
Goals often focus on stopping an action. We want to stop scrolling before bed, stop delaying a task, or stop checking email during focused work.
Mark recommends that we give the brain an action to perform. Choose a replacement that meets the same need. A person who scrolls to relax may read a familiar book, listen to music, or prepare for sleep in another enjoyable way. A person who checks email from habit may write one line about the next work step instead.
The replacement makes the goal concrete. It also creates an identity that you can practice. You can protect the last 20 minutes before sleep or close one task before opening another.
Remove the moral label
Labels such as lazy, procrastinator, and perfectionist can stop useful investigation. They describe a person instead of the process.
Mark has seen this pattern in his work with families. “It is a skill set or a micro-skill, like sustaining, that needs to be explored?” he recommends asking. The missing skill may involve one of the executive functioning skills of sustaining attention, remembering a step, ranking tasks, or managing emotions.
A process view directs responsibility toward a specific change, rather than an individual failing. And if the pattern has repeated enough, it’s clear that the issue isn’t one of discipline or willpower, but of environment, process, or skill. This makes it easier and more actionable to understand the next steps.
When a task stays unfinished despite multiple attempts, it’s easy for it to appear more burdensome or challenging than it needs to be. Individual shame often takes over, even subconsciously, making it ironically even less likely to interrupt the pattern. Then we avoid the task, we feel worse, and use the delay as more proof that something is wrong with us or we’re not capable of it. A process question can interrupt that cycle and give you something concrete to focus on.
Ask: Why is this hard for me? Out of a place of genuine curiosity, not self-indictment.
Answer the question with facts. You may discover that the first step is unclear. The task may compete with a more important goal. You may need a visual cue, more time, another person, or a smaller standard for the first attempt.
A repeated problem usually contains a factor that you have not addressed.
Try this in your next micromoment
Choose one task that you have delayed or failed to sustain. Pick something that has bothered you for at least a few weeks.
Write the task at the top of a page. Then answer these questions:
Do I want to start this task, continue it, or stop a different behavior?
At what exact point does the process fail?
Do I know every step?
Does this task have a clear place among my other priorities?
What cue, support, or replacement action would help at the point of failure?
What trade-off will this choice require?
Choose one change that fits your answer. Add one cue. Ask one person for help. Rank two competing tasks. Define the next physical action. Choose a replacement for the behavior that you want to stop.
Listen to this episode with Mark Talaga wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen to the Full Episode
🎧 Time Billionaires — “You’re Not Lazy. Your process is broken ” with Mark Talaga.
👉 Listen on Apple Podcasts
👉 Listen on Spotify
👉 Watch on YouTube
