Emotional exhaustion colors our perception negatively, leading to disengagement and feelings of doubt/distrust. This cynicism demotivates and leads to burnout, as we focus on avoiding losses more than on approaching gains. Cynicism recovery happens by reframing the motivational system into one that is more approach driven (as opposed to avoidance driven), as it generates more excitement and less procrastination. To do that:

1. Separate your list of goals into focused and avoidance focused goals.
2. Reframe the avoidance-based goals into approach-focused goals.
3. Some goals you can’t reframe, describe their solution in detail. Patient Using the format “IF {situation} THEN I will {behavior}. ”

• Chronic fatigue
• Insomnia
• Impaired concentration/ forgetfulness
• Loss of appetite
• Anxiety
• Increased illness
• Physical symptoms
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Dizziness
• Gastrointestinal pain
• Depression
• Interpersonal problems.

As losing resources is more likely to cause burnout than gaining resources is to mitigate it, dealing with the negative aspects is more beneficial than using positive “band-aid” fixes. You want to drive down uncertainty and inefficiency to ensure that you aren’t doing unnecessary tasks and minimize your emotional exhaustion. To do that:

1. Create a chart and place your major goal at its top, followed by layers of very specific subgoals needed to attain the major goal.
2. Find and fix the inefficiencies in your goal hierarchy.
3. Determine the attainability of each goal.

• Pessimism
• Isolation
• Lack of motivation
• Loss of enjoyment
• Detachment
• Feelings of meaninglessness.

• Lack of productivity
• Declining performance
• Feelings of hopelessness
• Increased irritability.