Check. Reset. Refuel.: a simple practice for burnout moments

You know the moment. It’s 3pm, there are four tabs you’re afraid to look at, the news is on a loop in your head, and your body is doing that thing where it’s tired and wired at the same time. You don’t need a twenty-minute meditation or a new life plan right now. You need something you can do in the next minute, wherever you are.

That’s what Check. Reset. Refuel. is for. It’s three steps you can remember on a bad day. The first two take about a minute and get you through the moment. The third is how you keep going.

Check how you are. Reset your body. Refuel over time.

1. Check.

Before you can do anything about burnout, you have to notice it. So the first step is a quick, honest read of your battery:

• How charged am I right now? Charged, flickering, running low, fried, or burned out.
• What’s draining me? Work, the news, people, money, screens, or everything at once.

This isn’t navel-gazing. Research on “affect labeling” suggests that simply putting a feeling into words can take some of the edge off it. Naming it moves you from being swept along by the feeling to noticing it.

2. Reset.

Next, bring your body down a notch, in a way that actually fits where you are. Some of the best-studied options take a minute or less:

• At your desk: box breathing. In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four. Silent, eyes open, nobody on the call will know.
• On the move: the two-part sigh. Two breaths in through the nose, then one long, slow breath out. A long exhale is one of the quickest ways to come down.
• Off the screen: walk to a window or step outside and find a tree or the sky. Time with nature is one of the most studied ways to recover from mental fatigue.
• In your body: shake out your hands, roll your shoulders, unclench your jaw. A little movement helps burn off what’s built up.

The goal isn’t to feel amazing. It’s to come down far enough to choose your next move instead of reacting.

3. Refuel.

Resets get you through the moment. Refuelling is how you stop hitting the wall every week. Research on recovery from work points to a few things that genuinely put energy back:

• Switching off properly. Actually logging off, not half-checking Slack on the couch.
• Real rest. A short nap, a slow evening, sleep you protect.
• Something absorbing. A hobby, a game, cooking, anything that pulls your attention fully away from the drain.
• Some control over your time. Even small choices about when and how you do things help.

The other half of refuelling is learning your patterns. If you check in for a couple of weeks, you’ll start to see when you run low, what drains you most, and which resets actually work for you. That’s what lets you get ahead of the next wall instead of crashing into it.

Try it now

Right now, before you close this tab: Check. How charged are you, honestly? Reset. One two-part sigh: two breaths in, one long breath out. Refuel. Pick one small thing you’ll do tonight that has nothing to do with work.

That’s it. Small comebacks count.

Further reading

• World Health Organization (2019). Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases.
• Lieberman, M. D. et al. (2007). Putting feelings into words: affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science.
• Balban, M. Y. et al. (2023). Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal. Cell Reports Medicine.
• Kaplan, S. (1995). The restorative benefits of nature: toward an integrative framework. Journal of Environmental Psychology.
• Sonnentag, S. & Fritz, C. (2007). The Recovery Experience Questionnaire. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.

This article is general wellness information, not medical advice. It isn’t a treatment for any condition. If burnout is making it hard to get through the day, talk to a doctor or someone you trust. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 (US).