Why Your Brain Biases Keep You Burned Out (And What to Do About It)
Your 'efficient' brain routes you back to burnout instead of the route to success if you let it
The sky was pitch black, the rain pelted like gravel on the windscreen, and I could barely see the road ahead.
My heart raced as I was sure I'd skid off the tarmac and that'd be the end.
I hate dark, narrow British country roads, and having survived a car accident decades ago, I'm still nervous when I drive.
Chuck in adverse weather conditions and the mental games load pressure on my focus and attention.
It's not dissimilar to burnout. A foggy mess of negative expectations, old grief, and mental shortcuts leave you convinced the worst is coming, even when it’s not.
Under toxic stress, you lose sight of where you’re going, second-guess every decision, and beat yourself up - before you know it, you’re stuck in the same loop.
Burnout, frustration, rinse, and repeat.
This mental fog isn’t random though.
Your brain’s predictive coding system (its shortcut for making sense of the world) and any unresolved losses (the ones you think don’t matter but actually run the show) keep you stuck in unhelpful, messy patterns.
Metaphorically speaking, when you clear the mental fog, you'll see the lighthouse beam at last, and set yourself on course to a healthier career and life.
Navigating the fog: the real reason burnout keeps you habitually stuck
I used to think burnout was only about working too much. It’s not.
This myth is so persistent but it does us a disservice. Sure, excessive workload is one (of many) drivers contributing to overextension and full burnout for some.
But this distracts from what happens under the surface, and how unprocessed grief and loss, past failures, and stress hijack your ability to see a hopeful way ahead.
These internal vulnerabilities need more attention and exploration.
Here’s what happens:
Your brain expects more of what it’s already seen in the past. It aims to be efficient - to predict next steps ASAP based on experience - because brain processing and uncertainty is metabolically expensive.
If burnout, stress, or disappointment have been your default, your brain assumes that’s what’s coming next.
It’s not pessimism but well-worn neural circuits, kicking in like autopilot, to create a mental fog
If you’ve experienced loss - of a role, a person, a sense of identity etc - you don’t just ‘move on.’
That loss becomes a filter for how you see the future. It puts pressure on your available resources, such as time, attention, focus, support etc, pushing your nervous system into a higher stressed state.
The result?
You keep running in repeated circles, even if you know your mental, emotional or behavioural habits don't help.
You feel stuck, but you’re not stuck.
Your brain’s just running an outdated map leading you back to the same place, even if you want to be elsewhere.
The brain loves a shortcut and why change is costly
We know your brain loves efficiency.
It doesn’t process everything when it has all the data it needs from your external and internal worlds.
Instead, it predicts what’s next based on what’s already happened and some familiar data points.
Imagine yourself on a timed gameshow round and you're trying to guess the picture in front of you from a patchy sketch.
It's why we respond instinctively, often before conscious thought has kicked in. It's a best guess at speed.
This predictive coding is handy most of the time. But in burnout or toxic stress it’s a fricking nightmare.
Like your workout or ‘doing housework’ playlist, if stress is the norm, your brain preloads “stress and your perceived inability to cope” with it into your expectations.
If you’ve faced repeated disappointments, your brain expects more of the same.
If burnout has been a habitual cycle, as it does for many of us, your brain assumes it’s inevitable.
This is why burnout doesn’t just “go away” on its own. Your brain is biased toward expecting the worst, even when the route ahead is clear or manageable.
And if you've got unresolved loss lurking in the background, the bias gets stronger because your resources are already under pressure.
How unresolved loss acts as a hidden anchor and blocks your future vision
Loss doesn’t disappear. It embeds itself into how you see the future by updating your predictions and anchoring them in place.
Maybe it’s:
A career or leadership role that didn’t pan out the way you hoped.
A relationship that changed how you trust people or yourself.
A dream you had to let go of.
Even if you don’t think about it consciously, your brain remembers.
And when something reminds you of this loss? Your brain gets clouded by this familiar fog and you're stuck again.
It assumes the past will repeat and automatically preps you for it, making you second-guess every decision.
You might think:
What’s the point?
It’ll go wrong anyway.
I don’t trust myself to get this right.
Why is this happening to me again?
It tries to protect you from the pain, hurt, or discomfort you’ve experienced before, even if these won't happen this time.
This isn't logic but loss talking.
Burnout isn’t just stress.
It’s the weight of everything you never got to process, that keeps you from seeing your ideal route ahead.
When brain bias and loss team up in an unhealthy loop
So here’s how this predictive brain bias and unprocessed loss plays out:
You want change. Maybe it’s a career shift, a break, or just a plan that actually feels good.
Your brain replays old failures or blockers. It predicts more of the same and highlights the certainty of what you do know.
You second-guess, delay, or self-sabotage. Instead of moving forward to new options, you stay where it’s ‘safe.’
Burnout deepens. Your energy drains from the sheer weight of all that mental fog, and the push and pull of wanting to change but holding yourself back.
This reinforces the cycle, making you even more convinced nothing can change.
You're so tired already, and change is effortful and resource-heavy - you believe there's no point trying.
But here’s the annoying thing: this mental fog isn't reality.
It’s just the brain doing what it always does, predicting based on past input. It just happens to use outdated info.
The good thing is your brain is plastic and flexible. You can change these predictions with focused attention and intentional action.
Clear the fog to see your future again
Before you rush into ‘fixing’ your burnout, you need one thing first: clarity.
Yes I know, it's an overused and sometimes abstract term. Clarity about what, exactly?
It's clarity about what's driving your mental fog and burnout symptoms right now.
You can’t map a route forward until you know what’s clouding your vision.
This coming week, try the following strategies to get clear on what's blocking you, and tweak your behaviour to challenge it:
Spot the fog: what's really going on?
Next time you feel stuck or in analysis-paralysis, ask: “Is this current stress, or is this an old loss or pattern showing up?”
Notice where your brain defaults to worst-case scenarios. Is it based on actual evidence or just autopilot habit?
Note the recurring fears (the ones keeping you up at night) stopping you from making decisions. Are they yours? Or are they echoes from past experiences?
Flip the bias: challenge one prediction
Your brain expects more of what it’s seen. So, disrupt it.
If your brain says “This'll never work”, ask: “Has this ever gone right before and if so, when? (Spoiler: It probably has but we're crap at remembering the good stuff.)
If you’re convinced burnout symptoms are inevitable, test your hypothesis. Do one small thing differently this week. Notice if and how the pattern shifts.
If a past loss is fuelling your doubt, ask: “Would I trust this prediction if it wasn’t coming from fear?”
Remind yourself how resilient you are. We underplay our toughness and what we've survived. Update your brain predictions consciously with these experiences too.
When you try these strategies, remember to dial down the self-criticism.
Be a curious scientist instead. You're collecting data to test a hypothesis.
It's not about the type of person you are, or aren't. Let go of old labels.
Prioritise any unhelpful predictions you want to update, whether they're thoughts, emotions or habits.
It's entirely in your hands to change.
Use creative expression to untangle the foggy mess
I love nerdy techniques and mindset, emotional fitness, or behavioural change tools.
But it's important to use the right tool for the right job at the right time.
As my coaching practice and personal experiences developed, I've leaned into neuroarts and creative expression for deeper self-inquiry.
They offer a great way to express from an unconscious level to create something tangible - a letter, a piece of art, or a voice note.
Not only does this get it out of your head, but offers you distance and shifts perspective to discover new meanings.
Here are some process options for the strategies above:
Write it. Grab a notebook and let it all out - the losses, fears, the doubts, the hopes buried under the mental fog.
Draw it. If words don’t come easily, scribble a map of how you see your future (even if it’s unclear) and what's getting in the way.
Speak it. Tell a friend, a coach, or even your phone’s voice notes what’s actually looping in your head. Hearing it out loud cuts through the mental noise.
You might not choose the same option every time. Being flexible is fine.
Key takeaways
Burnout isn’t just overworking, but your brain's biases stuck in outdated predictions.
Unresolved loss colours your vision and ability to see a new future. It makes the journey feel impossible.
Recognising the mental fog through self-awareness is step one before you plan, before you act, and before you kickstart burnout recovery.
Challenging one prediction at a time starts shifting your old patterns.
Creative expression (writing, mapping, speaking) are handy tools to untangle these mental loops.
Once you see what's causing your mental fog, you can clear it and set off to the future you want.
For today though, keep it simple and just notice.
Notice where your brain is running an old, unhelpful prediction.
Notice where a past loss still steers the ship to an old destination that no longer serves you?
Spot the fog first. The rest comes next.
P.S. I'm taking on new coaching clients for February and March. To explore what's keeping you stuck in mental fog and blocks your career progress, book a free 25m call with me to see how I can help.
Love it. I've got a couple of friends looking for a new job at the moment and they are getting very despondent. I can see that they are only thinking about the bad things that have happened to them, but they can't.