"For me, burnout means not only being tired of your job, but also inability to ‘burn' outside work."
"burn outside work"? What does that mean?
Burnout is feeling great distress at doing your job, due to factors such as overwork, disillusionment, and depression. Sometimes that adverse feeling is so intense the employee is psychologically unable to continue.
As much some people would like to fancy themselves as coldly logical automatons, human action is actually in great part motivated by feelings. So feelings matter.
If a fire has burnt out, it can’t deliver any warmth anywhere, not just at some things.
Similarly, for me, the term “burnt out” means not only that you can’t accomplish anything useful at work, but also “take that home”, and stay feeling powerless there. If you feel tired at work, but the first day of a holiday feel full of energy again, I wouldn’t call that burnout.
> If a fire has burnt out, it can’t deliver any warmth anywhere, not just at some things.
You're putting a lot of weight on the mechanics of "burning," but the physics of combustion are an analogy of convenience, not the diagnostic criteria.
One of the reasons that "burnout" applies particularly to work rather than hobbies or recreational pursuits is that people (generally speaking) can't afford to just walk away from their job and return when they feel like it.
"burn outside work"? What does that mean?
Burnout is feeling great distress at doing your job, due to factors such as overwork, disillusionment, and depression. Sometimes that adverse feeling is so intense the employee is psychologically unable to continue.
As much some people would like to fancy themselves as coldly logical automatons, human action is actually in great part motivated by feelings. So feelings matter.