Hey,

Did you taste burnout in 2025?

Those days when your hands refuse to move. When the work you once loved becomes a weight you cannot lift. When you find yourself suspended between labour and rest, belonging to neither.

I know this place well.

March was my darkest month. I wasn't even working hard. Yet exhaustion had settled into my bones. A fire behind my eyes. I could not create. I could not rest. I simply existed in the space between.

But here is what puzzles me still.

From April to August, I did not take a single day of rest. Not one. I worked every single day.

September until now? The same. No traditional rest.

And yet, no burnout.

What changed?

I will explain. But first, we must examine what truly causes burnout. Because once you understand the disease, the cure becomes obvious.

What Actually Causes Burnout

1. Labour without harvest

You pour ten hours into your craft. Nothing grows. You publish videos into the void. Silence. You study for weeks. No progress. You train until your muscles scream. No change.

This is what breaks a person. The mind requires evidence that effort carries meaning. Without proof, it begins to abandon you.

2. Neglecting the vessel

This one nearly destroyed me.

Insufficient sleep. No protein. And here lies the irony: I was not avoiding the gym. I was overdoing it. Training every day without rest.

I moved through my days heavy and foggy. I believed I was being disciplined. In truth, I was dismantling myself.

3. The weight of inaction

There is something that devours you from within when you know what you should be doing but keep whispering "not yet" or "I am not ready" or "let me wait a little longer."

That guilt? It drains you more than the work ever could.

4. Speaking more than doing

Meetings. Emails. Planning. Discussing.

Many people spend more hours talking about work than performing it. This breeds a quiet frustration because somewhere deep inside, you know you are not touching what matters.

The Common Advice (That I Mostly Reject)

You have heard it all before:

"Time block your day" - I find no use in this. Life demands flexibility. Events arrive unannounced. If I plan to finish at the gym in one hour and it consumes two, what then? My entire architecture collapses?

"Set boundaries" - Some boundaries I hold sacred. Prayer time is untouchable. Family time is protected. But beyond this? Sometimes I must respond to something urgent. Repair a flaw. Complete a project. Rigid walls do not fit a life in motion.

"Unplug for a week" - Yes, this helps. But it is not sustainable counsel for someone building something from nothing.

"Automate and delegate" - Wise advice for those with resources. Most of us do not have this luxury.

These suggestions are not wrong. They simply did not serve me.

What Actually Worked For Me

One shift changed everything.

I ceased treating rest as "doing nothing" and began treating it as "doing something different."

Here is my daily rhythm:

Morning: I touch no work. I pray. I read. I eat. I go to the gym.

Sometimes I abandon this when urgent work demands attention. But most days, this morning ritual carries me through everything that follows.

The true secret: Prayer.

As a Muslim, I pray five times each day. Each prayer consumes roughly forty-five minutes when you include everything surrounding it.

Let me dissect what occurs in those forty-five minutes:

Wudu - The ritual washing of face, hands, arms. Water upon your face awakens something. An instant renewal.

Walking to prayer - Movement, as all wise people know, resets the mind. Clears the fog. Invites new thought.

The prayer itself - This is meditation. Stillness in a world of noise. Most people schedule this separately in their mornings. I receive it five times daily, woven into my existence.

Sunlight and fresh air - If you have listened to Andrew Huberman, you understand the weight of this. Our first prayer arrives before sunrise. Dark streets. No vehicles. Just clean air filling the lungs.

Now observe the mathematics.

45 minutes × 5 prayers = 3 hours and 45 minutes of restoration. Daily.

This exceeds any Pomodoro technique offering five-minute fragments.

I am not resting less. I am resting wiser. And far more frequently.

Other Disciplines That Served Me

One day of departure every twenty-one days. I return to my small childhood town. Spend a day or two in its quiet. Return carrying fresh ideas and restored energy.

One month of absence per year. Complete renewal.

Food. Unhealthy eating delivers a burst of energy followed by collapse. Clean nourishment provides stability. Stability prevents burnout.

Sleep. I still struggle here, if I am honest. The difficulty is not retiring early. I simply cannot fall asleep swiftly. It takes me an hour sometimes. I am still searching for the answer.

Abandoning what does not move the needle. I once maintained five morning habits. Now I keep two. I released the practices that consumed energy without delivering results.

And I cannot describe the space this created.

I began exploring advanced Notion formulas. Writing more articles. Finally launching YouTube.

(Speaking of which, here is my latest video: The Relation Hack Notion Pros Use)

The Truth

Burnout is not the consequence of working too hard.

It is the consequence of working without rhythm. Without reward. Without rest that truly restores.

You do not need to cease working.

You need to discover your version of what recharges you and weave it into every single day.

For me, it is prayer, walking, the gym, and fresh air before sunrise.

For you, it may be something entirely different.

Find it. Guard it. Practice it daily.

That is how you survive 2026 without burning out.

Two days remain.

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See you tomorrow, insha'Allah.

Osama (OLS)

P.S. - Burnout is not a badge of honour. It is a signal that something is broken. Repair the system, not merely the symptoms.