Design Thinking for Those Feeling Burned-Out

When I lived in NYC I worked at an in-house design studio in the financial district for a corporate real estate company. We were all working 70 hour work weeks for months on end with no end in sight. I was burnt out. My team was burnt out. Leadership kept promising to do something about it yet nothing ever changed.

Holly Anne Burns, NYC, 2014

Burnout shows up in different ways. Sometimes it’s a total collapse, but more often than not I find it’s quieter: a fog that rolls in, dulling your sense of purpose. That project that used to light you up now feels like a checklist. You’re still showing up, still getting it done—but the spark is gone.

Or, you work with a group of professionals who are passionate and talented, but their product keeps failing, and time after time it erodes the team’s confidence.

If any of that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. I’ve been working with leaders, educators, and entrepreneurs who pour themselves into their work until the well runs dry. They care deeply, but without focus, clarity or the right collaborator by your side you can only do so much. That’s where design thinking comes in.

Design thinking is a mindset that invites us to pause, reconnect, and reframe. It’s a framework for solving business problems that shifts the focus from your own sense of defeat or from looking inward to thinking about what might be possible if we look at our challenges differently. 

I’ve seen design thinking reignite energy for teams who felt stuck and individuals who felt depleted. Because it helps you clear away the noise and focus on what matters most.

It starts with empathy: both for the people you serve and also for yourself. What assumptions are you operating under that might no longer serve you and your team? Next, you begin to experiment and get curious again, asking “how might we?” until you arrive at something that feels worthy of ideating on, then, prototyping. Finally, you begin testing ideas that bring joy or clarity back into the work. And iterating when necessary.

If you’re burned out, let’s get you a new lens. One that reminds you that you are allowed to question, to reimagine, and to design a better way forward.

Let’s start there: Moving from burned out to on fire (in the best possible way). Burns Design Strategy can help ignite your spark (pun intended).

If this resonates with you, I’d love to hear what you’re navigating. These are the kinds of challenges I help teams and individuals untangle through my design strategy practice.

Burns Design Strategy can help ignite your spark (pun intended).