- Tools
- Burnout and Energy Audit
A weekly check-in for how much you have left.
Once a week, answer 9 short statements about the past seven days, mark what drained you and what gave energy back, and pick one move for the week ahead. Your energy, connection and traction go on a twelve-week chart, so you see a slide while it is still a slope.
- 2 minutes a week
- 12-week trend
- Free, no account
How it goes
Two minutes, the same day each week. Each step below is drawn from the check-in itself.
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Answer for the past seven days
Nine statements, from Never to Almost always, about work, study, caring or whatever took most of your effort. Each set of three gives a score out of 100, and higher is better on all three.
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Mark what shaped the week
Sleep, workload, other people’s needs, screens, movement, support, boundaries, meaning and switching off. Mark each as drained, refilled or neither. After a few weeks, the ones that keep coming up are named for you.
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Pick one move, then check on it
Ideas follow from your lowest score and from what drained you. Pick one or write your own. Next week starts by asking whether you tried it, and the chart shows whether anything moved.
Three things it measures
The World Health Organization describes burn-out by three signs: running out of energy, pulling away from your work, and getting less done. The check-in asks about each, turned the right way up, in statements written for it.
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Energy
How much you had left Exhaustion, turned the right way up- “I ran out of energy well before the day was done.”
- “Ordinary tasks took more effort than they should have.”
- “Rest, a night’s sleep or a day off, put some energy back.”
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Connection
How much you still cared Mental distance and cynicism, turned the right way up- “I stopped caring how things turned out.”
- “I was short or cold with people I usually have time for.”
- “Some of what I did still felt worth doing.”
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Traction
How much got done Efficacy, the sense of getting somewhere- “I finished things I set out to do.”
- “I felt like I was spinning my wheels.”
- “When something went wrong, I knew where to start.”
Why weekly, and why a trend
One hard week is ordinary. Four weeks sliding the same way is worth acting on.
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A score on its own says little
Everyone has weeks that empty them. What matters is whether you come back up. A single test can’t tell a bad week from a bad season, and a trend can.
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Energy usually goes first
Researchers who study burnout describe exhaustion as its most obvious and most often reported sign. A week-by-week line for energy shows it falling before a single bad score would.
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A gap is just a gap
Miss a week and the chart leaves a space. You can step back and fill in a week you remember, up to eleven weeks back.
What drains you, and what fills you back up
Rest is more than stopping. Sabine Sonnentag and Charlotte Fritz found four experiences behind real recovery from work.
Reading the marks
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The drains are mostly familiar
Too much work, too little sleep and other people’s needs are the usual ones. Marking them each week shows which ones are background noise and which come up every week.
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The refills are easy to drop
Movement, support, boundaries, meaning and switching off are the first things a heavy week squeezes out. The check-in counts them too, because what refills you is as useful to know as what drains you.
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Each drain comes with two moves
Mark sleep as drained and you are offered two small fixes for sleep. Pick one, or write your own.
Four ways recovery happens
- DetachmentNot thinking about work when you are not working. In the check-in: switching off.
- RelaxationLow effort, low demand: a walk, a bath, music.
- MasterySomething absorbing that has nothing to do with work, like cooking, climbing or a language.
- ControlChoosing for yourself what to do with your time off.
If your energy is very low
When any score is 25 or lower, the check-in sets the plan aside and shows this instead. When a score sits this low, a week of fixes is too much to ask. Make the next step smaller.
- Do one two-minute thing from the Tiny Action Deck, then stop.
- Tell someone you trust how the last few weeks have been.
- If it has lasted for weeks, or your sleep, appetite or mood has changed, talk to a doctor or a counsellor.
This audit is for self-reflection, not a medical or mental health diagnosis. If you feel unsafe or at immediate risk of harming yourself or someone else, contact local emergency services or a crisis line right away.
Your answers stay yours
How your week went is nobody else’s business.
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Where it is kept
In this browser, saved as you go: your answers, what you marked, your moves and notes. If you are signed in, they also follow your account to your other devices. Nothing is shown to anyone else, and nothing goes into a link.
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What it is not
A burnout test, a score to compare with anyone, or a diagnosis. The statements are not from a clinical questionnaire, and your scores mean something only next to your own earlier weeks.
Energy: 75 of 100, steady
Refilled: Boundaries, Sleep, Meaning
Move for the week ahead: End each workday by writing tomorrow’s first task, then close the laptop.
What it is built on
Three sources, used for what they say and no more.
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Burn-out as an occupational phenomenon
World Health Organization, ICD-11, 2019
The WHO classifies burn-out as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition, and describes it by three dimensions: energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. The check-in’s three scores follow those three.
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Understanding the burnout experience
Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter, World Psychiatry 15(2), 2016
A review of four decades of burnout research: the three dimensions, how exhaustion relates to the other two, and why the work situation matters as much as the person. The check-in uses none of their questionnaire’s items.
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The Recovery Experience Questionnaire
Sabine Sonnentag and Charlotte Fritz, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 12(3), 2007
Across studies with 930 people, four experiences in time off, detachment, relaxation, mastery and control, were linked with better wellbeing. They are behind several of the refills, like switching off.
Questions
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Is this a burnout test?
No. It is a self-check you repeat each week to see your own pattern. It cannot tell you whether you have burnout, depression or anything else, and a low score is not a diagnosis. If the last few weeks have worried you, a doctor or a counsellor can help you work out what is going on.
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What do the three scores measure?
Energy is how much you had left, Connection is how much you still cared about what you do and the people in it, and Traction is how much got done. They follow the three things the World Health Organization lists for burn-out: running out of energy, pulling away from your work, and getting less done. Each runs from 0 to 100, and higher is better on all three.
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Where do the nine statements come from?
They were written for this check-in, three for each dimension. They are not taken from any clinical questionnaire, and the scores are not comparable with one. They are only comparable with your own earlier weeks, which is the point.
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Why weekly, and why a trend?
One hard week is normal and tells you little. Three or four weeks drifting the same way tell you a lot. A weekly check-in is quick enough to keep doing, and twelve weeks on one chart is enough to see a drift before it becomes a crash.
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What if I miss a week?
The chart leaves a gap and nothing else. You can step back with the arrows and fill in a week you missed, up to eleven weeks back, if you still remember how it went.
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Does it work if my effort goes into study, caring or a job search?
Yes. The statements ask about whatever takes most of your effort. The WHO uses the word burn-out for paid work only, which is one more reason this is called an energy audit and not a burnout test.
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Where are my answers kept?
In this browser, saved as you go. If you are signed in, they also follow your account to your other devices. Nothing is shown to anyone else, and nothing goes into a link.
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What should I do if my energy is very low?
Make the next step very small: one two-minute action, then stop. Tell someone you trust how it has been. If it has lasted for weeks, or sleep, appetite or mood have changed, talk to a doctor. If you feel unsafe or at risk of harming yourself or someone else, contact local emergency services or a crisis line right away.
Books on energy and rest
Check in on this week
Two minutes now, and again next week. By the fourth, you will see which way things are going.
Keep this going in the app.
HourLife turns these ideas into a daily system — goals, habits, focus, and reflection in one private place.
