How understanding your saboteurs can help heal your burnout

Burnout has been a recurring theme throughout my career.

Maybe you’ve felt it too—the constant exhaustion, feeling gloomy and heavy, loss of interest in work and hobbies, and other things that used to light you up…

For me, burnout became an all-too-familiar during my years in corporate and freelance work. The external pressures of tight deadlines, understaffed teams, and impossible workloads were relentless. But as I now look back, much of my burnout was also rooted in my mindset and my own self-sabotaging patterns.

I’ve come to see how mindset plays its part in either perpetuating burnout or helping you break free from it.

It wasn't just the work that burned me out. In my case, it was my internal drive to be perfect, to control things (even the stuff fully outside of my control), and to constantly prove my worth from the outside in.

Today, I can admit that both internal and external pressures magnified my stress. After all, we are the common denominator between all these jobs (it’s why those who move from job to job often experience the same issues; you bring your unexamined saboteurs along with you)!

It wasn’t until I trained in the Positive Intelligence (PQ) framework, developed by Stanford lecturer Shirzad Chamine, that I began to truly identify and shift the mental patterns contributing to my burnout on a daily basis.

So, today, I want to share this framework with you. It has transformed my life and the lives of my clients. I hope that when you can understand your saboteurs, you can shift from just surviving to thriving—and heal your proclivity to burnout.

Meet the Saboteurs That Fuel Your Burnout

Saboteurs are the “internal voices” that trigger stress, overwhelm, and burnout.

We all have them, and they show up in different ways depending on our personality and past experience.

Here are some of the common saboteurs that may be influencing your life. I’m curious, which ones stand out to you? 

The Judge

The inner critic that tells you nothing is good enough. It constantly evaluates situations and people (including yourself) with negativity and fault-finding. We all have the Judge within us, and it activates the other saboteurs below. 

The Avoider

The master of dodging discomfort, steering you away from difficult tasks, uncomfortable emotions, and necessary confrontations. It fixates on maintaining a sense of ease and pleasantness, even when it means avoiding important issues.

The Controller

The need to control everything, even things beyond your power. This creates anxiety when things don’t go your way and frustration when you can’t maintain control.

Hyper-Achiever

The belief that your worth is tied to external accomplishments. This saboteur drives you to overwork, constantly seeking validation from others.

Hyper-Rational

Intense focus on logic and analysis, often leading to emotional detachment. You might suppress emotions in favour of “rationalizing” away stress.

Hyper-Vigilant

Excessive worry and worst-case-scenario thinking. This saboteur keeps you on edge, always preparing for disaster, which prevents you from relaxing or feeling satisfied.

Pleaser

The people-pleaser who puts everyone else’s needs first. This saboteur keeps you overcommitted and undernourished, draining your energy.

Restless

Constant busyness, always looking for the next project or distraction. It creates a sense of “doing” without fulfillment.

Stickler

The Perfectionist saboteur insists on zero room for fault in your performance. This voice leads to burnout by pushing you to constantly seek impossible standards.

Victim

The belief that life is happening to you, often seeking validation through helplessness. This saboteur can keep you feeling stuck and powerless.

So, did any grab your attention and go… ah, yes, I definitely identify with that one!

Amazing. You’ve reached step one, which is to recognize the specific saboteurs within you. Knowing this information will help you raise awareness of how these parts are feeding your stress and eventual burnout.

But now that you have this info, please acknowledge these parts with love, care, and without judgment (The Judge returns!). This will allow you to quiet their influence and take steps to reduce the stress they create.

For full disclosure, the three saboteurs that dominated my life (and still pop in to remind me they’re still hanging around) include the Hyper-Achiever, the Controller, and the Perfectionist (Stickler).

These voices constantly pushed me to overextend myself, striving for impossible standards and wanting to prove my goodness through what I do. I get that “no matter how hard I work, it’s never enough” feeling.

And that my friends—going unchecked for weeks, months, and years—is what leads to the eventual full-blown burnout event.

Today, I’m happy to share that so much stronger at identifying, catching, and shifting from my saboteur mind to my sage one. I’ll get into that more below, but it goes to show how powerful our old ‘saboteur’ programming is, and oh, how it does love to fight for its return!

(Some people experience this as going in circles, but I assure you, each time you notice your “old patterns” and shift to the self you want to be, you’re making incredible strides to the version of “you” that you want to be! Go you!!!

Shifting from Saboteur to Sage Mindset

Once you've identified your top saboteurs, the next step is to strengthen your sage mindset. 

The sage represents the part of you that can remain calm, grounded, and empowered, even in the face of challenges. While your saboteurs keep you in “survival mode”—constantly stressed and reactive—your sage allows you to move into your “thrive mode” with clarity and aligned action.

Developing your sage powers helps you shift out of stress. Rather than being stuck in a reactive loop, you can approach stressors with a responsive mindset that will bring creative, intentional, and thoughtful solutions forward.

Here are the five sage powers you can cultivate:

Empathize

Show compassion and understanding, both toward yourself and others. This reduces the harsh self-criticism that fuels burnout.

Explore

Approach problems with curiosity instead of fear, viewing challenges as opportunities for growth.

Innovate

Think creatively and find new ways to overcome obstacles, rather than repeating the same draining patterns.

Navigate

Make decisions based on long-term values rather than reacting to immediate stressors.

Activate

Take empowered, intentional action that aligns with your goals, rather than being driven by external pressures or perfectionism.

How This Shift Can Support You Out Of Burnout

For me, strengthening my sage powers has been life-changing. 

It allowed me to cut off the “saboteur stress fuel” that only made the situation burn way hotter. Instead, I access the soothing salve of the sage mind. This makes me way less anxious and stressed and far more productive and level-headed.

Yes, I do notice that my saboteurs are still with me. They have not gone away. However, I acknowledge them, learn from what it’s signalling to me about a situation, and then have a technique to move on with my day.

This has brought incredible relief to my life, and I've seen the same transformation for my clients, too—once they learn to manage their saboteurs and develop their sage mindset, they experience more ease, joy, and fulfillment in their work and personal lives.

Again, the shift from saboteur to sage isn't about ignoring the pressures we face; it’s about changing how we respond to them. You build your “mental fitness,” as Shirzard Charmine calls it, to respond differently, more quickly, and more gracefully in the future.

This approach is a far more sustainable, fulfilling way of living and working, and it will help you avoid a major bout of burnout in the future.

Want more guidance so you can shift from your saboteur to your sage mind?

Grab my step-by-step guide to learn how.

You can get your copy here.