Balance & Beyond

The 6 Hidden Burnout Patterns Keeping High-Achieving Women Stuck

• Jo Stone • Season 3 • Episode 98

Share episode

Burnout doesn't always look like collapse. For ambitious women, it often manifests as perfectionism, over-functioning, or being the one who holds everything together while slowly eroding from within. Despite countless late-night Google searches and implementing generic self-care advice, nothing seems to stick—because you're facing a unique form of burnout that requires tailored solutions.

This episode reveals the groundbreaking concept of six distinct burnout archetypes that I've identified after working with hundreds of women. We explore the profound difference between visible burnout (the physical collapse) and invisible burnout (the over-functioning that keeps you going while slowly depleting your essence). You'll discover whether you're a Silent Martyr sacrificing yourself with resentment, a Perfect Striver driven by unworthiness, a Relentless Juggler managing everything with military precision, a Self-Help Scholar who knows all the tools yet remains stuck, a Hollow High Achiever successful yet numb inside, or an Untapped Powerhouse frustrated by playing small despite your enormous potential.

What makes this framework revolutionary is how it addresses the unique patterns driving your specific burnout type. Unlike generic "bro advice" that ignores the complex realities of women's lives and responsibilities, understanding your archetype provides the key to breaking free from exhausting cycles. These patterns aren't who you truly are—they're how you've been conditioned to function in the world. By identifying your unique burnout profile, you can finally implement strategies that work for your specific situation, reclaim your time and energy, and create success on your terms without sacrificing yourself in the process. Take the seven-question quiz mentioned in this episode to discover your archetype and access personalised solutions, including a secret podcast episode dedicated to your specific profile.

To view the Transcript from this week's episode, visit our Balance & Beyond Podcast webpage: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/podcast/2025/98

To discover your Burnout Archetype, take our short quiz here!  https://www.balanceinstitute.com/burnout-quiz

Thank you for joining us today on the Balance and Beyond Podcast. We're so glad you carved out this time for yourself!

If you’re keen to dive deeper into our world, here are our socials where you can discover more about the toolkit that has helped thousands of women create a life of balance.

Website: www.balanceinstitute.com
Podcast Website: https://www.balanceinstitute.com/podcast
Email: jo@balanceinstitute.com
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/stonejoanne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betterbalanceinstitute/
Instagram: @betterbalanceinstitute

Thanks again for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on the Balance & Beyond Podcast!

Jo:

Welcome to Balance and Beyond, the podcast for ambitious women who refuse to accept burnout as the price of success. Here we're committed to empowering you with the tools and strategies you need to achieve true balance, where your career, relationships and health all thrive and where you have the power to define success on your terms. I honor the space you've created for yourself today, so let's take a breath and dive right in. If you've ever Googled am I burnt out? At 3am but felt like none of the answers really fit, this is for you, because burnout doesn't always look like collapse. Sometimes it looks like perfectionism, over-functioning or being the one who holds it all together. Most women in my world have long ago Googled at 3am what is burnout, or am I burnt out? And you've known that for a really, really long time. What you don't know, my friend, is what type of burnout do you have? What is causing it? And so, of course, when you stick to all the generic advice that is out there about meditation and mindfulness, nothing ever seems to stick and, most importantly, nothing seems to change how you feel. So in today's episode, I'm going to share with you these amazing six burnout archetypes that I have created.

Jo:

When we talk about burnout. There are two key distinct types of burnout. One you may not be aware of. There is the visible burnout that most people have heard about or experienced. This is the type where your body typically shuts down At the most extreme end. You end up hospitalized, not able to move, not able to function. This is when your nervous system has just said that's it, I'm out. I've been giving you hints, I've been giving you tips, and now you're not listening to me, you're completely numb, so I'm done.

Jo:

On the other end of the scale, we have what we call invisible burnout, and this is what many women are suffering from. This is a type of burnout that isn't on the collapse end. It steps up more into the over-functioning end, just like a cat right Over-functioning, going around like crazy, putting in all the things, thinking that relief, rest will come at the end of an endless to-do list. Instead, what we have to do is start to understand what is our unique burnout archetype. What do I mean by this? Well, there is so much generic advice out there. Take care of yourself, put your oxygen mask on first, have a bubble bath, go to bed early, read a book. You know all of that. A simple Google, you know top 10 tips to escape burnout are there.

Jo:

And yet, no matter how much you try, no matter how much you read podcast you listen to, nothing seems to change. And this is because, in your likely mode of invisible burnout, your self-trust has started to erode. You've ignored the signs, you've ignored yourself, you sacrificed yourself Often we use the word self-abandonment where you've completely ignored and abandoned all of your needs, all your desires, because you're so stuck in your head or in over-functioning. So we have to start building back that trust in order for these burnout pieces to work. And the way we start to build up that trust is by you actually understanding what is your unique archetype.

Jo:

I've seen hundreds of women fall into these six patterns. This has not been built out of thin air. This has been done by a huge analysis of the profiles of the people that we see, whether they come directly through our programs or we talk to. What are their unique challenges? And once you understand your profile, you are going to feel seen and heard like never before. So in this episode, I'm going to give you a quick snapshot of what each one is Bearing in mind. There's a chance that you're going to identify with multiple but spoiler alert. There is going to be a plug for a quiz at the end that's going to help you understand which one is the dominant profile in your case, and once you know what your profile is, of course, you can get tailored advice to match.

Jo:

So let's talk about the silent martyr. This is, my guess, going to be the most common profile that we see as this quiz scales. A silent martyr sacrifices silently and wears their responsibility like armor. If I don't do it, who will? I don't have a choice. They're the ones saying yes to everything with no boundaries, putting themselves last, saying that they've got no time, they're so exhausted. Very often this silent martyr profile is passed down through generations. I have many people say to me oh yeah, my mum was a martyr. She did everything for everyone and was usually quite resentful and bitter in the process. So if you harbour a lot of resentment, if you feel like you can't say no, if you're completely overcommitted and do nothing for yourself, then there's a pretty good chance you are a silent martyr, or perhaps you're the perfect striver.

Jo:

A perfect striver is somebody who consistently overachieves, hits the lights out no matter what in an effort to outrun unworthiness. The heart of perfectionism is ultimately fear that you are not good enough. So when you combine this perfectionistic tendencies with this ambition and drive to be better, then this is where you get this incredible cycle of having to do everything at 150% and not being able to say no to anything, but having these crazy, unrealistic, ruthless standards that once again mean your needs come last. You can't possibly ever do anything for yourself, let alone rest. A relentless juggler is doing just that constantly managing everyone and everything. This is the woman who has the color-coded diary, who is taking on every single task that they possibly can and is constantly trying to steal time here, runs things with a military schedule, has lists coming out of her nose because that's the only way that she can try to keep track of all the different pieces in our lives.

Jo:

As we now start to move into some more subtle profiles. The self-help scholar is the woman who knows all the tools. She's read every podcast, she's the one that her friends come to for advice, she knows the leadership model, she knows the framework, she's got all the gurus. She knows it all and yet she's still stuck. And that makes her feel even worse because she should know better. She's been on this program or that program or read about this. But our self-help scholar is in constant source of new information, in the mistaken belief that they need more knowledge because they're broken or they haven't fixed themselves yet or they have the gap in their knowledge. They believe that then this incessant consumption will somehow magically close the gap and then they're going to feel less burnt out and they're going to feel better. Spoiler alert it's not about the knowledge. You already know enough.

Jo:

A profile that has been built largely off a lot of my own experience is the hollow high achiever, and this is someone who looks very polished on the outside, has everything they ever wanted, can present really well, comes across as really confident, probably has a lot of the external things whether it's position, title, financial security, the house, the whatever is important to you and yet on the inside it's all a bit numb, it doesn't really mean anything. You get accolades and they're hollow. You hit an achievement and it's like, oh, that was nice. You get teeny, tiny bits of satisfaction. So a hollow high achiever life feels very empty, very numb, and that numbness in the end can start eating your soul alive. It's like you start dying very slowly from the inside first. Well, lastly, you might be our untapped powerhouse.

Jo:

These are women who are deeply, deeply capable, intelligent, ambitious, know they're capable of so much more and yet they are trapped in proving energy, whether it's I've got to prove myself, I've got to make you like me. I have to show that I'm more capable than anybody else. Sometimes there can be a bit of fu energy in there. You told me I couldn't do this. I'm going to show you. But these are women who have usually reached a ceiling of their own. Doing it's like they've got one hand on the top of the box and around their neck is the key, and they are so incredibly frustrated because they feel like they're playing small. They feel like they're settling that their life is mediocre and they know they have more in them to give. They've got more potential, more leadership, more impact. They don't want to leave the world without stepping into what they know is possible for them.

Jo:

Each of these profiles is such a beautiful insight into why you're burning out because you can hear, even in just those simple descriptions, that the ways that your whether you call it childhood woundings, or your not enoughness, or the way this is playing out in your life, is slightly nuanced. So the strategy for somebody who's an untapped powerhouse to really step into their potential at work needs to be very different from that of a relentless juggler who was probably doing four people's jobs and not delegating. So by understanding your archetype, you're now able to go. Okay, I now know who I am. I've had somebody see me and really understand not only what is driving my patterns but, most importantly, with that insight now I can finally fix it. That's right, it is all possible.

Jo:

We have helped women from each of these six profiles escape burnout, find balance, fulfillment, whatever it is. They're looking for success on their own terms. I decided to create this quiz because I was sick of all the generic advice out there and nobody has the database and the depth of knowledge of this particular cohort of women. And what really frustrates me is so much of the burnout advice out there is very what I would call kind of bro advice. It's wake up at 5 am, go do a cold shower, meditate for an hour, have a green smoothie, and there's no discussion of who's taking the kids to school, who's making lunch boxes, who's walking the dog, who's calling the dentist. There's no recognition of that. It's as if that your life or the way that you treat your burnout is separate from your life.

Jo:

So by really understanding what your archetype is, you need to be able to have tailored solutions to match. So that is the only way that you're going to finally be able to reclaim your time, reclaim your energy and ultimately get your power back so that you can live life truly in alignment with who you really are, because these archetypes aren't who you are. They're how you're performing, they're how you're showing up and, ultimately, how you've been taught to survive in this world. But there is another way. You don't have to be a silent martyr or an untapped powerhouse for the rest of your life. You don't have to sit in resentment or frustration, whatever their dominant emotional state is for you.

Jo:

So now the biggest question you probably have is you. So now the biggest question you probably have is which one am I? So seriously? Go, take the quiz. It is seven questions. The average complete time is a minute 20. And I guarantee, no matter how busy you are, you can find that time. We'll put a link below the show notes so that you can jump in there, and women have already told me I'm getting emails and messages that this is the first time that they've ever been fully seen.

Jo:

Once you get your results. Not only do you get an entire page of solutions, there is also a secret podcast episode dedicated just to your archetype, where I'm going to walk you through in detail where this archetype comes from, what are the patterns, what are the behaviors and, most importantly, what has to happen on the other side so that you can start to conquer that burnout. You're going to feel seen, you're going to feel heard like never, ever before. So, make sure, go and take that quiz, find out which one you are, and let's get you stepping into your power to get your time back and your energy. I'll see you in the quiz.

Jo:

Thanks for joining us today on the Balance and Beyond podcast. We're so glad you carved out this time for yourself. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who might need to hear this today. And if you're feeling extra generous, leaving us a review on your podcast platform of choice would mean the world to us. If you're keen to dive deeper into our world, visit balanceinstitutecom to discover more about the toolkit that has helped thousands of women avoid burnout and create a life of balance and beyond. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll see you next time on the Balance and Beyond podcast.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Jo Stone

Host