Rust-Out at work: the opposite of burnout and how to fix It

Dear Joy Seeker,

I learned a new phrase last week - rust-out - and immediately thought: Ohhh, this explains a lot.

There's so much talk about burnout: too much work, too much pressure, too many meetings, too many tabs open - both on our laptops and in our brains.

But what if the problem isn't that you're doing too much?

What if you're doing too little of what makes you feel alive?

Rust-out is sometimes described as the opposite of burnout. Instead of being overwhelmed by excessive demands, you become chronically under-challenged, under-stimulated and disconnected from your work.

And it hides well. Burnout has symptoms you can name: the exhaustion, the dread, the Sunday-night stomach drop.

Rust-out is flatter. You're fine, the job is fine but you just can't remember the last time work made you feel anything at all.

By the way, it doesn't necessarily mean you have nothing to do.

You can have a full calendar and still be rusting.

You can answer emails, attend meetings, update spreadsheets, hit deadlines and look perfectly productive from the outside while thinking: Is this it?

The numbers suggest there's quite a lot of “Is this it?” going around.

In 2025, only 20% of employees globally were engaged at work, with younger workers experiencing some of the biggest declines in engagement.

So here's what I think: I believe there is a sweet spot between burnout and rust-out and I think joy lives somewhere around there.

Joy is curiosity. Learning. Stretching yourself.

Making something. Having an idea you can't stop thinking about.

Getting slightly better at something you used to be terrible at.

Feeling useful. Feeling connected. Feeling alive.

Joy is how you get the signal back.

Before you can negotiate for more meaningful work, you have to remember what meaningful feels like in your body. Joy is the diagnostic: it tells you which rooms you want to be in, which problems you would chase for free, which version of you has been sitting in the corner unused.

You find that first.

Then you go and make the ask.

🌟 3 Ideas for Creating More Joy This Week

1. Give tomorrow one thing worth getting up for - not the whole week. Just tomorrow. The good coffee, the long way round, a song in the kitchen, a 4pm call with someone who makes you laugh.

2. Come with a proposal, not a complaint - if you want different work, don't ask your manager to fix your boredom. Bring them something specific. "I'd like to own the onboarding redesign" lands very differently from "I'm not feeling challenged."

3. Notice what you envy - envy is unflattering and extremely informative. Next time you read about someone's work and feel that small hot pinch, write down precisely what you envied. That is data about what you want.

📚 2 Inspiring Resources

1. Podcast episode:How to let go of the timeline for your life, On Purpose with Jay Shetty - this episode was the perfect lunchtime walk companion. For anyone wondering if they're behind, this episode invites you to see what happens when you let go of the imaginary timeline of where we “should” be by now and make more space for our own pace, path and possibilities.

2. App hot tip:Uber One and Joe & The Juice - Uber One now comes with a free weekly drink from Joe & The Juice and this tiny perk unexpectedly brought some novelty into my week. I took a different route to work just to pick mine up, walked streets I don’t normally walk and suddenly my very ordinary commute felt a little more interesting. Proof that sometimes joy doesn’t need a grand plan - just a free drink and a small detour.

🤔 This Week's Reflection Question

1. If I could redesign 20% of my working week, what would I put there?

With so much joy,

Irina