The Lawyer Life Podcast

What Burnout Looks Like Before It Blows Up

• Autumn Noble • Season 2 • Episode 54

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 In this eye-opening episode, host Autumn Noble dives deep into the subtle signs of burnout—long before it explodes into full-blown overwhelm. As a practicing attorney and coach, Autumn shares the quiet truths she sees every day: that most lawyers and high achievers wait until they’re completely depleted before seeking help. 

Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It creeps in slowly—through missed meals, lost sleep, and constantly saying “yes” when your body is screaming “no.” This episode unpacks the four hidden categories of burnout symptoms and explores how our legal culture’s obsession with giving can knock us out of alignment with universal law. 

Whether you’re an attorney, parent, or leader, this conversation will help you: 

  • Spot the warning signs of burnout before it spirals.
  • Understand why “just pushing through” always backfires.
  • Learn how burnout stems from energetic and emotional imbalance—not just overwork.
  • Shift back into flow with simple but powerful course-correction tools.

Key Topics Covered:

  • 🔥 What burnout actually looks like in its early stages
  • 🧠 Four categories of burnout symptoms and how they show up
  • 💫 The law of giving and receiving and how imbalance leads to depletion
  • ❓ Self-reflection questions to assess your energy, time boundaries, and value
  • 🛠️ Practical tools: “Enough is Enough” list, mindful check-ins, and boundary resets

Free coaching consult/coffee and more!: https://autumnnoble.as.me

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

You are listening to the Lawyer Life Podcast episode number 54. What burnout looks like before it blows up.

 

Hey there, welcome back to the Lawyer Life podcast. I am your host, Autumn Noble, and today we are talking about avoiding burnout in a world that seems to only reward overdoing it.

 

This topic actually came to mind in a recent conversation I was having with a bar association that was wanting to help their members access some more holistic self-care. And specifically, they were wanting to offer meditations to their attorneys. And we were trying to brainstorm some ways to make it a little bit more accessible. Side note for those of you that are following the podcast, I offer monthly guided meditations to do just that for you.

 

If you do not happen to be in Omaha, Nebraska and can't access my live guided meditations, those are an easy way to incorporate meditation into your daily practice.

 

One of the challenges that we encountered in trying to come up with ways to make these tools more accessible to attorneys is what I have noticed in my coaching business. And that is that most of the attorneys come to me when they're already neck deep in burnout. It's rare that I get clients coming to me that are just cruising along and have some goals that they want to attain. Typically, they're coming to me on fumes.

 

And so it really got me thinking about maybe what we need is more education to help attorneys spot when what is going on with them is not just exhaustion, it's not just simple day-to-day frustrations, it's actually really significant signs of an impending burnout. So that's what we're going to be unpacking today. I'm going to tell you the signs that I see when those attorneys come to me and they're just about out of gas.

 

And I want to give you some very simple tools to combat that burnout and entirely shift your course.

 

Because here's the thing that most of us don't realize. Burnout doesn't just show up on your doorstep one day after a bad week. It actually creeps in really slowly in tiny and subtle ways that are easy to ignore until they're not. So whether you're an attorney, a leader, a parent, or just someone who holds yourself to really high standards, this episode is going to show you how to spot

 

burnout problems before they get too big and completely overwhelm us.

 

First and foremost, burnout is not a moment. It is a very slow descent into the dark depths of complete meltdown. It does not happen overnight.

 

For many of us, when we think about burnout, we have kind of that visual image of the breakdown, the panic attack, or the moment that you walk into your office and you just can't seem to stop crying.

 

But the truth is that burnout actually starts to settle in long before those more obvious displays.

 

It starts when you make a habit and a pattern of overriding your needs again and again.

 

When just one more thing becomes your daily mantra, when sleep gets shorter and your screen time gets longer and joy just quietly kind of exits out the side door.

 

I see this all the time in women who are strong and powerful and capable. And what I often see in our private coaching sessions is that slow decline, that wearing away of happiness and peace and no one else around them is noticing these signs typically.

 

And more often than not, my clients aren't putting the pieces together and realizing what is waiting ahead of them if they don't change their course.

 

But one thing I want to make really clear is that your energy always tells the truth and your bodies do as well eventually. So some of the signs I'm gonna talk to you about today actually have a deeper root in our energetic bodies and in our physical bodies. And by tuning into those signs, you'll be better equipped to spot burnout before it goes on for too long.

 

So what are some of the early signs of burnout that we typically miss? They fall into one of four categories.

 

First and foremost, there are the physical signs. You're tired all the time, even after you sleep.

 

you wake up feeling like you never rested.

 

you are more sensitive to light, sound or interruptions.

 

Your shoulders are tight, your jaw is clenched, your digestion might be off a little bit, but you just keep going despite those signs.

 

Mental signs include losing track of what you were doing, often mid-task. Making decisions suddenly feels harder, if not impossible, even if they're really small decisions.

 

you start to procrastinate maybe more than usual, not because you're lazy, but just because everything feels so heavy.

 

then your inner critic starts to get louder and meaner.

 

Emotional signs include snapping at people or crying unexpectedly. And this is one I see a lot in coaching sessions when women show up and they just burst into tears because they've been pushing it down for so long.

 

you start to feel detached from things that you used to care about. You tell everyone that you're fine when you're starting to realize that you are anything but fine.

 

then a slow resentment starts to set in. You start resenting your friends, your family, your bosses, your coworkers.

 

and you're often unable to point to the reason why that resentment is there.

 

Behavioral signs include self isolation even from people that you love.

 

You may be scrolling more, snacking more, sleeping more or sleeping less.

 

You stop doing things that have historically grounded you, and you start fantasizing about escape, quitting your job, disappearing, or just going off grid, just anything to get you away from all of the pressure.

 

And the hardest part about all of this is that on the outside to everyone else, you look totally fine, you're still meeting deadlines. You're still showing up. You're still smiling and going through all of the emotions.

 

but on the inside, you're running on fumes and feeling a real deep seated pain.

 

So let's take a minute to talk about where burnout really comes from. And I think this is something that we just don't talk enough about.

 

I think a lot of times burnout is dismissed as simply just working too many hours or having too much on your plate. But I think in reality, it's about a disconnect between how much you're giving and how much you're receiving. It's about giving more than you receive day after day without any replenishment.

 

It's continued sustained emotional labor and feeling hyper responsible for everyone around you. For me, I think a lot of this is rooted in the universal law of giving and receiving and burnout is caused by an imbalance or a complete disregard for this universal law.

 

The law of giving and receiving is a spiritual practice and it's rooted in a lot of ancient traditions as well as more contemporary religions.

 

This law teaches us that the flow of life is sustained through a dynamic exchange. In essence, to receive love, to receive support, you also have to be willing to give it. There has to be a trade-off of giving and receiving.

 

on this idea that life operates in cycles, breath, nature, energy, money, relationships. It all relies on flow. And if you start blocking, giving or receiving, you disrupt that natural rhythm. Why this matters, especially for those of us in service oriented or helping professions,

 

Many high achievers and caretakers just feel more comfortable giving than receiving. But healthy flow requires both, both giving and receiving. So if you over give without any replenishment, burnout is inevitable. And if you resist receiving help or care from others around you, you limit how much the universe or others can give you because you're completely out of flow.

 

And this is something that I really see a lot of in the legal profession. We're really good at helping others. We are terrible at taking help and support from other people. We are typically completely out of flow. We just want to give, we don't want to receive. And I think that's where a lot of burnout comes in, is that we have just repeatedly been giving and giving and giving without any replenishing. We're not asking for support, we're not giving ourselves support.

 

and it throws us out of flow and the only thing that can come of that disruption is burnout.

 

So how do you know if you're out of flow and you're giving too much?

 

When it comes to your energy and emotions, you might want to consider, do I often give from guilt or obligation or fear of disappointing someone? These are things that I hear all the time from lawyers. Also ask yourself, am I resentful after helping, even though I'm the one that said I would do it willingly?

 

Do I feel like people rely on me more than they should? Another one that I see all of the time with attorneys.

 

with respect to your time and your boundaries, ask yourself, am I consistently overcommitted and under rested?

 

Do I cancel my own needs like meals or exercise or rest or joy in order to show up for other people?

 

Do I say yes when I really want to say no or do I struggle to ask for help or receive support in return?

 

With respect to your value or worth, consider these questions to see if you're giving too much. Do I undercharge, over-deliver, or work for free too often?

 

As a practicing attorney myself, I know that one of the things that really saps my energy is when I'm continually giving free legal help to all of the people in my life. It just kills me.

 

So I really have to be mindful of limiting when and how often I do that.

 

Am I uncomfortable being paid or praised for the work that I do? Do I associate my worth with how much I do for others?

 

Lastly, check in with your nervous system to see if you might be giving too much. Do you feel calm and generous or do you feel anxious and depleted after giving to others?

 

true giving and receiving should mean that your giving brings joy. But if you're giving too much, that giving is going to be accompanied by a little bit of resentment and frustration after you're done.

 

Last, ask yourself if your body is asking for rest, space or solitude, and you just keep ignoring it and plowing ahead. All of those questions are going to help you start to see whether or not you have disconnected from the flow. And maybe you are giving too much and not receiving enough, knowing that that disruption in the flow and the law of giving and receiving

 

will eventually deplete you is the only direction that path goes.

 

So what do we do if we start to notice some of these signs or if we're realizing that maybe we are out of flow and we're just giving way too much?

 

First and foremost, just pause. Not forever, but just take a few minutes because the goal is not to fix it right away. it and honor the fact that you are being honest with yourself about what is happening in your world, in your body, in your emotions.

 

When you have a moment to take some time, just breathe and ask yourself, what do I need right now?

 

How is my energy right now? What am I pretending not to feel? And just check in and be present and mindful with what comes up for you as you ask those questions.

 

From that space, I invite you to employ a handful of tools that can help you course correct.

 

First, we're gonna start with the enough is enough list.

 

Instead of our never-ending to-do list just making us feel stuck and like there are no solutions available to us, we ask instead, what is enough for today? What's the minimum effective dose that moves the needle enough without draining me more?

 

Employing that tool will allow you to constrain your focus, get rid of some things that are maybe perfectionist or maybe overdoing it, but it gives you some room to breathe to engage some additional tools. The second tool that is most important at this stage is to set some pretty clear boundaries. So we're gonna do a bit of a boundary audit at this point.

 

At this stage, we just ask, where am I leaking energy? Where can I pause or delegate or just say no or move something to the following week? I often encourage my clients to look at every single thing on their to-do list or on their calendar, however you manage your work. And with every single thing, ask yourself, what is the worst case scenario if this doesn't get done today or tomorrow or next week?

 

to see how much room realistically there is to move things around. As you do this, checking everything on your calendar, ask, where can I let in support?

 

Where can I revise my previous answer of yes and come back and say, you know, on second thought, I actually don't have time for this, this week. I can do it next week or maybe we can delegate it, so on and so forth.

 

Lastly, as things come up and you're starting to identify these signs of burnout creeping in, practice saying, me think about it, instead of giving any kind of an answer in the moment. That will allow you to step away, engage that prefrontal cortex, that rational brain that knows you do not have time for more work. And it will allow you to engage that part of your brain and find a calm and clear way of saying no or finding another solution to the ask.

 

but buy yourself that time first by saying, let me think about it, and then strategizing at the back end instead of feeling like you have to have an answer in that moment.

 

Three, as you're starting to get more space by focusing on your enough is enough list, setting some additional boundaries, we have to next reset your nervous system.

 

Just two minutes of stillness, deep breathing, walking outside, or even lying on the floor can reset your nervous system. It doesn't have to be some type of a grand gesture. Give yourself a full inhale and body exhale. Practice some box breathing if that's something that you're open to. Book a self-care session if you have the capacity to take this a little bit further and invest a little bit more time.

 

perhaps a Reiki session, some meditation, some sound healing to reset your energy and release some of those blocks in your flow. This is why I engage holistic tools like Reiki and meditation and sound healing in my coaching work because it is such an essential part of resetting our nervous system and helping us get our feet back on the ground.

 

If we don't attend to that part of ourselves as well, we don't fully recover from the burnout.

 

I know taking time for self-care is often a challenge for many of us. So I offer a simple mantra to help you change the way you're thinking about it. And that mantra is, it is safe to give from overflow, but not from depletion. And allow that mantra to help you see the importance of taking care of yourself and allowing your energy to reboot.

 

so that you have enough energy to give instead of giving from depletion.

 

Fourth, and perhaps what might seem the simplest, but is often one of the more difficult tools to employ, and that is tell someone. Tell someone you're struggling. Tell someone that you're feeling burnt out and you are trying to find ways to dig out of it. Whether it's a coworker, a trusted friend, a coach, or a therapist, by shining a light on what's happening with you, it's a way of letting in support and redirecting that flow of giving and receiving because you're inviting in.

 

that support that you need so desperately.

 

This brings me to my concluding point and I really hope that you all hear me when I say this. You don't have to earn rest.

 

You don't have to collapse or have a meltdown or be burnt out to justify taking a break and getting some rest for yourself.

 

tiptoeing around burnout when you're seeing the signs and you're feeling the signs, it's an illness and I would encourage you to treat it as such in the same way that you might rest if you felt the flu setting in or COVID coming on. You would rest and care for yourself. Burnout is the same way and the consequences mentally, emotionally and physically are very much the same. So if you're starting to see some of these signs, I would encourage you

 

to shift that mindset and see it as a call for rest just as any other kind of an illness.

 

You don't have to prove how hard it's been or explain how much of a struggle you've been having to anyone to let yourself soften. You are allowed to notice the signs of burnout and choose differently and care for yourself early.

 

And the wild thing about burnout is that I think a lot of us, we see the signs and we kind of know it's coming eventually, but we don't want to lose our momentum. We don't want people to judge us or we don't want people to think that we're lazy or that we can't hack it. But the fact of the matter is when we let burnout come and take over the show, we lose productivity, we lose momentum, we don't show up the way that we want to, and we create all of the things that we think we're avoiding.

 

by just powering through. So the sooner you give yourself some care and some space, the less likely you are to lose your momentum, your clarity, or your joy.

 

If anything in this episode today has resonated with you, I want you to do one thing for me. Just take a moment today to pause and reflect and ask yourself, what do I need today? What's not working? What am I not paying attention to? Close your laptop, breathe and check in. Maybe utilize some of the guided meditations that I have.

 

If you're interested in taking that work a little bit further, reach out. We can schedule a Reiki session, a guided meditation or a sound healing. And we can even do a lot of that remotely. I do all of that in my sister coaching company, Ladyish, which is sort of my holistic non-lawyer coaching branch of my work. So if that is something that interests you, head over to autumn noble.com to check out some of those more holistic tools and get some additional support.

 

to reset that nervous system and get a little bit more space.

 

I want to support you to create a rhythm that sustains you, not just professionally, but you as the whole human. And that is the heart of my work. So if we haven't met, please reach out, schedule a virtual coffee or a coaching consultation. Let me know what's going on with you, what's working, what's not working. And I can help you develop a plan to tackle the signs of burnout before it gets to be too much.

 

As you know, you can find all sorts of additional resources, guided meditation, coaching options at thelawyerelifecollective.com or my sister company, autumnoble.com, A-U-T-U-M-N, N-O-B-L-E.com. That's where you'll find all the holistic work as well. I also have a free tool called the Burnout Warning Signs Checklist

 

and I am including that for free in this month's newsletter. So if you're not on the newsletter list, head over to the LawyerLifeCollective.com to get your name on that list and utilize that tool that's going to be included in the newsletter this month. Next month, we are taking the burnout work a little bit farther and we're talking about taking breaks and not losing momentum, providing some tips and tools there to allow yourself a more sustainable cadence

 

both personally and professionally.

 

Until then, please be sure to take care of yourself and reach out if you need anything. I am here to support you.

 

As I mentioned in today's podcast, I have launched a sister coaching site called Ladyish and you can find it at autumnoble.com linked in the show notes. Ladyish is for all women who are wanting the same kind of coaching support but may not be members of the legal profession. Everything I have learned over my years of coaching hundreds of professional women is going to be housed over in Ladyish and offered to women of all backgrounds.

 

Additionally, Laidish is the home site of all my holistic services, including Reiki, meditation services, and sound healing. And all of those can be done remotely, just as powerfully. So if you're interested in any of those, head over to autumnoble.com. For those of you who are attorneys and are interested in making a significant investment in changing how you're showing up in your personal life and your professional life, check out my six-month Fast Track Coaching program,

 

where you are going to get all of my most essential coaching teachings trickled into your inbox over the course of six months. At the same time, you and I are gonna get together 18 times over those six months and we are going to change everything about your career and your practice. If you are on the fence, if you've ever been interested or considered coaching, this is truly the fastest way to change everything and it only takes six months.

 

You can find all the details on the six month Fast Track program at thelawyerlifecollective.com. While you're there, be sure to check out all of my great freebies and downloads, including my time management tools, my habit tracker, which includes some habits for business development and networking as well to help those of you that are wanting to create your own book of business. It is a amazing tool to help you monitor and track those efforts.

 

Additionally, I have added some amazing new lawyer swag to my Etsy shop, also linked at the LawyerLifeCollective.com. So head over there for all of those goodies and more. And a reminder, I'm still scheduling more training sessions for this fall and starting into winter. So if your firm or your team is interested in trainings on how to build a book of business,

 

how to sell yourself authentically, how to have difficult conversations or tools that can help you develop a strategy for any problem, be sure to reach out and schedule a call and see if we can design a program that aligns with you and your team's needs.

 

And don't forget for all of my podcast listeners, you can enjoy a discount on many of the coaching programs I have available at the LawyerLifeCollective.com. Simply use the coupon code PODLOVE, P-O-D-L-O-V-E. And for those of you that have been loyal listeners, please be sure to give this a five-star rating and leave a review on your podcast listening platform. I would so appreciate it.

 

When you do that, it helps even more lawyers find this information and access these tools that we all need.

 

As always my friends, thanks so much for listening and thanks for sharing with your friends.