I’m on a Mission to Convince People to Work Less After Burnout Nearly Broke Me

For years, Jo Hooper believed working harder was the key to building a successful career.

She climbed the professional ladder, accepted more responsibilities and pushed herself to meet increasingly ambitious goals. But after reaching the career position she had worked toward, the reality of long hours and constant pressure eventually caught up with her.

Now, Hooper has a very different message.

She wants people to work less.

The former communications professional says years of putting work ahead of everything else contributed to severe burnout and two breakdowns within a year. Her experience has led her to challenge the modern obsession with productivity and encourage workers and business owners to rethink what success really means.

Jo Hooper Chased Career Success

Hooper spent much of her 20s focused on professional advancement.

She wanted to become a head of communications by the time she was 30, and she achieved that goal through long hours, taking on additional responsibilities and constantly saying yes to opportunities.

At the time, she viewed that approach as a positive thing.

She believed that being ambitious and demonstrating that she was willing to do whatever was required would help her move forward.

But the demands eventually became unsustainable.

After reaching a management position, Hooper began experiencing serious symptoms of burnout. She has described moments of crying and hyperventilating while still believing that changing jobs might solve the problem.

Instead, the underlying problem followed her.

Burnout Changed How She Functioned

Hooper says she experienced two breakdowns within a year after hitting burnout.

The effects went beyond ordinary tiredness. She found it difficult to make decisions and felt as though her brain was working more slowly.

The experience eventually forced her to stop.

Burnout is recognized by the World Health Organization as an occupational phenomenon associated with chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. The scale of work-related stress in Britain also remains significant, with an estimated 22 million working days lost because of work-related stress during 2024-25.

For Hooper, the experience became a turning point.

Why a Holiday Wasn’t Enough

One of the biggest lessons Hooper says she learned is that simply taking time away from work does not necessarily solve burnout.

A holiday can provide temporary relief, but returning to the same workload, expectations and working habits can recreate the same conditions that caused the problem.

Experts quoted in the BBC report similarly emphasized that rest may be necessary, but lasting recovery can require changes to the circumstances contributing to distress.

That distinction is important for anyone experiencing chronic workplace stress.

Taking a few days off may help someone recover temporarily. But if excessive workloads, unrealistic expectations or unhealthy boundaries remain unchanged, the underlying problem may return.

Leaving Her Old Career Behind

Hooper eventually decided that her previous career was not sustainable.

She moved into work that gave her much greater control over how she spent her time and what commitments she accepted. She now works in public speaking and coaching, supporting business owners and employers who want to reduce the risk of burnout.

That control has become an important part of her own recovery.

Instead of allowing an organization to determine her schedule and priorities, she says she can decide how her business operates, who she works with and what work she takes on.

The Problem With Productivity Culture

Hooper’s criticism extends beyond long working hours.

She also questions the modern obsession with optimization.

Today, workers are surrounded by advice about becoming more productive, improving efficiency, optimizing schedules and squeezing more output from every hour.

While productivity tools can be useful, Hooper argues that the constant pressure to optimize ourselves can encourage people to work more rather than live better.

Her argument is simple: being productive should not mean being permanently available.

Working More Does Not Always Mean Achieving More

The culture of long hours can make overwork appear like dedication.

Employees may feel pressure to answer emails late at night, work through weekends or accept additional responsibilities because they believe refusing will damage their careers.

But working longer does not automatically produce better results.

Exhaustion can make concentration, decision-making and creativity more difficult. It can also affect relationships and leave people with little time for activities outside work.

Hooper’s experience illustrates why career ambition needs boundaries.

How to Recognize an Unhealthy Work Pattern

There is no single number of hours that automatically means someone is experiencing burnout.

However, several warning signs can indicate that a person’s relationship with work is becoming unhealthy.

These can include:

• Constantly feeling exhausted because of work
• Struggling to switch off after working hours
• Regularly checking work messages late at night
• Feeling guilty when taking time off
• Losing interest in activities outside work
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
• Feeling that every task is urgent
• Regularly sacrificing sleep for work
• Believing that taking a break means falling behind

These signs should not be treated as a diagnosis, but they can be useful reasons to reassess workload and seek appropriate support.

Why Boundaries Matter

One of the clearest lessons from Hooper’s experience is the importance of boundaries.

That can mean different things for different people.

For some employees, it could mean stopping work notifications outside scheduled hours. For others, it could mean having a conversation with a manager about workload or setting realistic deadlines.

Business owners may have different challenges because they often feel responsible for everything themselves.

But creating systems that allow work to continue without constant personal involvement can make a significant difference.

Working Less Does Not Mean Giving Up on Ambition

Hooper’s message is not necessarily that people should stop caring about their careers.

Instead, she challenges the idea that professional ambition must always involve sacrificing more of your time.

A person can still want a successful career while protecting evenings, weekends, relationships, hobbies and personal time.

The definition of success may simply need to become broader.

Instead of asking, “How much more can I achieve?” people can also ask, “What kind of life am I building while I achieve it?”

The Business Case for Sustainable Work

Employers also have a role to play.

If organizations depend on employees working excessive hours to meet ordinary expectations, burnout can become a structural problem rather than an individual one.

Companies can reduce that risk by examining workloads, staffing levels, management expectations and communication practices.

Clear priorities can also help.

When every task is treated as urgent, employees can struggle to identify what actually matters most.

Creating realistic expectations can make work more sustainable without necessarily reducing performance.

Why Rest Alone Isn’t the Answer

Rest remains important.

People need time away from work to recover physically and mentally.

But Hooper’s story highlights a bigger point: recovery may require changing the conditions that caused exhaustion in the first place.

If someone spends months working excessively, takes a short holiday and then immediately returns to the same schedule, the underlying cycle has not changed.

Sustainable improvement may require changes to workload, boundaries, expectations, management or even career direction.

A Different Definition of Success

Hooper’s experience offers a challenge to the traditional career ladder.

Promotion, salary increases and professional status can all be meaningful achievements.

But they are not the only measures of a successful life.

Time, health, relationships, freedom and the ability to choose how you spend your day can be valuable too.

For Hooper, learning that lesson came at a significant personal cost.

Now she wants others to learn it earlier.

“Work Less” Is Becoming a Bigger Conversation

The debate over working hours is increasingly connected to broader discussions about workplace stress, employee wellbeing and the changing nature of work.

Technology has made it easier to work from almost anywhere and communicate at almost any time.

That flexibility can be beneficial, but it can also blur the boundary between professional and personal life.

The result can be a workplace where people are technically off the clock but psychologically still working.

Hooper’s message pushes against that expectation.

Final Thoughts

Jo Hooper spent years believing that working harder was the path to career success.

Eventually, that approach contributed to burnout and forced her to reconsider what she wanted from work and life.

Her experience now drives her campaign to convince other people to work less and reject the idea that constant productivity should be the ultimate goal.

The lesson is not that ambition is bad.

It is that ambition without boundaries can come at a very high cost.

For workers and employers alike, the challenge is finding a way to build productive careers without turning exhaustion into a measure of success.

Sometimes, working less may not mean achieving less.

It may mean making room for a life outside work, too.