Companion Workbook

Burnout
at Home

The Remote Worker's Fix

Diogo Linhares

Your Details

burnoutathomebook.com/workbook

How to Use This Workbook

A field manual, not a test. There are no right answers — only honest ones.

1
Read the chapter first. Each exercise is designed to follow the chapter it matches. The workbook extends the chapter — it doesn't replace it.
2
Write before you think too hard. The first answer you write is usually the most accurate one. Editing yourself is the enemy of honest data.
3
Use it as a log, not a report. Return to pages as your situation changes. The Monthly Calibration (Ch. 10) is designed to be used repeatedly.
4
Start anywhere that's urgent. If Chapter 8's READ framework is what you need today, start there. The sequence is ideal — not mandatory.

What's in this workbook

Part One

The Trap

Chapters 1–3 · Understanding how you got here

Part Two

The Break

Chapter 4 · Diagnosing your burnout fingerprint

Part Three

The Reset

Chapters 5–10 · Building the practical system

Part Four

The New Normal

Chapter 11 · Making the system last in any setting

Part One

The Trap

See the system clearly before trying to escape it. Chapters 1–3.

T00 Introduction · Your starting point

Where Am I Right Now?

A quick self-check before the work begins. Write quickly and honestly.

Three honest sentences

Don't filter. Write what is actually true — not the version you'd say in a performance review.

T01 Chapter 1 · Boundary loss

Boundary-Loss Inventory

See where work has crossed into life — the moments you handed over time that was supposed to belong to something else.

Map your boundary leaks

List the specific moments when work regularly enters your personal time. Be concrete — a vague "I work too much" is not useful. "I check Slack after dinner on weeknights" is.

The leak When it happens What it costs you
T02 Chapter 2 · Activation triggers

What Keeps Me Activated?

Name the triggers that prevent your nervous system from switching off — even when you've stopped working.

From Chapter 2: The human stress response was designed to turn off when the threat passed. When constant low-level activation replaces that cycle, the shutdown mechanism stops working. This exercise maps the signals that are keeping your system running.

Activation map

For each factor, rate how much it keeps you mentally on. Circle or select your level: Low / Medium / High.

Activation factor My level How it shows up for me
Late pings — messages outside work hours
Open loops — unfinished tasks, unclear priorities
Social pressure — feeling I must reply instantly
Performance fear — fear of being seen as slow or unavailable
Habit loops — automatic checking, inbox refreshing
T03 Chapter 3 · Invisible overtime

The 3-Day Time Audit

Turn "I think I work too much" into a concrete number. What gets measured gets changed.

How to run this audit: For the next three workdays, track every work-related moment that falls outside your intended working hours. Include the quick inbox check on the couch, the Sunday email scan, the mental rehearsal at dinner. Log it in real time — memory is unreliable.

Daily log (repeat for 3 days)

When What happened Trigger Category Minutes

Your numbers

Avg. extra min/day
Est. extra hours/year
Dominant category

Part Two

The Break

Diagnose your specific burnout fingerprint. Chapter 4.

T04 Chapter 4 · Burnout fingerprint

Burnout Self-Assessment

Find your specific burnout pattern. The wrong diagnosis leads to the wrong fix.

Rate each statement honestly using the scale: 1 = Never · 2 = Rarely · 3 = Sometimes · 4 = Often · 5 = Almost always. Add up each cluster separately.

Exhaustion

I start most workdays already feeling tired, before anything significant has happened.
Tasks that used to feel routine now feel harder in ways I can't fully explain.
I catch myself thinking about rest, sleep, or the end of the day more often than I used to.
When the weekend arrives, I don't feel like I fully recover before Monday.
Physical symptoms — headaches, tension, frequent illness — have increased over the past year.

Cynicism

I find it harder to care about outcomes that used to matter — company goals, team wins, personal milestones.
I feel more detached or distant from my colleagues than I used to.
I often go through the motions of my work with little emotional investment.
I feel a growing sense that what I do doesn't really make a difference.
I've noticed myself becoming more negative or critical, at work and sometimes at home.

Inefficacy

I frequently feel like I'm not performing at the level I know I'm capable of.
I second-guess decisions I would previously have made with confidence.
I feel behind in ways I can't seem to catch up from, no matter how much I work.
When I compare my output to others, I consistently come up short in my own mind.
I feel like an earlier version of me was better at this job than I am now.
Exhaustion (5–25)
Cynicism (5–25)
Inefficacy (5–25)
Reading your scores: 5–12 = not a primary concern right now. 13–18 = warning zone — ideal time to act. 19–25 = this is a core dimension of your burnout fingerprint.
Result-to-Action Map
Exhaustion highest → Prioritize Ch. 6 Shutdown Ritual and Ch. 9 Recovery Protocol before anything else. Your nervous system needs an off switch first.
Cynicism highest → Start with Ch. 7 Boundaries and the Ch. 8 READ Experiment. The problem is disconnection — reconnection through better communication is the entry point.
Inefficacy highest → Focus on Ch. 5 Digital Minimum first. Protect attention and create conditions for deep, focused work. Performance improves through better structure, not harder effort.
All three 19–25 → Work through Part Three in sequence — the system addresses all three at once. Allow more time and more self-compassion than feels natural right now.

Part Three

The Reset

Build the practical system. Chapters 5–10.

T05 Chapter 5 · The Digital Minimum

Digital Minimum + Noise Inventory

Map what's competing for your attention, then design the environment your best work actually needs.

Two-part exercise. Complete the Digital Noise Inventory first — it feeds directly into your Digital Minimum protocol. You can't subtract what you haven't named.

Step 1 · Digital Noise Inventory

Over three workdays, list every tool, app, and channel that can reach you. Classify each as Essential, Useful, or Noise.

Tool / channel Checks/day Category Decision
Three questions to apply to everything Useful or Noise: Does this need to interrupt me in real time, or can it wait for a scheduled check? What is the realistic cost of a two-hour response delay? Who set this expectation, and did I ever agree to it?

Step 2 · Digital Minimum Protocol

Using your inventory, define the rules for each layer of your digital environment.

The Tools Layer 1
Communication Hours Layer 2
Status Signals Layer 3
T06 Chapter 6 · The Shutdown Ritual

Shutdown Ritual Builder

Design your repeatable off switch — the habit that does what the old commute used to do for free.

The shutdown ritual works because repetition creates a neural association: this sequence = work is done. It won't feel meaningful until you've done it consistently for at least two weeks. Start simple; refine later.

Design your three-stage ritual

Stage 1 · Review 5–7 min
1
2
3
Stage 2 · Close 3–5 min
Stage 3 · Transition 5–10 min

Must involve your body and happen in a different physical space than your work setup.

T07 Chapter 7 · Boundaries Without Apology

Boundary Scripts

Write the words before you need them. Prepared scripts remove the hesitation that makes these conversations feel risky.

The reframe that makes these land: You are not asking for permission to protect your health. You are describing the conditions under which you do your best work — and asking if there's anything about that which wouldn't work for the other person.

Script 1 · Manager conversation

Lead with performance. Be specific about hours and escalation. End by inviting their perspective. Draft your version below — adapt the language to your voice.

Script 2 · Team message

Written or spoken. Short, clear, positions your limits as a team benefit — not an individual preference.

Script 3 · Client / external partners

For key relationships where the pattern has been heavily always-on. Brief, professional, no apology.

Preparing for pushback

If your manager responds with "I need you always available," ask these before assuming the worst.

Question to askTheir response (notes)
"Can you share a concrete example where waiting until the next morning would cause serious issues?"
"How often does that kind of situation actually happen?"
"If we keep the emergency channel available, would that address most cases?"
T08 Chapter 8 · The Async Advantage

Seven-Day READ Experiment

Use READ only for messages that carry emotional charge — the ones that make your body react before your mind has fully read them.

The READ Framework

A message answered from a regulated mind is communication. A message answered from an activated mind is usually just leakage. READ gives you the gap between stimulus and response — where your judgment, professionalism, and actual voice can come back online.

R

Regulate

Lower your activation before touching the keyboard. Sometimes this takes a breath. Sometimes it takes closing the laptop and calling it a day. That is not avoidance — it is judgment.

E

Evaluate

Name your state honestly. Tired? Angry? Defensive? Afraid? You're usually less confused than you think — just moving too fast to name what's true.

A

Assess

Now assess the message itself. Is this truly urgent or merely uncomfortable? Does it need a full reply now, a brief acknowledgment, or nothing until tomorrow?

D

Deliver

Only now do you respond. Aim for clarity, calm, and closure. A good async reply reduces the amount of communication required after it — not more of it.

7-Day Experiment Log

For the next seven workdays, use READ only when a message triggers a physical reaction — jaw tightening, breathing shortening, body bracing. Not every message. Just those ones. Log each instance below.

Date What triggered it State
(E/C/I)		 What I chose to do What happened

End-of-week reflection

Answer these four questions after completing the 7-day log. Be specific — "it went okay" is not useful data.

T09 Chapter 9 · Protecting Your Recovery

Recovery Protocol

Replace passive rest with restorative rest — and build the weekly rhythm that actually starts repaying your recovery debt.

Recovery is infrastructure, not indulgence. Your nervous system does not care whether you earned it. It only cares whether you got it.

Passive rest vs. restorative rest

The four ingredients of real recovery: psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery experiences, social connection. List what genuinely restores you and what only feels like rest.

Genuinely restores me Feels like rest but doesn't restore I'm cutting or limiting

Weekly Recovery Protocol

The Hard Stop
Deep Recovery Block
Re-Entry Window (choose one)

Decide in advance. Ambiguity keeps your brain on low-level alert all weekend.

T10 Chapter 10 · The Long Game

Monthly Calibration

Systems drift. This check-in is how you bring yours back — every month, without self-criticism.

Schedule this as a non-movable 30–45 minute calendar event. Think of it as maintenance, not a performance review. You're asking "what did reality teach me?" not "why did I fail?"

Monthly check-in (repeat each month)

Date What slipped? What worked well? What the month told me What I'll reset

Red / Yellow / Green week log

Green = full system runs. Yellow = slight flex, core intact. Red = true crunch, time-boxed with a reset date.

If you look back on your last quarter and most weeks were red, you don't have a time-management problem. You have a role or organizational design problem that no personal system can fix alone. That's valuable information.
Week of Type What flexed Reset plan

30 / 60 / 90-Day Maintenance Plan

Use one column for each milestone. Be specific about what you'll protect and what conversations you'll have.

30 days

60 days

90 days

Part Four

The New Normal

Protect the system in any setting. Chapter 11.

T11 Chapter 11 · The New Commute

Return-to-Office & Transition Ritual

Your system is not location-dependent. These exercises help you carry it into a hybrid or in-office setting — and decide clearly what to do if the policy doesn't fit your life.

Step 1 · Identify your starting point

Which profile describes you most honestly right now? These aren't permanent labels — they're lenses for making a clear decision.

Profile What it means Check if this is you
The Adapter The arrangement is workable. Your question is: how do I bring my system with me without sliding back?
The Negotiator The policy as written doesn't work, but you'd stay if it could be modified. You have a business case to make.
The Decision Maker The new setup is fundamentally incompatible with how you can sustainably work. Staying isn't the rational choice.

Step 2 · What your system carries over

Your Digital Minimum, Shutdown Ritual, async skills, and boundaries don't disappear because the location changed. Map what transfers directly.

System element How it transfers to office / hybrid What I need to protect
Digital Minimum
Shutdown Ritual
Communication Hours
Deep Work Blocks

Step 3 · Design your transition ritual

The commute is liminal space. Used deliberately, it's one of the most practical levers you have. Decide in advance what it's for — or it defaults to an extension of the workday.

Morning commute (on the way in)
End-of-day commute (on the way home)
In-office focus protection

For Negotiators — performance case builder

Position flexibility as a business decision, not a lifestyle request. Prepare before the conversation.

T12 Final · Commitment page

The Commitment

Not a promise to be perfect. A decision to always return.

My system, in writing.

Complete this page when you've finished Part Three. Return to it when you drift.

The long game is not about never slipping. It is about always returning. You don't need perfection. You need persistence — the willingness to notice when you've drifted, and the decision, made again and again, to come back.

Burnout at Home: The Remote Worker's Fix

Diogo Linhares  ·  burnoutathomebook.com/workbook

This workbook is the official companion to the book. Fill it in your browser, print it, or save as PDF using the button in the corner.
All exercises correspond to the 11-chapter final manuscript.