How to Fix Workplace Burnout: A Case for Play at Work

For a lot of professionals right now, something feels off. Work is busy and demanding, but it also feels heavier, more exhausting, and less human than ever.

At INBOUND 2025, Jeff Harry, founder of Rediscover Your Play, took the stage to talk about how the current state of work is broken. But instead of offering another productivity hack or leadership framework, he proposed something far more counterintuitive: play.

In his session, Work Is Broken. Play Can Fix It, Harry challenged leaders to rethink burnout, perfectionism, and performance culture and offered practical ways to rebuild work environments through curiosity, experimentation, and what he calls “good mischief.”

Here are the biggest takeaways and how to apply them.

Why Does Work Feel So Exhausting Right Now?

Harry got right into it.

“The vibe is, that work sucks, but it not just sucks, it feels worse. It feels heavier. It feels more exhausting, right?” — Jeff Harry

Part of that weight comes from the pressure to constantly do more with less. Productivity has increased dramatically over the last few decades, yet the experience of work hasn’t necessarily improved alongside it.

And when teams perform well?

“How many of you have done really good work? And what happens when you do really good work? What do they offer for you? More work,” Harry acknowledged.

It’s a cycle many managers recognize: high performance leads to higher expectations, not relief or reward. It’s time to question that normalization. ““This is not normal. This is becoming normal, but this doesn't have to be tolerated,” Harry added.

Do this: Audit your team’s current workload. Identify one recurring process, meeting, or expectation that exists out of habit rather than impact. Remove it or redesign it this quarter.

What is the Difference Between Play and Perfectionism at Work?

According to Harry, perfection is often rooted in fear. It shows up in organizations as over-planning, risk aversion, and a reluctance to experiment.

“Perfection is rooted in ego shame, constantly trying to be right, while play's rooted in curiosity, a sense of wonder, a sense of awe.” — Jeff Harry

Play, by contrast, allows room for iteration, invites testing, and lowers the emotional cost of trying something new. This mindset switch matters, especially during a time when AI experimentation and external changes have become such dominant themes.

Teams that hold on to rigid perfectionism will move slower. Teams that approach change with curiosity move faster. Play breaks the perfection cycle by changing the relationship to the work itself.

Do this: In your next brainstorm, explicitly remove the pressure to be “right.” Set a timer for 10 minutes and ask for ideas that feel risky, unfinished, or unconventional. Treat the session as exploration.

Burnout is Overwork Mixed with Misalignment

Harry introduced the concept of “zone of genius”—work that feels energizing rather than draining.

"Zone of genius is the work where you forget about time. It's the work you would do where even if you weren't getting paid to do this work, you'd still want to do this work." — Jeff Harry

Burnout, he suggested, isn’t always about volume, but about spending too much time outside that zone. “The reason why you're burning out isn't because you're just overwhelmed. You're burning out because you're doing not the work that makes you feel alive, right?” he added.

For leaders, this creates an opportunity. Instead of only redistributing workload, consider redistributing energy. Try this exercise:

Ask your team:

What types of projects energize you?
When do you feel most in flow?
What tasks drain you disproportionately?

Then, look for ways to shift responsibilities, even slightly, toward alignment.

Three Levels of Play: Find Your Entry Point

To Harry, play means curiosity, experimentation, and designing work around energy instead of ego. He’s a realist and knows not everyone has the same amount of organizational power and he designed his framework accordingly. There are three levels of play, and the right one depends on where you sit.

Level 1: Play as recovery – Small acts that restore energy.

This is the starting point for anyone who feels like they can't change much right now. Identify what work brings you joy and find small ways to do more of it. If you can't do it inside work, protect time for it outside of work.

Level 2: Play as resistance – Questioning outdated systems.

For managers and mid-level leaders with some influence, this is where it gets more interesting. Look at your organization and ask where the status quo doesn't actually serve people. How many meetings are happening that shouldn't be? How many systems are inefficient because no one's had the space to fix them?

Level 3: Play to reimagine – Redesigning how work functions.

For leaders with more organizational power, are you actually using it? Harry pointed to examples like the four-day workweek, sabbaticals, profit sharing, on-site childcare, and letting people show up as themselves rather than performing a version of work that was never designed with them in mind.

Do this: Identify one change you can actually commit to, write down the name of someone who can help you make it happen, and reach out to them today.

The Takeaways

Work may feel heavier right now, but that doesn’t mean you are powerless. Here are a few things you can do:

Treat perfection as a barrier, not a badge.
Design work around energy, not just output.
Question systems that no longer serve you or your team.
Commit to one meaningful change.

Every decision you make (how you hire, how you run your meetings, how you look out for someone having a hard time) impacts what kind of workplace you're building.

Want access to more sessions and content like this? Join us in Boston this September.