Better to Burn Out Than Rust Out
Why Striving Still Matters in a World Obsessed With Balance
I’ve written about burnout at length before, and I stand by what I said then. It’s a real problem, and it destroys good people and good organizations when it goes unchecked. But there’s more to the story. As teams mature, so should their thinking. Leadership is never about simple binaries. It’s about nuance, paradox, and conclusions that sometimes make us uncomfortable.
One of those uncomfortable truths is this: while burnout is dangerous, rust-out may be worse.
Entropy and the Business of Decline
Nearly a decade ago, I wrote in Forbes Magazine about the concept of the heat death of the universe. It’s a sobering idea from physics: billions of years from now, every star will burn out, every source of energy will be spent, and the universe will become a cold, lifeless expanse.
I used that theory as a metaphor for business, and I still think it holds. Companies, like stars, naturally decline unless they continually inject energy into their systems. When leaders stop innovating, when teams stop striving, entropy takes over. What was once vibrant and alive becomes stagnant and brittle.
That’s what rust-out is: organizational and personal entropy. You don’t notice it right away. It doesn’t crash through the door like burnout. It creeps in quietly, behind the soothing language of “balance” and “sustainability.” And before you know it, you’re not just resting—you’re declining.
Burnout vs. Rust-Out
We know burnout. We’ve seen it and maybe lived it: the exhaustion, the cynicism, the feeling that work demands more than you can give. It’s painful. It’s destructive. It’s loud.
Rust-out is the opposite problem. It happens when we protect ourselves so much from the risks of overwork that we stop striving altogether. We let fear of exhaustion keep us from effort, and over time our edge dulls. Our skills soften. Our curiosity fades. Rust doesn’t make headlines the way burnout does, but it kills just as effectively—just slower.
If the choice is between burning brightly for something worth striving toward or slowly rusting away in false safety, I’ll choose the burn every time.
Success, Like Heaven, Is a City on a Hill
Rust-out is seductive because it feels comfortable. Burnout burns, but rust-out lulls. You sit in the same job for years, not challenged and not challenging yourself. You stop reading, stop learning, stop risking. You may look balanced on the outside, but inside you’re eroding.
The truth is that the human soul needs something to strive for. We need the climb. Success, like Heaven, is a city on a hill. You cannot coast into it… It must be climbed.
That climb requires fire. Not the frantic, unsustainable fire of burnout, but the steady burn of persistence. Without it, entropy wins.
The Trap of “Easy”
In leadership, the temptation to choose easy is constant. It’s always more appealing to take the safe option, to avoid conflict, to lower the bar. It sounds wise. It even feels kind. But easy is often the path to rust-out.
Marcus Aurelius once called comfort the “worst addiction,” and he was right. Comfort doesn’t break you overnight; it weakens you slowly, until you no longer have the strength to climb.
Organizations fall into this trap all the time. They hide behind process. They protect legacy systems. They avoid risk because they fear failure. And slowly, they rust. By the time they realize it, the world has passed them by.
Beyond the False Choice
None of this means burnout is good. I’m not glorifying it. What I am saying is that the real danger isn’t in choosing between “burning out” or “finding balance.” The danger is in believing the only way to avoid burnout is to embrace stasis.
Real leaders know the truth: you need enough fire to keep striving, but enough wisdom to manage the flames. That balance is central to The B:Side Way. Striving and satisfaction. Fire and stillness. Work and renewal. Not balance as in perfect symmetry, but balance as in dynamic tension.
Lessons from the Field
You don’t need theory to see the difference.
Entrepreneurship: The startups I’ve seen fail most often don’t implode from burnout—they wither from rust. Founders stop iterating, stop pushing, stop daring. Burnout kills an entrepreneur; rust-out kills the entire venture.
Leadership: Executives who insulate themselves from all stress rarely inspire their people. Their teams mirror their stagnation. Burnout burns one person; rust-out infects the whole culture.
Life: The same applies at home. Marriages rust out when partners stop striving to grow together. Friendships rust when no one invests effort. Children rust when parents don’t push them toward growth.
Striving is universal. Without it, entropy takes over.
Rust-Out Is Harder to See
One of the reasons rust-out is so dangerous is because it wears the mask of virtue. It hides behind the language of “self-care” and “balance.” Rest is important, but real rest restores. Rust-out leaves you stagnant.
Burnout shouts. Rust-out whispers. And whispers are easier to ignore.
The Skills to Burn Bright Without Burning Up
Avoiding rust-out doesn’t mean rushing headlong into burnout. It means developing the skills to strive without losing yourself.
Perspective – Keep your hill in sight. Why are you climbing? Without meaning, even small efforts feel like drudgery.
Discipline – Consistency beats intensity. Frantic sprints lead to burnout; steady habits build strength.
Recovery – Learn the difference between rest and escape. One rebuilds you; the other just numbs you.
Connection – Rust-out spreads through complacent cultures. Surround yourself with people who strive. Fire feeds fire.
These are not luxuries. They’re the difference between a life that climbs and one that decays.
Why Leaders Must Care
As leaders, we set the tone. If we treat comfort as the ultimate goal, our teams will rust. If we glorify burnout, they’ll flame out. But if we show what it looks like to strive wisely—burning bright without burning up—we give people something far better.
At B:Side, this is our standard. We don’t chase stasis. We don’t worship comfort. We strive. We push. We climb. And we do it with satisfaction, not exhaustion.
The Final Word
I’ll say it again: it’s better to burn out than rust out.
Burnout, at least, means you cared enough to try. Rust-out means you surrendered. And the human soul was not built for surrender.
The city on the hill is waiting. You don’t coast into it. You climb. You sweat. You burn. You strive.
Because entropy is always at work, pulling us down. And the only way to fight it is to climb.