For many people, burnout rarely happens at once.
It builds slowly over long days, constant pressure, too many responsibilities, and the constant pressure to keep moving forward. At first, it can look like stress, but over time, work starts to feel heavier, motivation fades, and even rest may not feel like enough.
FIU alumna Marly Q Casanova ’06, MS ’08 knows that experience first-hand.
As someone who admittedly experienced burnout, Marly Q Casanova ’06, MS ’08 has a unique perspective on it. After more than two decades in event planning and service-driven roles, Casanova experienced the effects of operating in a near-constant state of output. Today, the burnout-prevention consultant, facilitator, author, two-time TEDx speaker helps people-first leaders and organizations prevent burnout, strengthens workplace culture, and helps teams work better together.
That lived experience now grounds the way she talks about burnout, not simply as something individuals need to recover from, but as something leaders and organizations can learn to prevent.
That idea is at the center of her organization’s work. Through MARLY Q. LLC, she assists leaders and teams in reducing burnout risk and strengthening workplace culture using practical, science-backed resets that can be integrated into the workday. Marly Q’s signature 5R Reset System™ focuses on five areas: Regulate, Reconnect, Redirect, Reflect, and Recognize. The goal is to help people restore capacity without adding another complicated program to an already overloaded schedule.
Her philosophy can be summed up in a phrase she has shared for years: “Wellness is not another thing on your plate. It is the plate.”
From FIU to a Career of Service
Casanova’s commitment to helping others took shape early in her FIU experience.
As a student, she founded FIU’s Relay for Life, served as a peer advisor, participated in Student Government Association and held several other service and leadership roles across campus. Those experiences helped shape a career centered on bringing people together, building community and serving others.
But a career centered on serving others also taught her an important lesson about the limits of constantly giving without taking time to reset.
As her professional path evolved, she saw how sustained pressure and unaddressed stress can make it increasingly difficult for people to do their best work. That realization ultimately became central to her work, informing her positive impact on leaders and organizations, and helping them create healthier, more sustainable ways of working.
What Burnout Looks Like
Many people think burnout simply means being tired, but it can show up in quieter ways. You may feel more irritated, have difficulty resting, or feel disconnected from parts of your job you once enjoyed. You may feel like no matter how much you accomplish; it is never enough.
Casanova explains that burnout is not always easy to identify when you are living through it.
That is what makes burnout so tricky. People can continue showing up, answering emails, attending meetings, and getting things done while quietly losing their energy, engagement, and capacity. In many workplaces, that disconnection can go unnoticed because constant busyness is often mistaken for productivity.
Small Resets Can Change the Workday
Instead of treating well-being as something that happens after the work is finished, Casanova encourages people to build small resets into the day itself. These resets are not dramatic; they are simple, intentional moments of awareness that interrupt the cycle of stress.
One tool she teaches is her BEST Way to Stress Less™ framework. “BEST stands for Breathe, Experience, Smile, and Thank You,” she explains.
Breathe is a reminder to take an intentional breath before beginning or moving on to the next thing.
Experience encourages people to notice the moment they are actually in rather than rushing through the day on autopilot.
Smile can offer a simple shift in energy and perspective.
And Thank You brings attention back to gratitude, including recognizing your own effort, presence, and progress.
BEST is one of several practical reset tools Marly Q shares in her new book, Burnout-Proof Leader: A Simple Path to Stop Running on Fumes. In this short book, she expands on the idea that preventing burnout does not necessarily require adding more wellness activities to an already full schedule. Instead, small resets can become part of how we work, lead and interact with one another every day.
Whether you pause before a meeting, take a breath before sending an email, or choose to be more present in the moments between tasks, these small habits will help you feel more grounded and calm during the workday.
What Employers Can Do to Prevent Burnout
Casanova also points out that employers and leaders play an important role in reducing burnout. Work takes up a large part of people’s time, and how their work is designed – such as back-to-back meetings, constant task switching, and little time to reset – can contribute to burnout.
She believes employers can make a meaningful difference by building more thoughtful rhythms into the workday and creating a culture where well-being is part of how work gets done. This can look like starting meetings with a brief pause, helping teams focus on what matters most, and creating routines that support clarity instead of confusion. Building a wellness culture is a top-down approach where leaders model well-being and intentionally create safe, healthy work environments.
Casanova’s message is both practical and hopeful. Burnout may build slowly, but so can well-being. And often, that shift begins with something much smaller than people expect: one breath, one pause, and one intentional reset at a time.