Hackshaw knows a thing or two about the power of curiosity to refresh both your personal and professional lives. Having experienced extreme chronic burnout after launching a stressful (but extremely successful) retail business, Hackshaw decided she needed a change. Now, she’s spearheading a campaign to help female leaders and managers off the path to burnout – by nurturing their innate curiosity.

“Humans are born curious, keen to explore, and to seek new and novel ways of doing things. But curiosity needs to be cultivated, especially in today’s society where cognitive overload and burnout are rife,” she explains.

Burnout – defined by the World Health Organisation as “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed” – is the direct result of our current tendencies to work longer, take on more responsibilities and feel extreme pressure to succeed. Characterised by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, feelings of negativity and decreased productivity and success in the workplace, burnout can lead to some serious mental health problems.

How to avoid burnout: why embracing curiosity could help us handle stress