THE FUSE

Gifted and high-IQ adults are often told they are burned out when they are not. The lesser-known condition is bore-out, chronic understimulation, and it produces the same exhaustion, cynicism, and flatness as burnout. Burnout comes from overstimulation. Bore-out comes from too little of the right kind. You can be both at once: overloaded with work that drains you and starved of work that feeds you.