Daphne is a junior at the College Preparatory School in Oakland, CA. She is the 2026 MBA champion and a 2025 NSDA finalist. In addition to being the reigning ETOC champion, she’s been a finalist at UKTOC, NIETOC, Harvard, Stanford, James Logan, GMU, Emory, Bronx, UKSO, and Florida Blue Key.
I never expected to get burned out on extemp. Ever since the beginning of 9th grade, speeches had been my ultimate escape from a grueling school and intense everyday life. Yet in February of last year, I sat on the floor of my bedroom, a half-outlined flow pad staring back at me from the hardwood. There shouldn’t have been a problem. I was coming off of a string of competitive successes that made my imposter syndrome finally quiet in the corners of my mind. I had selected a topic area I loved for practice, pulled out my favorite navy competition pen, and was giving the speech to someone I loved. But below the surface, I was exhausted. I had been extemping for six weeks without a break. The speeches started to feel cookie-cutter and blurred together. Devastated, I realized I was burned out.
All of us will face burnout sometime during our lives. Dr. Christina Maslach, for the National Institute of Health, reasoned that burnout is a response to chronic over-stress and exhaustion in an activity. Our amygdala, or the part of the brain that controls fear, becomes hyperactive, trying to freeze us from taking an action that it perceives as dangerous. Our body will also respond by releasing sleep hormones, trying to physically stop us from continuing an activity. But on a more practical (less scienc-y) level, there are three hallmarks of burnout:
- Overwhelming exhaustion. The feeling that going to a tournament, or giving a speech is physically impossible.
- Feelings of cynicism and detachment. Questioning whether extemp has any value, if speeches matter, and physical detachment when giving a speech
- A lack of productivity. The feeling that you will never improve, or that you have nothing left to gain in the activity.
I have seen burnout end the careers of extempers if it goes unchecked. Even if a speaker has flawless fluency, arcane content knowledge, and a joke that would make Seinfeld laugh, it means very little if they cannot bring themselves to care. It is the first and most fundamental requirement of Extemp, and mastery in general. With that in mind, I can offer three poin— I mean, strategies, that helped pull me out of burnout last year.
- Take a break. Usually, if I climb into bed without having spoken that day, I’ll feel a deep tugging in my chest, as though my body is physically pained. We can experience extreme guilt when we fail to give speeches regularly. It’s easy to spiral and wonder whether our competitors are working harder or more consistently. But burned-out speeches aren’t the right kind of extemping. When our prep is half-hearted, or rushed, or distracted, it entrenches bad habits in our speaking. Worse, when the speech turns out half-baked, we internalize it, believing that we are regressing. Taking a break, truly stepping away from extemp, is the only solution. For two weeks, I caught up on trashy TV shows, laughed in the sun with my friends, and studied hard for my classes. It gave me the clarity and time to return to extemp on my own terms. It also helps remind us why we do the event in the first place.
- When you’re ready to get back into extemp, be intentional and focus on the things you love. Giving a speech on a whim, then scrolling on Instagram halfway through prep, is not the right way to return to extemp. Set aside time, and commit yourself to Extemp for those 37 minutes. Close the tabs, silence the messages that will inevitably distract you during prep. Setting a specific time to Extemp will prevent it from bleeding into your life. But more importantly, focus on the parts of the activity you love. When I returned to Extemp, I gave speeches on niche topics because weird research is my idea of fun (Boko Haram!). Everyone has different parts of the activity they enjoy: Taylor Swift jokes, bad puns, speeches on the Chinese property market… Focusing on the joy in each speech will make returning easier.
- Set a goal in the activity. It’s easy to lose sight of what you want to accomplish when you’re burned out. But centering yourself around one, concrete, achievable goal can make it easier to fight purposelessness. Maybe it’s breaking at a local, qualifying for states, or just getting a 1. Working towards something, even if it’s small, can give meaning to extemp.
Burnout is the worst kind of ghost. It hangs over you constantly, whispers worries in your ear, and leaves you feeling lost. Yet, in extemp and beyond, there are ways to overcome it. In the end, you can only become a better speaker and a stronger person through the journey.