A 5-minute read that will help you more than a mid-afternoon power nap
It doesn’t start with exhaustion.
It starts small. A few late nights here, a few working weekends there, another “quick” meeting that runs long
You tell yourself it’s just a busy patch, that you’ll slow down soon.
But soon never comes.
You keep delivering (because you always do) and because you’re the one everyone counts on, the one who pulls things together and makes things happen.
Then one day you realise you’re tired in a way sleep doesn’t fix.
The spark you used to have has dimmed a little, along with your patience, creativity and energy.
Even the small decisions feel heavier and harder than they should.
That’s how burnout usually starts for leaders – not with collapse, but with a slow erosion.
And because you can still function, you convince yourself it’s fine. You can still perform. You can still hit targets… But what starts as stamina slowly turns into survival.
The version no one talks about
When people think of burnout, they usually picture someone who’s stopped showing up, maybe someone who’s stuck in bed, or worse, sick in hospital.
But burnout doesn’t always look like that.
It looks like showing up, just with less clarity, less edge, less capacity to care about the things you used to.
You start solving for speed instead of thinking for impact, you make decisions just to get things off your plate.
And it’s sneaky because from the outside, you still look fine – you’re showing up, you’re producing, performing, leading…
But on the inside, you’re running a daily mental marathon on an empty tank.
And because you’re good at it, no one notices.
…Not even you.
Wait, what actually is burnout?!
The World Health Organisation defines burnout as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
It’s characterised by three dimensions:
- feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
- increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and
- reduced professional efficacy.”
Amelia Nagoski, co-author of Burnout described it as:
being overwhelmed and drained by everything you have to do and, yet, somehow still feeling worried you’re not doing enough.
I’m not sharing this to alarm you, but if any of that feels uncomfortably familiar, you need to start paying attention.
Burnout doesn’t announce itself, it creeps in quietly and convinces you that you’re fine.
Until you’re not.
And if you’re reading this thinking, “I’m not that bad.”
… Yet
Don’t wait for it to happen to do something about it – prevention is always better than a cure!
What to do about it
If this is sounding scarily familiar, it’s ok. You’re not alone. I see you, and I support so many others like you.
You can’t build high performance when you’re empty and depleted, and you certainly can’t think clearly when you never stop.
Start with space.
And no, I don’t mean the kind where you disappear for a week to “reset” and come back to chaos.
I mean the kind where you give yourself 30 quiet minutes in the morning before you check your email.
Where you give yourself 15-minutes between meetings without cramming 17 emails in between.
The kind where you walk at lunch instead of eating at your desk (not while listening to another business podcast!) Let your mind wander, let it be bored and see where it goes… you’ll probably end up having your best ideas or solving your niggling problems while you’re walking)
When you come in in the morning, ask yourself: “what’s the one thing only I can do that will actually move this business forward today?”
Do that first.
Everything else can wait. Because if your day gets railroaded and you end up doing nothing else productive, at least you’ve done that.
Then look at your managers.
If you’re still the one making every decision, solving their problems, fixing their errors, holding their hands… it’s not their fault, it’s a skill gap and it’s yours to fix – for their sake and yours!
They need to learn to manage energy, not just output.
And so do you. Because if you knew how, you wouldn’t be feeling this way.
When leaders learn to manage their own energy and model these behaviours, performance becomes sustainable.
That’s what separates high-performing teams from hard-working ones.
The bottom line
Burnout doesn’t always look dramatic.
It looks normal… Until it doesn’t.
And by the time you realise how much it’s cost you – in productivity, creativity, clarity, output, energy, quality of life – it’s already taken more than you thought it would.
If you keep pushing through, you’ll eventually hit a ceiling – not of ability, but of capacity.
That’s where good leaders start losing their best people, and themselves in the process.
If that slow erosion sounds familiar, it’s time to stop ignoring or patching over it and time to start rebuilding.
That’s the work I do – helping leaders and their teams perform at a high level without burning out in the process.
And if you’re reading this thinking “I can’t afford to slow down”, I guarantee, you can’t afford not to.
I’ve got one space left this year for leaders and teams ready to make that shift to sustainable high performance without the burnout.
If that’s you, reply to this email and let’s talk.
Here’s to doing great work AND still having energy left for life.
Jess
