Burnout isn't a resilience problem

THIS WEEK

This week, I spoke with three high performers.

Different roles. Different contexts.
Very similar patterns.

One leads a team of 60.
Another has just stepped into what they once called their “dream role.”
The third has a calendar full of wellness routines - and still feels depleted.

All three are still delivering.
And all three are running on empty.

THE REALITY CHECK

What they’re experiencing isn’t ordinary tiredness.

It’s the kind of exhaustion that shows up when effort keeps increasing, but meaning and control quietly erode.

Motivation fades.
Work becomes transactional.
Days turn into survival mode.

This isn’t about resilience or passion.
And it’s not a personal failure.

It’s a system problem.

Most people respond by reaching for fixes that sound responsible:

These things aren’t wrong.
They’re just insufficient.

You return from time off to the same structure.
Stress subsides briefly and then returns.
Even self-care becomes another obligation to manage.

You can’t recover from an unsustainable system inside the same system.

Burnout isn’t resolved by doing more to cope.
It’s prevented by changing the conditions that drain you.

That starts with clarity.

1. Audit the load, not just the schedule
For one week, capture your recurring meetings and obligations.
Then note - honestly - how each one affects you: energizing, neutral, or draining.

Patterns appear quickly.

If almost nothing gives energy or purpose, that’s not a mindset issue.
That’s a signal.

2. Make the invisible visible
Unsustainable work rarely improves on its own.

Clear conversations about priorities, tradeoffs, and capacity matter more than heroic endurance.

Strong leaders will appreciate a signal before performance erodes.

3. Re-anchor in meaning
Even small windows of purposeful work can counter depletion.

Fifteen intentional minutes - on something that matters - often does more than another efficiency fix.

4. Create real disengagement
Occasional, complete disconnection matters more than constant low-level recovery.

It’s about spending time on things that take your full attention - the kind where there’s simply no room to replay meetings or second-guess decisions.

For many executives, that happens through pursuits that require full presence: physical challenges, hands-on work, creative disciplines, or time spent in environments where attention naturally narrows.

You can’t self-care your way out of a broken system.

Change begins with boundaries - especially the ones that quietly became “normal.”

Start with one clear no.
Then another.

Your energy isn’t optional.
It’s the operating system everything else depends on.