Why Creative, Mission-Driven Leaders Don’t Recognize Burnout When it Happens

It can be difficult to recognize burnout when you first experience it, because it can show up differently in each person. 

One of the main reasons why you don’t recognize burnout when it happens is because you believe burnout is a weakness, and it means you can’t handle your job, being a leader, responsibilities or it will slow down your career if you admit this is what you’re experiencing.

Nothing could be further from the truth. But this is what you’ve been conditioned to believe. When things get to be too much, if you decide you’ve had enough or you’re no longer willing to put up with a toxic workplace or boss, then you just weren’t tough enough. There’s nothing tough about being willing to suffer abuse willingly at the hands of another human being. Burnout is something that happens over time, often years. Years of dealing with: 

  • Passive-aggressive bosses and colleagues 

  • System and organizational structure failures 

  • Gaslighting

  • Being questioned at every turn

  • Always needing to watch your back

  • Constantly being on guard

  • Not seeing your work have the kind of impact it’s meant to have because the organization or company doesn’t actually care about what they say they care about. 

It weighs on you heavily, and you finally get to the point where you’ve had enough, and you start looking for the exit.

Have you ever felt like being burned out was a sign of weakness?

So, how does burnout show up?

  1. Not being able to turn work off. Your mind is always racing, thinking and planning for work, answering emails on weekends, not being able to enjoy down time or time with friends and family because you’re preoccupied with work. You don’t have an off time for emails, work calls, etc. Maybe you’re out to dinner, catching up with friends you haven’t seen in a while, only to be thinking about something you need to do for work. But the most important thing about being with the people in your life is your presence. When you get to a point where you can’t stop yourself, and can’t cut it off, you might be burned out.

  2. Getting angry and being willing to act out, regardless of the consequences or checking out completely. I’ve seen it so many times where a leader will get to the point where they're so burned out that they either checkout completely, or everything starts affecting them and it shows. So a person who might tend to be more reserved, poised and in control is snapping back, and they don’t care who doesn’t like it. I’ll be honest sometimes people probably need to see this side of you, but for most creative, mission-driven leaders it rarely ends well.

  3. Vacation and sick days are never enough. Under normal circumstances you can take a mental health day, or go away for a couple weeks and you feel recharged and ready to go. But when you’re burned out and exhausted it will never be enough. You’ll come back from a vacation dreading going back to work, or if you’re anything like I was, you’ll spend half your trip unplugging, decompressing and unwinding before you can really start to enjoy yourself, then before you know it you have to go back to work.

One thing that’s important to mention is that many creative, mission-driven leaders don’t get enough time off from their organizations and companies. Or when they do get time off, the unwritten rule is that you get work done while you’re away. This is a major contributing factor to burnout. The kind of rest and time you need to recover and recuperate is different from what you’ll get on vacation. It has to happen on multiple levels within your mental, spiritual, emotional and physical bodies.

4. Burnout  shows up in your body. Stress, injuries, drinking excessively, etc. Pay attention to your body and the signs and messages it’s giving you. Do you need to rest, go for a walk, sit in the sun for a while, take it slow? Whatever it is, do it. Burnout frays and fries your ability to hear your body clearly, and part of the recovery is rebuilding the connection from your intuition to your body and the messages it sends you.

How has burnout showed up for you?


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