Burnout has nothing to do with the hours you're working
And everything to do with the emotions you’re feeling during those hours
My favorite project when I was at BCG was also the one where I worked the most hours.
Working till 11 pm or midnight was the norm.
Working past midnight happened all the time.
Lots of meetings, lots of deadlines, lots of stakeholders.
I pretty much, worked, ate, and slept on repeat for a few months.
Why did I not get burned out in that setting?
Because while I was working those long hours, I was thinking things like…
“I’m so good at this.”
“We’re making a real impact here.”
“I love working with these people.”
“This is so much fun.”
And feeling emotions like…
Flow
Alignment
Competence
Connection
Purpose
Playfulness
Listen, I was tired at the end of every day, that was for sure.
But I was just physically and mentally tired.
The kind of tired that you can easily reset with some sleep and a little mindless TV.
The kind of tired that actually feels good at the end of a long, satisfying work day.
I was not emotionally tired.
If anything, I was emotionally energized.
One of my least favorite times in my career was also when I worked the fewest hours.
I had wrapped up my commitments, but I still had a few months left.
I had no externally imposed agenda, nothing required for me to do — I could do whatever I wanted.
No deadlines. No pressure. No obligations.
I could just hang out!
And I felt…awful.
How could I get burned out in such a setting??
Because while I was sitting around, I was thinking things like…
“What am I supposed to be doing here?”
“I keep saying I’m going to do stuff, but I’m not actually doing anything.”
“I’m doing a bad job.”
“What do I want? Who is this for?”
And feeling emotions like…
Confusion
Stuck-ness
Uncertainty
Uneasiness
Disconnection
Self-doubt
I wasn’t physically or mentally tired at all.
But I got very, very emotionally tired…
Because those are exhausting thoughts and feelings to have on loop in your brain!
Burnout is often correlated with long hours.
But it’s caused by the endless loop of fight-or-flight thoughts & feelings in your brain.
And that’s good news.
Because you can change your thoughts & feelings much more easily than you can change your hours.
And that’s exactly what I help my clients do.
We clear the mental & emotional burnout out of your system first.
We get you out of chronic fight-or-flight and back to your baseline.
And then we look critically with a clear eye at your career and see what needs to change.
Because building your career around flow (instead of fight-or-flight) isn’t all internal work (though that is a hefty piece of it).
It’s partly the internal work of learning how to access your flow and come back to baseline no matter what’s going on around you (or inside you).
It’s partly the external work of designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve, and walking away from situations that don’t fit your strategy.
And it’s partly the tactical work of navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want.
All of which is what I work on with my clients :)
So come talk to me, and let’s bust through this burnout and build your career around flow.
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
It’s not a sales pitch.
It’s just an opportunity for us to discuss whatever’s on your mind…
And I’ll offer some one-off coaching and brainstorming about your situation.
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
So we can go step-by-step through this process—
From burnout to baseline to career strategy to transition navigation to settling into your new role…
And you can have my support, coaching, and advice at every stage of the journey.
What my clients have to say…
“Pretty immediately, I was able to break through the decision of whether or not to leave my job.
I was able to see: Staying at my job is hard. Looking for a job is also hard. Which hard do I want to sign up for? Because being here in limbo is not productive.
I was also able to rewrite the story of what had happened at my current job in a way that gave me more confidence and started to untangle some of the emotional turmoil I had with that.
And then I recruited for and got my next job and got comfortable moving forward with that as my next step."
—Client | Early-Stage Tech Startup Director turned Design Consultant
I help high performers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you (or inside you)
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want
Today’s article focused on #1.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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