It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means most female corporate executives are stressing right now. The reason is pretty simple. If we don’t believe we are execing correctly, we refuse to give ourselves permission to enjoy the holiday. We must feel on track professionally before we can enjoy ourselves personally. So we’re stressing!
That’s what we are working on and working through the process of going from doer to leader. We know that’s the skill we must master because simply put, we cannot squander the hard work and sacrifices we have made over the 10 years by getting into an executive seat and then failing miserably.
It just can’t happen!
This is where burnout comes in. Burnout can be both the result of not execing correctly OR it could be the cause of it.
Interesting concept, right?
Either way, we must address burnout.
Burnout can happen and actually does happen often during our push to reach this coveted role in our careers. We sacrifice ourselves, our health, our personal time, our family time, the memories we could have made with our kids, and more.
We make these sacrifices for two reasons: 1. because we hope that by sacrificing we can get to our executive seat faster and 2. we believe it’s the only way. We aren’t deserving of the good life until we have reached our end result.
With this mindset, we have pushed so hard, given so much, that when we do arrive, we are a bit ragged. If we think about our careers like a marathon race, we have toenails that have pulled off and are rattling around in our running shoes. We have a bloody leg from falling at mile 19. The mental focus that got us through all of that was the idea that once we got to the executive role, we could rest.
We convinced ourselves of it. It was what got us through.
The idea of having to do more work, different work, work that we have to now learn how to do . . . how do we wrap our arms around that? Our bodies/minds need time to recover and yet, our careers cannot afford the downtime.
Or, our legs are feeling ok, we made it through the marathon. But instead of taking off our running shoes and becoming the coach to the runners in the next race, we put our shoes on again and start running. We become a marathoner again instead of a coach because we believe that’s the safest role for us to play.
We know how to race and so we do it. But you can’t be a runner and a coach at the same time. Just like you cannot be a doer as an executive. Yes, it feels safe. Yes, you know how to do it well. But the executive role is all about leading and teaching others how to successfully run the career race. Not you being the runner.
You cannot fall back on what you know or you will burn out, be unsuccessful in your executive seat, and will be so mentally drained from trying, that you will put your career at risk.
You see, the only way to get past burnout is this:
- Gut-check yourself. Are you burnt out? Grab the workbook for some questions to help you answer this.
- Take some vacation time, take some personal time, and adjust your schedule to allow for some decompression and realignment.
- Set clear boundaries in being a leader, not a doer.
- Learn how to be a leader, don’t stress yourself out trying to guess or do it on your own.
Burnout can happen to all of us. If you’re there, let’s solve it. If you’re approaching burnout, let’s prevent it. And if you want to avoid it, let’s ensure you learn how to lead and stay away from the “doer” role from this point forward.
Download the workbook and do the activities with today’s episode to keep you moving forward.
Be Legendary!