New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made headlines recently when she announced her resignation. Citing burnout, Ardern revealed she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do justice to the role. While her announcement was met with a flurry of support, it also received critical and misogynistic headlines. This public, honest and vulnerable revelation behind her decision to step down remains a great example of leadership. Unfortunately, her admission of burnout is not an outlier. Recent research found that over 80% of us feel overworked and burnt out. A survey by software firm Limeade also found that burnout was one of the top reasons workers left their organization in 2021, many without having another job lined up. This has led to experts defining the last couple of years as ‘the burnout epidemic’. 

Why are we so burnt out?  Is burnout inevitable in high-powered jobs? Is ambition to blame? These are some questions that we dug into during our recent live webinar and Q&A, “Getting Ahead Without Burning Out”. Hosted by Uncommon’s founder Yolanda Lee and joined by guest speakers Jessica Lackey (Feminist Strategy and Operations Advisor) and Ivan Lee (Clinical Therapist, Alliance Counselling), they shared their individual experiences with burnout and discuss how to break the cycle of overwork and build lasting, fulfilling careers. Watch the full webinar episode on YouTube here. 

Below, read a summary of our key takeaways from the discussion. 

An official definition of burnout defines it as a “special type of job stress — a state of physical, emotional or mental exhaustion combined with doubts about your competence and the value of your work.” Let’s start with some definitions. What are the 3 components of burnout? 

Ivan: There are three symptomatic clusters that point us toward a conclusion that a person is burned out: firstly, feelings of energy depletion, and exhaustion. Of course, there is some distinction between exhaustion and burnout, which we’ll get to later. The second is an increase in distance from one's job, maybe even feelings of negativism or cynicism. The third area would be reduced professional efficacy, ie. the perceived ability to impact your work. You might feel like your impact or productivity has decreased because of your state of exhaustion.

How is feeling burnt out different from feeling stressed or exhausted?

Ivan: Stress is essentially one’s internal resource or energy being called on to do something. It’s the energy required for a task. In that regard, we all have stress — whether that's choosing items at the supermarket or having to assemble a team at work. Stress is actually neutral — there's even a term called eu-stress which is stress that's healthy. 

Exhaustion is a temporary state of running out of ‘fuel’ or energy. Burnout is different; it is chronic. It happens when stress and exhaustion, which ought to be ebbing and flowing, don’t let up for extended periods of time, and when your periods of rest and recovery in between (your stress cycles) are inadequate. If you don’t have periods to ‘degas’ or let up, that chronic state of burnout happens.

“Exhaustion is a temporary state of running out of ‘fuel’ or energy. Burnout is different; it is chronic. It happens when stress and exhaustion, which ought to be ebbing and flowing, don’t let up for extended periods of time, and when your periods of rest and recovery in between (your stress cycles) are inadequate.”

We’ve seen a lot of discourse around burnout, especially post-pandemic, leading experts to define the last couple of years as a “burnout epidemic”. Why are we so burnt out? 

Jessica: Firstly, there was no respite at home from work during the last couple of years. You’re dealing with, especially in the United States, a complete shredding of our system of care, whether that’s teachers to child care. And so, particularly for women, there was no respite in that threatened state of stress, even at home. Our daily routines were also being disrupted (with the pandemic), which gave us all a jolt of reality to evaluate what's really important in our lives. 

I think the third piece is that our jobs got substantially harder during the pandemic because most companies tried to replicate in-person work remotely. And that's not how we're set up to thrive. When you add more stress at home, that conversation about what's really important, and work systems that are not designed for remote work, that all adds up to going from stress and exhaustion to the second and third burnout elements of cynicism and feeling less connected to your job

Is burnout inevitable in high-powered jobs? 

Jessica: I don't think it's inevitable. But I think it takes, especially for leaders in bigger companies, structures in the workplace that support turning off and an entire cultural leadership shift. I don't know if you're ever, as a C-suite leader in a huge organization, able to turn your phone off fully at 5 pm. But you can set communication parameters about only texting if it's an emergency, modelling that for your teams, designing in-person slash hybrid work, and also truly being thoughtful about prioritization. Yes, there are targets we have to hit, but there is also a lot of deadweight and a lot of projects that never get cancelled due to organisational detritus. It's a lot easier for solopreneurs and smaller entrepreneurs because they sit at the seats of power to make that happen. But I'm hoping that's the case now, with the tech layoffs and that being a signal and opportunity to redesign how we think about work for the betterment of our employees.

In the modern zeitgeist, ambition is largely equated with work and professional success. What does ambition or ‘getting ahead’ mean to you?

Jessica: I think it’s really important for us to be really thoughtful and deliberate as to what getting ahead means. When I looked at VPs in the companies I’ve worked for, I realized I don’t want that job at all. For me, it was about redefining if ‘getting ahead’ meant more depth in my subject matter expertise, is it mentorship within the company? I needed to identify my ‘enoughness’ marker and say, “OK, this job is gonna put me outside of my zone of genius. I could get it but then I’d be miserable.” It’s also about knowing when ambition comes at the cost of what makes me great at what I love to do, and when it puts me in a role that I’m actually not very good at. That may mean slightly less power and prestige and much more personal fulfillment.

Yolanda: I came I entered the workforce in the post-financial crisis and the era of the #Girlboss where we had this idea that if you grind hard enough, you’re going to get all the fruits of your labor and you will be happy and you’re gonna have the best life ever. To be honest, I played that game, I did that ‘sleeping in the office’ bit, and it didn’t yield the version of success that mattered to me. A surefire recipe for unhappiness is trying to live your life according to somebody else’s version of success. 

For me, defining ambition is really about understanding what your priorities and values are for that season of your life. In this season of my life, I’m building a company that I love. Do I finish work every day at 5 pm? No, but I find joy in putting in the work for the mission. And it’s not a one-and-done choice. It’s a series of micro choices that you make along the way that ultimately align with what’s important to you then. That’s something we’re actively building at Uncommon, with our peer coaching network; to create a space for our members to dig deep and figure out their compass, reflect on their goals and scale back or course-correct if needed. 

“For me, defining ambition is really about understanding what your priorities and values are for that season of your life. In this season of my life, I’m building a company that I love. Do I finish work every day at 5 pm? No, but I find joy in putting in the work for the mission. And it’s not a one-and-done choice. It’s a series of micro choices that you make along the way that ultimately align with what’s important to you then.”

What are some micro steps we can take daily to maintain our well-being at work?

Ivan:  This is a quick shout-out to nature and what it offers to us. I find that people find themselves refreshed in nature. It takes a lot of energy for the human brain to process things that are linear or symmetrical; so that includes cityscapes, even stuff you see on the computer screen and so on straight. It takes the brain a lot of energy to process that, and we do so every day. But it takes less energy to process and engage with lines in nature, like the shape of a tree or a rock on the stream. That’s why people come back feeling refreshed after a walk or time in nature because their brains had a break. This is something I do quite often: my office is about a 20-minute walk to an area where I can get on a pier and just spend time sitting on rocks. 

How do we shake off the habit of feeling guilty when taking well-deserved time off? 

Jessica: We need to reframe rest as a non-negotiable and human right that we are denied when we are overloaded by our companies. When we feel guilty about rest, we are internalizing the failures of our companies and organizations to provide us adequate support. Part of not feeling guilty is doing something pleasurable with your time and designing things that you love to do; things that captivate your attention to activities that engage your body. And remember to reframe your rest as, “This is how I mitigate burnout.” Rest is part of the job. That’s when our best creativity happens. That’s when our best recovery happens. You know, we think muscle growth happens in the gym, but it really doesn’t. It happens in the spaces between the workouts and we have to stop putting ourselves on the hook for the lack of structural support around us and stop internalizing it because it is not for us to internalize.

Watch the full webinar here and download our resource sheet here. 

About the speakers

Jessica Lackey is a Feminist Strategy and Operations Advisor for ‘soul-centered’ business leaders. She has over 15 years of experience at McKinsey and Company, Nike, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Today, she combines her deep business experience with coaching insights to build sustainable business practices, and teach entrepreneurs how to “grow without the grind”.

Ivan Lee is a Clinical Therapist at the Alliance of Counselling whose passion and aim is to empower clients towards their social, emotional, and mental well-being. Outside of his practice, Ivan is also a professional diving instructor and outdoor enthusiast.

Yolanda Lee is the founder and CEO of Uncommon, a private network for women in leadership. Prior to starting Uncommon, she spent 10+ years in various commercial/operational leadership roles at early-stage, high-growth tech companies including Deliveroo, Uber and Rocket Internet. It was her isolating experience as a senior leader in tech that led her to launch Uncommon, a space for women leaders to connect, grow and belong. 

A space for women leaders to connect, grow and belong

Uncommon is a private network for female leaders to connect, grow and thrive. Through innovative peer coaching, workshops, curated networking events and industry huddles, you will find the people and insights you need to clarify your compass, maximise your career opportunities and find belonging. Apply to join our membership here.