CEO Burnout: Why it is Self Perpetuating & How To Escape
Article: The CEO Burnout Problem
CEO Burnout: What It Is, Why It Is Self-Perpetuating, and How to Get Out of It
Burnout has become one of the most significant silent problems in business leadership today. It is not a sign of weakness or failure; it is often the byproduct of high achievement and responsibility, and an ingrained belief that slowing down is simply not an option.
Many CEOs and senior leaders experience it without realising what is even happening until they hit a wall. Understanding what burnout actually is will be the first step to you changing it and creating a more healthier lifestyle that is sustainable.
What is Burnout?
Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion resulting from prolonged stress and the overextension of oneself. It is not just about being tired; it is about literally being exhausted, every single day.
For leaders, it can appear as:
- Feeling detached or indifferent towards work that once felt meaningful
- A continuous exhaustion, even after resting
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
- Irritability at home, with partners, loved ones or having a short fuse
- A loss of personal motivation or a growing sense of what's the point
- Feeling trapped, and like stepping back is not an option
Unlike everyday stress, burnout is a persistent condition that does not come and go. It is pervasive. It is the result of doing too much and for too long, without allowing yourself enough recovery or creating an effective work /life balance.
Why Burnout Becomes Self-Perpetuating
The most challenging part of burnout is that the very mindset that drives success can also perpetuate burnout. It becomes a vicious cycle, or like a roller coaster, you can't get off. Additionally, this is a loop that can be hard to recognise when you are actually in burnout.
Here is how it happens:
- High standards can lead to a tendency towards overcommitment. You might go harder because you expect more from yourself than anyone else, your personal standards are often much higher than you expect from others.
- Delegation feels risky. You might also maintain control of your work simply because you fear that mistakes could be slowing your business's momentum or your team's effectiveness in producing results.
- Rest feels, well, unproductive. So you might try to fill every single moment, believing regular ‘time out’ is indulgent or will come, after this one big project, but in reality, there is simply another big project and then another and no rest is allowed or you'll skip it and fill that ‘rest time’ with more work, last minute.
- External validation for many of us is addictive, especially if it was rare as a child, the requirement for constant ‘outside validation’ can become like an addictive drug and a key driver to our personal motivation.
- Achievements give you short bursts of satisfaction, but they never quite feel enough, so you might keep chasing the next one.
- Our body adapts to stress, so you could start to function in survival mode everyday, which feels normal for a long time, until exhaustion hits.
- Occasionally, alcohol, drugs, prescription medications, even gambling can become a problem for certain people, they can act as a coping mechanism which temporarily masks the issue and fuels the burnout overwork pattern.
This cycle reinforces itself. The more pressure you feel, the more you rely on the habits that created burnout in the first place. Breaking that cycle means consciously changing how you approach success.
Practical Steps to Get Out of Burnout
Recovering from burnout is not about stepping away from your career, it is about changing how you lead and live. These steps help you rebuild energy, focus, and perspective:
- Acknowledge it without guilt. Recognising when you are on the verge of burnout or in it now is not weakness, it is awareness. Being kind to yourself and realise denial only prolongs it, self-acknowledgement and gentle, sensible inner -talk, ask yourself what do I need right now? More often. These steps are simple and key for change.
- Create genuine space to recover. Take structured time away, even if it feels uncomfortable, it does for everyone who is in burnout, knowing that a feeling that you shouldn't be resting, but understanding it simply feels wrong because you haven't ‘done real rest’ for so long, and that just means it feels strange at first. In fact, being away from work physically and mentally may feel alien for a little while, as you begin to adjust. Remember your body and mind need more than just a weekend to reset, new hobbies, time in nature, sports and family, all help.
- Redefine productivity. Focus on outcomes, not hours. Your impact as a CEO or entrepreneur comes from clarity, not constant motion or action. It's often the strategic role that matters most.
- Reconnect with purpose. Reflect on why you built your business or pursued leadership in the first place. Reconnecting with meaning reignites motivation. Ironically our partners and loved ones suffer most when we are in burnout and they can often be the reason we work so hard in the first place!
- Build support around you. Burnout thrives in isolation. Work with a coach, mentor, or speak with your friend or doctor, someone who can hold perspective when you cannot.
- Delegate intentionally. Empower your team by sharing responsibility. Leadership does not mean carrying everything, it means enabling others to succeed too, putting them out their comfort zone regularly can help them to grow and also encourages greater confidence and motivation in themselves.
- Commit to recovery as a leadership strategy. Protect your time, health, and energy the same way you protect your business. The best leaders lead by example, showing that balance and success can coexist, once you are back on form to may even start to notice when certain team members are overstretched or going into burnout too, have the chat, communicate what helped you, and support them in the same way you learnt to support yourself.
Final Thought
Burnout is not a badge of honour. Despite how certain leaders present this enticingly. It is a signal that something in your system, your habits and mindset, or your environment needs to change. Younger leaders in particular are not fully aware of the damage to their health later down the line, the ‘ daily gym visit’ will not solve everything, especially further down the road as their other responsibilities also becomes greater .
The leaders who last are not those who push the hardest, but those who learn how to pause, reset, and lead sustainably. Taking time to recover is not stepping back, it is stepping into a more effective version of yourself that can keep up in the longer term.
Don't hesitate to reach out and ask me for support, you can book a complimentary discovery call with me, I offer three unique coaching programmes designed for senior leaders and entrepreneurs and burnout prevention is integral to all of them.
Written by Suzanne Aiston
Executive Personal Development Coach for CEOs, Business Owners, and Ambitious Professionals
www.suzanneaistoncoaching.co.uk
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