Burnout and Ambition: Why Rest Is a Smart Career Move

Episode 325 - In a world that celebrates hustle, rest can feel counterintuitive. But for ambitious professionals, learning to pause is not optional. It’s a strategic necessity.

Rebroadcasting as Episode 325 during our holiday break, this episode (originally released as Episode 298) continues to be one of the most practical and impactful guides for professionals feeling burned out at work.

If you’ve spent the last few months feeling more exhausted than usual, struggling to focus, or wondering why your motivation has gone missing despite a looming job application or promotion deadline, you’re not alone. In my coaching work with experienced professionals, these themes are everywhere. And they’re not the result of laziness, lack of ambition, or poor time management. They are the hallmarks of burnout, which is now a routine part of corporate life.

Burnout isn’t new. But its spread among high-performing professionals is growing quieter, deeper, and more normalized than ever. The World Health Organization gave it official status as an “occupational phenomenon” in 2019, describing it as the result of chronic workplace stress left unmanaged. Yet the language around burnout still lags behind the reality: many professionals don’t realise they’re burning out until their relationships suffer, their health declines, or their job search stalls despite their best efforts.

You don’t need to be working in a hospital during a pandemic to feel burned out. Today, it’s just as likely to show up in the corner office, the Zoom window, or the resume file named “final_final_FINAL.pdf”. From senior executives navigating hybrid workplaces to job seekers attempting to “optimize” every aspect of their applications, the common thread is emotional depletion disguised as diligence.

And the real danger? Burnout thrives in silence.

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Timestamps to guide your listening:

1. 00:00 Understanding Burnout
2. 02:02 Defining Burnout and Its Impact
3. 07:40 Strategies to Combat Burnout
4. 15:55 The Role of Rest in Career Success

Links mentioned in this episode:

1. The Times article