Center for Organizational Leadership
Empowering Effective Leaders
by Linda K. Zelnik, MBA, ACC
Linda Zelnik teaches executive and workplace coaching for the Center for Organizational Leadership. She also helps high achievers gain more focus, energy and freedom to ignite their goals through leadership development and work-life harmony coaching. Linda has more than 20 years of experience in cross cultural business and higher education, having launched programs, taught and trained on five continents. She holds an MBA in leadership and is an ACC-certified coach by the International Coaching Federation. She lives in the Nashville area with her husband and two young children.
To the Master of Arts in organizational leadership students and to those who are considering returning to school:
Without knowing exactly who you are, I know two things about you: you care about adding value to the world, and you’re committed to excellence. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be interested in studying how to become a better leader. I also know you are remarkable. At any given moment, you are assessing several competing priorities and deciding which to give space and attention.
These truths mean you are making the world around you a better place, one moment and one relationship at a time. They also combine with the nature of our culture to bring you several different risk factors for burnout.
Let’s be honest. Earning a graduate degree while you are working and investing in the people in your life is not for the faint of heart. It takes grit, moxy and committment. And… it’s a lot. In essence, it’s like working two jobs or working overtime for as many months as it takes you to complete the degree.
So, just for a moment, give yourself permission to breathe that in and out. Even though you may be enjoying every element of your busy life, your job, family and education take a lot of work and require you to push yourself. Breathe in the awareness of the extra effort you are exerting; breathe out and marvel at what you are accomplishing. Breathe in the long hours of studying; breathe out the feeling of a job well done.
After you’ve taken that pause, please join me for a few more minutes to consider the risk factors and warning signs of burnout, so that you can support yourself in those areas.
Burnout can manifest itself emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. While the short-term effects seem tolerable, the long-term implications can be life altering. Burnout can lead to serious illnesses such as depression, heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, stroke and more. You don’t want that for yourself, and you definitely don’t want what such results would mean for your loved ones.
Burnout is emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. It is a loss of motivation or incentive. It is becoming cynical about things that once brought us joy.
In the research I conducted for my book “Burnout to Boom! Strategies for More Energy and Less Stress,” I learned that 77% of the U.S. workforce has experienced burnout at their current job, and workforces in other countries are reporting similar numbers. In fact, in 2019, burnout became an official medical condition and was included in the newly revised version of the International Classification of Diseases. Burnout is real, and it is a cause for concern.
The risk of burnout is especially daunting for high achievers , for those who are in leadership roles and helping professions, and for those who struggle with work-life balance. Like many of you, I’ve always had a strong work ethic, and I value seeing tasks through to completion, which often means there’s never an end to my to-do list.
If you have a hard time saying no or you regularly take on more than you can do well, please consider ways to say yes to yourself. Schedule time off. Spend time outside of work. Read just for fun. Take a walk on a pretty day. Prioritizing your mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health needs to be the lens through which all other areas of your life are viewed.
Take time to breathe. Take time to rest.
Say yes to self.
