Why Burnout Makes Leaders Question Their Purpose (Before You Quit, Read This)

If you've started wondering whether you chose the wrong career, even though you used to love what you do, please don't make a major career decision until you understand what burnout may be doing to you.

• I know the thoughts. You've probably had them often.

• I don't know how much longer I can do this.

• Maybe I'm not meant to do this anymore.

• I used to love this work.

• What happened?

• Or maybe, I might need to quit my job.

I want you to hear me on this one. That might not be about your purpose at all. You're asking those questions because you're exhausted, and because you're disconnected from why you got into this career in the first place.

Burnout Destroys Your Purpose From View, It Doesn't Erase It

If you are truly burnt out, meaning emotionally and physically depleted, questioning how much longer you can keep going, feeling cynical, maybe even avoiding going to work, that is not proof you've lost your purpose. It means burnout has buried it, and it's hard to find from where you're standing. Burnout leads to questioning your calling, and that questioning feels incredibly real. But there is a big difference between two thoughts. I don't care about this anymore. And, I don't have the capacity to care the way I used to. Those come from very different foundations.

Burnout affects your motivation and derails your connection to your purpose. For a lot of people, it disconnects them from themselves entirely. You stop feeling connected to your body. You go through the day on autopilot. You lose patience because you're emotionally reactive. Creativity gets buried because everything feels urgent and needs a resolution now. And a lot of people lose hope, believing nothing can change.

I hear this all the time. Stress is just normal. It's just part of the job. This is how it is, and I have to deal with it. I'm here to tell you that is not the case. You do not have to deal with it. You can stay connected to your purpose and enjoy what you're doing.

Depletion Is Not the Same as Misalignment

This is the distinction I most want you to take with you. Some people really are misaligned. They aren't doing the work they're called to do, and they've struggled to find it. I hear, work is just a job, it pays the bills, and that's true for some. But a lot of us want to feel aligned, like we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, and when you're aligned, you have passion at work and you enjoy it.

Depletion is different. Depletion is an energy and capacity issue, and we have to keep the two separate. If you try to solve alignment without restoring your capacity, it can lead to job change after job change and you still feel like you're floundering.

Four Questions Worth Asking Yourself

1. What part of my work still matters? If there is any part, hold onto it. If there isn't, that's okay too.

2. When did I begin feeling disconnected? For a lot of people, we can pinpoint where it started.

3. What changed? Did my values change, or did my workload and capacity change? We go through different seasons in life. If you have kids, what's going on when they're in elementary school is very different from when they're in high school, and that shifts your capacity.

4. Do I want to leave the work, or do I want to leave how I'm currently experiencing the work? Those are very different. I fully support those who really just want to leave the work. It happens. I took some time off myself, but I still work in the same field and I still love it, because I had to change how I work.

If you're saying, I just want to experience the work differently, that's not about not knowing your purpose. You know your purpose. You're questioning whether you can keep going at this pace. Maybe you need to discover a new calling, or maybe you don't. Most people need to start by restoring enough capacity to reconnect to themselves and the calling they already have.

My Own Story With This

This is where I was. My job had literally destroyed my health. My doctor told me it was killing me and that if I didn't do something different, he couldn't help me anymore. I started having physical symptoms, including chronic arthritis pain in my late 30s, which shouldn't have happened at that point in my life. I was questioning whether I could still do this work. I knew it was what I was supposed to be doing, but I didn't know if I could keep going, and I didn't know what needed to change. I didn't want to abandon meaningful work. I needed to do it in a different way, and I didn't know how.

I did have to step away because of what it did to my health. I could not walk very far. That was probably the lowest point I ever hit, and it's why I do this work. I don't want anyone else to get to that place. And if you're there right now, there is hope, and you can recover.

How to Reclaim Your Purpose Without Sacrificing Yourself

This is exactly why I created the Burnout to Balance Transformation Model. It starts with awareness and recovery, because if we can't recover from the chronic stress that's depleting us, we can't get realigned with what we're here to do. Relief first, then realignment. That's how you love your job again without giving up your health to do it, and it's how you eventually lead from purpose instead of pressure. When you lead with purpose and have the capacity to match it, you show up differently for your team, too.

Here's a statement I'd love for you to sit with. If I weren't so exhausted, what parts of my work would I still care about? If there are parts you still care about, then what you're facing is an energy and capacity challenge to overcome, not the end of your calling.

If you're not sure whether you're burnt out or whether this is really a calling question, take the Professional Burnout Assessment. It will help you get clear on how severe your burnout symptoms might be. If you land on the lower end, it may be a calling question, and I'm happy to support you with that too.