Burnout Isn't What You Think

Once the holiday season starts, it has a way of revealing what leaders ignore the rest of the year.

You are still hitting deadlines. You are still showing up to every meeting. You are still holding everything together.

But under the surface, something feels off.

You are more tired than usual. You feel stretched thin. Even wins do not hit the way they used to.

This is quiet burnout, the kind that creeps in at year’s end. Not exhaustion from overwork. Exhaustion from a deeper leadership pattern most leaders fall into without realizing it.

You are not burned out.

You are overloaded with context.

High performers like you rise fast by thinking strategically, executing well, and bridging team gaps.

But that strength becomes a trap when your team depends on your clarity instead of building their own.

Your calendar fills. Your energy drains. Your role expands, but your impact does not.

I call this the Context Keeper trap, and it peaks in December:

• planning intensifies
• decisions speed up
• cross-functional chaos hits its high
• everyone needs “just five minutes” with you

No wonder you feel overloaded.

You are using a leadership model that does not scale.

Why the end of the year feels especially heavy

The emotional weight of December is not just the holidays.

It is the toll of carrying too much of the cognitive, strategic, and emotional load all year.

You are not burned out from work.

You are burned out from being the translation layer for everyone else’s work.

When that lasts too long, you start losing connection to:

• your leadership voice
• the story you are trying to tell
• the purpose that brought you here
• the joy you once felt leading your team

You have been so busy keeping things running, there has been no room to lead with intention.

How to shift out of this trap before the new year

Ask yourself:

What is one leadership pattern I want to stop carrying into next year?

Maybe it is being the one who always “has the answer.”

Maybe it is attending every meeting “just to keep things moving.”

Maybe it is letting others’ urgency shape your calendar.

Maybe it is not sharing the story of the work because you are too busy doing it.

You do not need a weeklong offsite to start shifting.

You need one moment of clarity.

Move from being the keeper of clarity to the creator of shared clarity.

When your team owns more context, you carry less.

When they tell the story, you stop being the default storyteller.

When you create systems, you stop relying on heroics.

When you lead with intention, energy returns.

This is the foundation of real leadership, the kind that makes next year feel different from this one.

If you want support building that foundation

If this email resonates, I built something that may help.

My Technical Leader’s Advantage course teaches the leadership essentials that free you from the Context Keeper role and help you lead with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

The course covers:

• finding your authentic leadership voice
• communicating a vision your team can rally behind
• aligning technical teams around shared goals
• navigating challenges without firefighting
• creating rituals that sustain momentum

It is the leadership training most technical leaders never get but need most.

You can sign up for the course here: https://www.leadershipadvantage.xyz/offers/black-friday​

Today is the last day for the Black Friday bonuses of:

• Live 2026 Breakthrough Leadership Workshop - Tuesday, December 10, 2025 at 11:30am ET(recording provided)
• Personalized Assessment Review - I will review your assessment results and identify your biggest leadership opportunities
• Personalized 2026 Leadership Development Plan - We’ll work together to build your detailed roadmap for performance planning, promotion discussions, and year-long leadership development

Even if you never take the course, remember:

Your fatigue is not a personal failing.

It is a signal.

A sign you are ready to lead from a deeper, more intentional place.

And December is the perfect time to name the shift you want to make.

The rest will follow.