677 | Why High Achievers Burn Out – And The Leadership Shift That Changes Everything

Quick question for you: When's the last time you actually felt rested, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, you know, truly restored?

If you had to think about it, this episode is going to hit home.

We're talking about the burnout pattern that's almost invisible until it takes you out and the leadership shift that high achievers need to make before it does. All of that is coming up next.

Welcome to The Chris LoCurto Show, where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are.

Welcome to the show, folks. I hope you're having a fabulous day wherever you are. I'm so glad you're joining us because this episode, I'll be honest with you, is a little personal. We're talking about burnout.

And before you think, oh, I've heard this before, you know, I want you to stick with me because what I'm going to share today isn't the same, you know, rehashed advice that other people have given about, you know, taking bubble baths and logging off on weekends.

We're going deeper than that. We're going to talk about why high achieving leaders, people just like you, hit this wall, what's really at the root of it, and what the shift actually looks like when you get to the other side.

Now, the data is staggering. 71% of leaders right now are under increased stress. 40% are thinking about walking away.

If that's you or if you've been there, and maybe not the walking away part, but probably under the 71%, then this episode is for you. So let's get into it.

So we are not that terribly far into 2026. We are into the second quarter. And the current data shows that 71% of leaders report that they have increased stress in 2026.

Not some, not struggling ones. Most 71%. 7 out of 10 people say that they are experiencing increased stress. 40% are considering leaving their leadership roles entirely. Now, if you are a leader, that's vitally important for you to hear.

If you're a business owner, you've got to pay attention. You know, this is beyond just, hey, get over it. Take some vacation, right?

Burnout among business owners jumped from 36% in 2023 to 51% in 2024. So this is not a personal failure. This is a systematic signal telling you something, right?

We should be paying attention now. Burnout is not weakness. Some people think that it is. Some people think, oh, my gosh, if you can't handle it, if you can't keep running, well, those people you shouldn't be listening to now.

I am somebody who will tell you, bust your butt, make it happen. But you've also heard me say multiple times the things you've got to put in place.

You know, taking care of your health, taking time with your family, spending time, you know, downtime, all of those things. You know that I hate the hustle culture. I'm not saying I love hustle. Getting things done, making things happen. Crud.

If the ox is in the ditch, get the ox out of the ditch. Go, go, go. Make things happen while you're working, while you're supposed to be doing what you're doing.

But I'm also huge on your personal time, on taking care of you, taking care of your family, definitely your relationship with God, trying to remember what your kids names are because you've been working so long and so late.

You know, taking care of the things that are most important. Business is what you do. It's just one aspect of who you are. It's not all of who you are. And it should never be, right?

So when you hear me say I hate the hustle culture, that doesn't mean that I hate hustling. That doesn't mean that I-- at work. Wait, I don't know a great way to say that one.

What I mean is I have no problem with you busting it while you're working. I'm all about it. I do it all the time. I'm a go, go, go kind of guy.

But I'm also a hey, stop, rest, take care of yourself kind of guy as well. So burnout's not weakness, it's information. It tells you that the system you've built has a critical flaw. It's too dependent on you.

High achievers are especially vulnerable because they can push through pain signals even longer. That is one thing I have a high tolerance for.

But the problem is, is that by the time burnout is, you know, undeniable, it's been building for months or even years.

So if you think about that 71% that are experiencing increased stress, what's going to change the rest of the year? What's going to change next year?

What's the number going to be next year? So let's kind of get to the root cause of this, right? When your value as a person is tied to your productivity, then you can never rest without guilt.

Now I said this episode's a little personal. I will tell you, in my early days, when I would go on vacation, it would be so far into the vacation before I could finally start resting, that I would only get like a day or two and then I'm heading home.

That I never actually felt fully restored. I never felt fully rested.

I could tell you right now, now I'm also somebody who I don't get super excited about vacation until I'm on that plane or I'm on that, you know, I'm traveling or I'm doing something that, that's moving in the direction... I'm able to shut everything off.

But once I do, I'm able to shut everything off. So I went from a person who it took three, four days before he could start resting and relaxing and rejuvenating to somebody who the moment I'm in vacation mode, I'm in vacation mode.

I'm enjoying myself, I'm resting, I'm getting rejuvenated. I'm spending time with my family. I'm doing the things that I should be doing right?

Before I used to feel guilty, before I used to spend time. And I'm talking about, you know, a couple decades ago. I'm not--

I'm not talking about like, you know, a couple years ago, but before, you know, I would be checking my emails, you know, checking my texts and things to see am I needed.

Is there a problem reaching out to people? And, you know, when you do that kind of stuff, guess what? People know that they can talk to you while you're on your vacation, that they can reach out to you with problems.

When you build a system that works, you don't have to worry about that. You literally don't. It's funny, I got a text from the president of my company, Joel Fortner, just I think it was yesterday.

He's like, hey, I'm taking a couple of days off. And I gave him a thumbs up. That's it. Why? Because our system is so phenomenal, I don't have to worry about it.

I'm not like, oh my gosh, what's going to happen when he takes a couple of days off? Right? When I'm taking time off, I'm telling my team, hey, guys, I'm taking time off. Okay, good.

Why? Because we are not dependent on everybody being there 24/7.

So you have to understand that if you're struggling with guilt and your value is tied to this, then it's a faith and a character issue. It's not just a scheduling issue.

Many leaders have unconsciously made their business their primary source of identity and worth. So I need you to ask yourself a question. Who are you? When the business has a bad quarter, who do you become. How do you respond?

I've seen leaders of very large businesses lose their ever loving mind and in the process they lose the loyalty and the respect of their team members.

Whatever your answer is, it's going to reveal a lot to you. Proverbs 3, 5-6 says trusting in something larger than your own effort is not weakness, it's wisdom.

So if you're not spending time trusting in God and you're putting all your trust in you, don't be surprised that you're in that 71% category.

Are you the center of everything? (00:08:41)

So let's talk kind of about the business structure that causes the burnout. If your team can't make decisions without you, you don't have a team. You have dependents.

You should be claiming them on your personal taxes. Because every time you solve the problem, instead of developing the person you added to your personal load.

When you're not developing people, when you're solving problems for your team, then you're adding to your own load.

You should be spending that time helping them to be able to solve their own problems. You see, the self sustaining team isn't a luxury, it's a survival strategy.

Our team does not have to depend on anybody in any or every moment of the day. So think about what decisions your team brings to you that they should be making. That is your list to the delegation roadmap right there.

If they're bringing things to you that you should not be answering, that they should be able to answer on their own or solve on their own, then you've got to start to figure out how to delegate this process to them.

How do they start solving things and stop coming to you with all of the questions? Now am I saying that they shouldn't come to you with anything? That's not what I'm saying.

They're going to come to you once you do this process, because I've done it for decades.

What you'll find is your team comes to you with the really difficult stuff or the hey here's where we're moving, just want to make sure you're cool with it type of thing, right?

So it doesn't mean that you're not involved, it doesn't mean that you're not needed. It doesn't mean that you're not valued.

It means that you start focusing on the things you really should be focusing on, which is higher than just answering questions, right?

Non-negotiable shifts you need to make (00:10:37)

So there are three non negotiable shifts that you need to make.

The first shift is from doing to developing, from doing to developing. Your primary job is growing Your people not solving problems.

Sorry, man. Sorry, woman. If you're the person who is like, my identity is in solving problems, I'm a, I'm a fixer.

Guess what? Yours truly is as well. I've always been a fixer. I've always been a problem solver. But I learned way close to 30 years ago, probably, actually, goodness gracious, probably after 30 years, more than 30 years ago.

I learned early on in my, my young leaders career that if I was the one who was solving everybody's problems, I was never going to raise up into any place.

And I had goals, I had dreams. And so I knew that if I stayed answering everybody's problems and solving everybody's problems and not developing them and making them better, I was never going to get to my goals.

So that's a shift you've got to make. Number one, from doing to developing.

Shift number two, from reactive to too rhythmic. What does that look like? Protect, rest, reflection and reconnection as leadership tools.

So if you are not spending time resting, reflecting on your life, reflecting on your business, reflecting on your, your leadership decisions, if you're not reconnecting with who you are, with your relationship with God, your family, all of these different things, then you're going to get burnt out.

When you spend time protecting, rest, spending time reflecting and reconnecting with the things that are way more important that will grow your leadership.

Yes, it is a tool to make you a better leader. And by the way, what do you think's going to happen when people recognize that you're leading really well? You're doing really well.

You're still busting your butt at work, but you're also spending time doing those things. That's another shift that has to happen. Shift from reactive to rhythmic. What does it mean to have these types of rhythms in your personal life?

Shift number three, from willpower to structure. So stop.

As the words are coming out of my mouth, I could just think of how many people that are just like, oh, come on, man, that's how I do things.

I know, I know, I know, I know. I'm huge on discipline. I'm huge on making things happen. I'm huge on it. But here's what I need you to understand. You need to stop relying on discipline and build systems that protect your energy.

It doesn't mean that you stop being disciplined. It doesn't mean that you stop, you know, using willpower to make things happen.

It just means that we stop making everything depend on us, that we put systems in place that protect our energy. Now you might be out there and be, I don't know, 28 years old and going, man, I don't know what you're talking about. I've got tons of energy.

That's great. Here's what you need to understand. The more you compound stuff on you, the more you continue to work through willpower, you're going to run out of energy, you're going to run out of steam and then it's not going to be fun.

I love what I get to do. I enjoy it. I am busy as all get out. We've had a lot of stressors going on. But one thing that we've been making sure of is that we do spend time in downtime.

That I am connecting with God and my family and shutting down at the end of the day and all this kind of stuff. That's a shift that you have to make. How am I able to do it?

Because all the systems that are in place that don't require me. So understand that recovery is not linear, but it absolutely is possible.

So if you're somebody who's in that 71% or that 40% of the statistics that I shared, or just somebody who feels, you know, I just need to slow down some, then I'm going to tell you that it's going to feel a little bit slower before it feels better.

Put more on you to take more off of you (00:15:10)

So one of the things we say in like our StratPlan event is we say, hey, we're going to put more on you to take more off of you, right?

There's going to be a period of time where you're going to have to bust it so that we can get things off of you so you can spend more time operating without being in panic and chaos and you know, putting out fires, it's the same kind of thing here.

You're going to have to spend time building systems, putting things in place, giving some effort, maximum effort here to get things in place so that they don't all depend on you.

And the first step is naming, you know, honestly, what are the things that you have to change? What are the things you have to do differently instead of just continuing to push through everything, what must change.

Another thing I think you need to do is one, I think you need to go, you know, spend time with God, spend time with your spouse, spend time with your kids, specifically in that order.

But then also find community and you know, accountability that's going to help you recover. When you have accountability from folks that are like minded.

If you're going to go find community with people who are like dude, you need to be up at 4am and you need to be going to bed at midnight and doing all this stuff in between. You're never going to rest and you're never going to recover.

Right. Again, that kind of idiocy changes people's lives. For the negative. There's tons of studies out there of just running like that is going to absolutely collapse you at some point.

It seems fun, it seems great in the very beginning, but at some point you're going to discover that that kind of pace is unsustainable. It just, you can't do it.

So find a community of people who love busting it when they're supposed to and resting when they're supposed to.

If you get accountability from folks like that, then I can promise you it's going to accelerate your, your recovery dramatically. Right? Get coaches, get peers, get a faith community that can help you make the right decisions.

I know this may sound like, gosh, Chris, this requires so much. Yeah, yeah, just might.

If you're considering leaving something that, you know, maybe you feel called to, but you're burnt out and you don't want to do it anymore, then, yeah, surround yourself with the stuff that's going to get you to success.

Boundaries (00:17:32)

Now what's on the other side of all of this? Well, leaders who move through this type of response, this type of action come out with better boundaries. Oh my gosh, you need better boundaries.

You need to learn that 'No' is a complete sentence, that 'no' is an okay response. You gotta have better boundaries. And part of those boundaries are for yourself. Have boundaries where you tell you, no, my identity is not in that.

I don't have to push through all that. I don't have to, you know, force all of this through willpower. Instead, I can actually create systems, create processes, do everything that allows this to operate really well.

And then I can focus on the more important aspects. So when you do that, you end up with better teams, you end up with a deeper purpose.

Because now instead of being the one who solves everything for everybody, you're the one who's developing people to be better, which by default makes you better so the business doesn't have to suffer.

You know, it often gets stronger when leaders get healthier. I can promise you that. I mean, that's just common sense, right? So you can build something great and be present for your family every day.

These are not mutually exclusive. Now again, this is personal because there was a time I used to run, God, non stop. I mean, constant. And obviously the purpose is changing lives, helping people you know, all this stuff is necessary.

And I can tell you that there were parts of my life that just didn't get the attention that they needed, didn't get the attention that they deserved. And it wasn't just me.

Everybody around me was running the same exact way. Everybody, that was the group I was in. And I can tell you that kind of activity can absolutely destroy you.

I found myself being very unhappy. I found myself being desiring rest, desiring rejuvenation, being restored.

I found myself looking at my life going, this isn't what I want. I don't want these aspects here. I don't want this over here. Not saying that. Running hard.

Please, once again, don't hear this. You are not hearing me say don't run hard. I run hard. There is a lot that I get done. So I'm not saying, you know, throw your feet up on the desk. What I'm saying is, is don't do it 24/7.

Don't do it to extremes. So for me, there was a time I didn't. I kind of hit a wall in my mind. I didn't hit a wall with my activity. It wasn't. I didn't burn out and like, oh my gosh, I've got to shut everything down.

What I realized was I was having to tell myself that all of these things weren't necessary, that I could start making adjustments and making shifts and putting different things in place so I didn't have to worry about this.

I remember when I was in my early 20s and I was working at E-Trade, I was doing 50 hours a week overtime. I mean, it was just normal. That was just how I was doing stuff, right?

That was just how I worked, how I got things done. You make it happen. And that was nothing. That was just a normal week. So there was higher weeks than that.

I could tell you that. Well, that carried over into pretty much every aspect of everything I did when I was in traditional ministry.

That's exactly, you know, I would do all of my work all day and then work all night, all weekend long, everything non stop, everywhere I went, until I finally decided this is kind of ridiculous.

Is change happening? Sure. Am I helping people absorb? But what's happening to me?

Because when I look at the way that God sees me, he says, hey, you need to take care of you or you're not good for anybody. So I can tell you as somebody who experienced that a long time ago, trust me, listen to me.

If you're convincing yourself that what Chris is saying right now just isn't you know, it doesn't apply to you. It may not right now, but I bet you it will in the future.

So protect your time. Make sure that you're making good decisions.

Burnout is not the end of your story (00:22:13)

So here's what I want you to walk away with today. Burnout is not the end of your story. It's a chapter break. It's one that's asking you to lead differently as you go forward.

So if you're in it right now, the worst thing you can do is keep white knuckling it. I've been there. I know. Reach out, get support.

Start asking the question, what would I need to change for this to be sustainable? If you want to go deeper on this, I'd love to have you connect with us, one of our coaches, so that we can walk you through making better decisions.

Proactive, rhythmic, the kind of stuff that you need and setting up systems. That's what we do, Right?

So if you're interested in that, the links are in the show notes and if this episode spoke to you, share it with a leader, somebody in your life who needs to hear it.

Well, folks, that's all the time that I have got for you today. I hope this was powerful. I hope this is helpful. As always, take this information. Change your leadership. Change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.