Here's how you can reclaim your passion and drive after experiencing burnout as a leader.

Experiencing burnout as a leader can be overwhelming, but it's possible to reignite your passion and drive. Start by prioritizing self-care: ensure you get adequate rest, exercise, and nutrition. Reflect on what initially inspired you and reconnect with those motivations. Set realistic goals and delegate tasks to avoid overburdening yourself. Seek support from mentors or peers who understand your challenges. Finally, embrace a growth mindset, viewing setbacks as opportunities for learning and improvement. By taking these steps, you can rejuvenate your enthusiasm and lead with renewed vigor

The signs are pretty concrete, but possible to deny, if you don't want to admit it. Besides the belief that burnout shows weakness, there might be a belief that if you acknowledged burnout, you wouldn't even know what to do with it anyway, so why bother looking at it? So, believing the best of us can experience the phenomenon of burnout and believing you are capable and resourceful enough to implement the necessary changes and above all, your life is worth it, are all important factors for acknowledging burnout.

Self care can be enhanced by a comprehensive approach by covering all of these dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual. Some will be more key than others depending on who you are and what moment you are going through.

It begins with prioritizing self-care and setting boundaries. Take time to rest and recharge. Reflect on what initially inspired you and reconnect with your core values and goals. Seek support from mentors, peers, or a coach to gain fresh perspectives and guidance. Gradually re-engage with your work by focusing on projects that align with your passions and strengths, and remember to celebrate small victories along the way. This is not only crucial for your well-being but also vital for the sake of your team, as your renewed energy and enthusiasm will positively influence their morale and productivity.

Readjusting the load you are carrying requires dialogue with others. It may be team members, it may be your immediate leader, it can be with your peers with whom you cooperate to deliver for the company. Knowing how to create boundaries is a skill and often needs to be worked on, in coaching processes.

Pretend you're writing the movie of your life as a leader. What would the trailer look like? What epic scenes would you include? Don't worry about being realistic - go big, go bold. This little exercise can help you reconnect with your inner visionary and remind you why you rock at what you do. Before you know it, you'll be back to changing the world, one awesome leadership move at a time!

Vision is crucial in combating burnout. Here’s how I reconnect with my vision to stay energized: Revisit My Life Plan: If you have one, take a day to review it. If not, set aside a day free of distractions to create one. There are plenty of resources to help you start. Set Boundaries Reflecting Your Vision: For example, if building a strong family is a priority, make sure to be home for family dinners at least four times a week. Accept Work-Life Balance as a Myth: Understand that work and life demands fluctuate. There will be times when work needs more attention, and other times when family does. Embrace the ebb and flow.

Burnout can cause a neuromuscular lock where we get stuck in flight, fight, freeze and fold strategies. Of course this will interfere with seeing the big future picture. Having mindfulness skills helps to get out of this stress pattern responses to re-welcome moments of inner peace that allow for us to reconnect with our vision. "Vision" speaks of something visual, but I recommend having a written vision that can guide you and be updated. If your previous vision lacked elements that would have prevented burnout, strengthen and bolster that vision with actually words that include how you take care of yourself so your drive for the future includes smart strategies to manage stress.

The thing about leadership is that it is so often lonely and not appropriate to share with just anyone. Having a social network solution for you to share safely is critical in this process, especially since burnout can tire one to the point of isolation as a strategy to protect oneself.

Sometimes we forget that there are people in the process and as a result we lose our relational compass. When we discount the needs and desires of those around us in favor of advancing the agenda, a backlash may occur. Sensing a loss of control we may tighten the reins which puts us in a downward spiral ending in frustration and burn out. When we step back and reevaluate our empathy, compassion, and awareness, we might find new purpose and rejuvenation. Make people an important part of the process.

Self awareness to acknowledge burnout is key in order to prioritize self care; thus, work-life balance. This may lead to seek support, when necessary. However, must of it rests on having a purpose framed by principles. I personally prefer to talk about principles instead of values, as principles are universal laws of behavior. I might fall to value, for example, power, money, getting results at whatever cost, and so on. Principles are inclusive, empathetic, assertive, trustworthy. They are the beam that guides us toward being congruent, "walking the talk" adding value not only to the organization, but to society in general