After spending months working toward a career changing goal, a client recently told executive coach Anne Shoemaker that, while she believes it’s what she wants, she’s not sure if she’s in the right place to make any decisions about her goals because she is feeling burned out.
Shoemaker’s advice: Do nothing.
“When you’re operating from a place of burnout, everything feels like a major lift,” Shoemaker says. “We can’t make great decisions when we’re emotionally and cognitively depleted.” The client expressed relief that Shoemaker had given her permission to do nothing, and Shoemaker and her client agreed to reconvene in late January.
Executive coach and leadership consultant Jen Dulin agrees with Shoemaker’s advice because, she says, the biggest mistake is forcing ourselves to set goals when we are feeling burned out.
“What we need when we’re setting goals is access to things like creativity, strategic thinking, the ability to execute or think about how we’ll act on our goals, and we don’t have access to those things when we’re in a stressed or burned out place,” Dulin says.
According to MyPerfectResume’s Employee Burnout Survey, 88% of respondents report experiencing burnout.
However, not everyone has the luxury of doing nothing until late January. Most employees will be tasked with setting goals for 2025 as part of their annual performance review. Here are five ways to set goals this month even if you’re feeling burned out.
