Surviving Burnout: 5 Lessons for Women in the Workforce

It doesn't matter if you're a doctor, teacher, retail worker, legislative staffer or elected official: Working women, it's time to push pause.

Burnout rates are at or near all-time highs in all professions and industries, according to Lisa Williams, associate dean for wellness and well-being at the University of Kentucky's College of Medicine. "We have to figure out another solution," she says.

Speaking at a 2024 NCSL Legislative Summit session sponsored by the Women's Legislative Network, Williams shared resilience lessons she's learned through working with women leaders to avoid burnout.

"Burnout and feelings of despair are fueled by consistently focusing on the things we can't control."

-Lisa Williams, associate dean for wellness and well-being, University of Kentucky

Williams, who has served as a leadership coach, organizational consultant and co-founder of the High Impact Leadership Project, says she has experienced burnout firsthand.

"My real bio is that I lived for many, many years in the depths of burnout and the darkness of depression," she says. "I said yes to way too many things, way too many times, and inadvertently, I said no to what matters most to me. My bio does not tell you about illnesses that manifested because of the stress levels I was carrying and because I didn't take care of myself."

She adds, "It also does not tell you about one scary night when my husband had to literally pick me up off the kitchen floor because I was so emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted that I collapsed in front of my kids."

Deciding to turn her own intimate relationship with burnout and depression into helping others became a passion that grew into a professional journey. Williams shares five key leadership lessons for avoiding burnout:

1. Output vs. Outcome

"Burnout and feelings of despair are fueled by consistently focusing on the things we can't control," Williams says. "There is a tendency for us to focus on outcomes instead of outputs, but we have no control over outcomes. We can control outputs: Outputs yield outcomes."

She advised thinking strategically about the necessary outputs for desired outcomes.

2. What Matters Most

Williams says to say yes to what matters most; we must learn to say no to good things. "This is about living in value alignment. When we're out of alignment or in value conflict, it drives us into burnout."

Getting clear about personal values and reserving energy for what truly matters is crucial, she adds. "We do not have to say yes to all the things."

3. Feeling, Filling and Letting Go

Williams highlights the importance of processing emotions to avoid burnout. "We have to let go of what we can't or couldn't control." One method she recommends is writing a "release letter" that you later destroy, to process and let go of anger, guilt or other negative feelings.

4. The Flourishing Trio: Space, Support and Structure

Williams notes that having mental and physical space, support systems and structure are vital for moving from burnout to flourishing.

"Reserve space on your calendar for what matters most to you," she says. And ask for help-it's a strength. "We can't do this alone. We have to have partners. We have to have support. Structure helps us stay focused. It gives us guardrails to say no and provides a path for us."

5. The Power of Gratitude

Williams encourages committing to a 14-day gratitude challenge to help shift from hopelessness to hopefulness. Jot down your thoughts in a journal or app to take some control back.

"Gratitude gives this superpower," she says.

Lesley Kennedy is NCSL's director of publishing and digital content.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.