Even as a seasoned leader, you may face moments when work feels overwhelmingly difficult—when self-doubt creeps in, motivation fades, and the usual strategies to “just keep going” no longer seem to work. So what can you do when the time comes that you feel you simply can’t handle it anymore?

This is a summary of our podcast episode “Leadership Under Pressure: What to Do When It Feels Too Much”. You can listen to the full episode on all major podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

Challenging Times for Today’s Leaders

In my work as an executive coach, I regularly meet leaders who feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or quietly stuck in self-doubt. And most of them believe they are the only ones feeling this way. They are not.

The pressure many leaders experience today is enormous. We live in challenging, uncertain, and fast-paced times. One thing that all my executive coaching clients have in common is that they are extremely busy. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week never seem enough to get everything done. The tendency of many—if not most—leaders is to “push through.” In many corporate environments, there is still a fear of appearing “weak” if you don’t.

We may hear statements like, “You can sleep when you’re dead.” But this has nothing to do with strength. It only indicates that people who say (or believe) such nonsense do not understand basic human physiology. Top athletes, in contrast, know very well that balancing intense exercise and proper rest is crucial for success.

Pushing through may be appropriate in certain circumstances like an emergency. In other situations though, it only leads to poor results and more exhaustion.

The Hidden Cost of “Pushing Through”

Many leaders have built their careers on hard work, discipline, and perseverance. These are valuable qualities. But they can also become traps.

In corporate environments, there is often an unspoken belief that strong leaders simply keep going. Rest is seen as weakness. Reflection is perceived as unproductive. Busyness becomes a status symbol.

From a neuroscience perspective, however, this mindset is deeply problematic. The human brain is not designed for constant high-intensity performance without recovery. When stress becomes chronic, our cognitive flexibility decreases. We become more reactive, less creative, and more emotionally and physically exhausted. Decision quality suffers, self-doubt increases, and small problems suddenly feel overwhelming.

Ironically, the harder we push, the less effective we often become.

I experienced this myself when I first became self-employed. There was a strong internal pressure to work continuously because “nobody else will do the work.” But I eventually realized that when I kept working seven days a week, the quality of my work declined, and I often felt tired on Monday mornings. It became a vicious cycle.

Today, one of my non-negotiables is keeping Sundays completely free from work. No emails, no “just quickly checking something.” It’s a healthy habit that helps me keep in balance.

Stepping Back: Stop and Pause to Assess the Situation

When leaders feel overwhelmed, they often assume something is wrong with them. But feeling overwhelmed does not mean you are weak, incapable, or failing. Sometimes it simply means your nervous system has been overloaded for too long. Perhaps old habits no longer support sustainable performance. Or maybe something deeper is out of alignment.

One challenge is that there is no universal solution. Generic advice like “sleep more,” “exercise,” or “reduce stress” may be well intended, but it often misses the complexity of the situation.

For one leader, the right answer may indeed be rest and recovery. For another, the real issue may be a deeper disconnect between their values and the environment they are operating in. This is why self-awareness matters so much.

Before deciding whether to “push through” or not, it may be wise to stop, pause, and assess the situation: what’s really going on here? Is it required to keep going—or is it time to take a break? To return to the analogy of top athletes: Will another heavy repetition lead to growth—or to injury?

Healthy Habits and for Sustainable Leadership

A healthy mind is the foundation of well-being. A healthy mind is in balance, it’s a resilient mind, a calm mind. A healthy mind provides clarity for our thinking and decision-making.

But how do you cultivate a healthy mind?

One framework I find very helpful is the “Healthy Mind Platter,” developed by Dr. Daniel Siegel and Dr. David Rock. [1] It describes “seven daily essential mental activities to optimize brain matter and well-being”:

• Focus time
• Play time
• Connecting time
• Physical time
• Time in (reflection)
• Downtime
• Sleep time

Most senior leaders are already very good at “focus time”— closely focusing on a task in a goal-oriented way, taking on new challenges, thus creating deep new connections in the brain.

However, focus time does not mean just being busy and getting things done quickly. Your days may be filled with meetings, emails, and multitasking, yet you rarely experience true focus.

Research consistently shows that multitasking reduces both effectiveness and cognitive performance. [2] Deep work requires uninterrupted attention. The brain performs far better when we focus on one thing at a time.

Equally important is what the Healthy Mind Platter calls “time in” — quiet reflection, which may be one of the most undervalued leadership practices today.

In many organizations, visible activity is rewarded. Reflection is often mistaken for inactivity. Yet without reflection, leaders easily lose clarity, perspective, and connection to what truly matters.

The irony is that taking time to pause is often exactly what allows leaders to move forward more effectively.

Ultimately, the Healthy Mind Platter is all about balance. In addition to focus time and time in, we also need downtime, a time to simply relax or let the mind wander. We need sufficient quality sleep time, and we need physical time during which we are active with our bodies. Adults, too, need time to play and have fun. We also need connecting time—to nurture meaningful relationships or simply reconnect with nature.

When Leadership Stress Signals Something Deeper

Not all overwhelm is caused by overwork alone. Sometimes stress is a signal that something more fundamental needs attention.

During the final years of my corporate career, I realized that my personal values were out of tune with those of the company I worked for. The work I was doing no longer aligned with what truly mattered to me.

For me, the decision was eventually to leave and build a different path that was more fulfilling. However, that does not mean every leader who is experiencing pressure needs to change careers; far from it. But it does mean leaders need the courage to ask deeper questions:

• Is the ladder that I am climbing leaning against the right wall?
• Is the situation I am in just temporary, or, if I am honest, is it actually rather permanent?
• Is my personal “North Star” truly aligned with my company’s vision, mission and values—or is something fundamentally out of alignment?

These questions may feel uncomfortable. But avoiding them usually comes at a high cost.

Final Thoughts

Leadership can feel lonely — especially during difficult periods. But struggling under pressure does not make you a weak leader. It makes you human.

In fact, many highly successful leaders experience periods of self-doubt, exhaustion, and overwhelm. The difference is not whether these moments occur. The difference is whether we are willing to acknowledge them, reflect on them, and respond consciously rather than automatically.

Wise leaders ask themselves questions like: “What is this situation—and what I am experiencing—trying to tell me? What can I learn from this?”

A Deeper Dive

If you want to explore more, you can enjoy the full conversation “Leadership Under Pressure: What to Do When It Feels Too Much” on all major podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on our website.

References

[1] Siegel, D. (2021). Healthy Mind Platter. [online] Dr. Dan Siegel. Available at: https://drdansiegel.com/healthy-mind-platter/ [Accessed 15 May 2026].

[2] e.g., Worringer, B., Langner, R., Koch, I., Eickhoff, S.B., Eickhoff, C.R. and Binkofski, F.C. (2019). Common and distinct neural correlates of dual-tasking and task-switching: a meta-analytic review and a neuro-cognitive processing model of human multitasking. Brain Structure and Function, [online] 224(5), pp.1845–1869. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-019-01870-4.

Second Crack – The Leadership Podcast is hosted by Martin Aldergård and me, Gerrit Pelzer. Each month, we explore leadership dilemmas and paradoxes, and we invite you to reflect on your own leadership practice. If you’re curious about how we can support you or your organization in accelerating leadership growth—through individual executive coaching or tailored development programs—feel free to contact us for a no-obligation consultation. We’d be delighted to connect.