Codie Sanchez argues burnout comes from "shoulds"—tasks that don't excite you—not from working hard. She practices "strategic hibernation," taking a week with zero meetings each quarter to identify what energizes her versus what drains her, which keeps her sustainable even in work she loves.
Chapters
You're not burnt out from doing too much. You're burnt out from doing too much of the stuff you don't like, the stuff that doesn't light you up. When we feel like this, it slows us down, compromises our decision-making. But burnout isn't about loving or hating your job. It's about what inside of your job is a series of shoulds that feel like you can't escape. When you do more wants and less shoulds, when you're obsessed with the right work, you actually need less rest. Your nervous system can actually only handle so much of the things you hate before it snaps. I learned this actually from, from Meechan, who said he needed something called strategic hibernation. I do the same thing now once a year, maybe every other quarter. Zero meetings, zero new projects for one week. Just me, clarity on what are the things that light me up and not the things that make me hate the work I know I'm meant to do.