Tired in More Ways Than You Think
As we head towards the end of the year, many project teams are running on fumes. The pressure to hit end-of-year milestones, finish everything before going on leave, and juggle social commitments creates deep exhaustion.
But it is important to understand the challenge you face. Complex projects create two types of exhaustion:
Physical Exhaustion
Emotional Exhaustion
We need to understand this distinction because they require very different responses.
Physical Exhaustion
This is the kind you can see coming from long hours and high intensity work.
The hours extend as you push to get the last few things finished
The intensity goes up as you try to cram more into the existing hours, often with no downtime or even breaks between meetings
And we have all seen the irony that you work twice as hard the week before taking a break just to create some space to actually go on leave
This type of tiredness is relatively straightforward. You know what it looks like, and the cure is simple. Have a lie-down and get some rest.
There are a range of techniques for taking time out or getting better sleep: wind down processes, exercise, meditation apps, timing and types of food, etc.
Emotional Exhaustion
This exhaustion runs deeper and is often hidden. It isn't caused by the amount of effort but by your reaction to the situation. It typically shows up in three ways:
The fear of not knowing is constantly present in complexity. Our brains are wired for certainty. When you're operating in ambiguity, it triggers a stress response. The uncertainty of complex projects takes a toll.
The weight of empathy also shows up in many situations. If your project impacts people (redundancies, relocations, restructuring), it takes an emotional toll even if you’re not directly affected. An extreme version of being able to manage the impact of empathy is ER doctors and nurses. They need to care enough to do good work but maintain enough distance to keep functioning.
The final type of exhaustion comes from the pain of wasted effort. There are few things more exhausting than believing your work doesn’t matter. This feeling often surfaces at end-of-year when you find time for reflection. When people pause long enough, we question “Is this even making a difference?”
The performance impact of exhaustion is well known: distraction, loss of creativity, absenteeism, loss of joy and ultimately burnout. Emotional exhaustion needs conversation. It requires recognising the situation and the load it creates and then making the space to talk about it when it occurs.
What Helps
When I led a transformation program, I told the workstream leader that “We are making this up as we go along.” Naming the uncertainty helped many get comfortable with the ambiguity. This is particularly important in technical organisations where it is easy to believe that your job is to know the answer, but that isn’t always possible in complexity.
Another technique that has stood up to research findings is to frame complexity with a learning rather than a performance lens. The core idea that ambiguity provides the opportunity to discover something new helps groups persist in uncertainty.
What You Can Do Right Now
Any response to exhaustion will be specific to your context. But as the year wraps up, try not to just run to the finish line and collapse. Instead:
Make space for reflection
Ask what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next
Celebrate progress, even if it wasn’t perfect
Acknowledge the load
Don’t pretend it’s been easy
Gratitude and recognition are powerful remedies
Start to set up for next year
Capture lessons from this year while they’re still fresh and don’t get lost over the break
Design project rhythms and rituals (e.g monthly debriefs, quarterly time to reflect) that help overcome the issues and constraints you’ve seen this year
That way, when everyone comes back in January with fresh eyes, you will be ready to reframe assumptions and reset the energy.
Whatever has driven exhaustion this year is unlikely to change in the new year, so it’s best to build the systems and capability to thrive in your type of complexity.
“The antidote to exhaustion is not rest, it’s wholeheartedness.” David Whyte
