By Rachel Boehm, founder of BS On Burnout® and member of NAWBO Greater DC
As the year draws to a close, many businesswomen find themselves facing a familiar foe: End-Of-Year Burnout. This phenomenon, characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion, reduced productivity, overwhelm and often a sense of uselessness or reduced self-efficacy, often strikes hardest as we approach the final months of the year. But why does this happen, and more importantly, can we prevent it or is it inevitable?
Understanding End-of-Year Burnout
End-of-year burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to a depletion of our physical and mental resources. For businesswomen, this burnout often stems from a whirlwind of:
- increased workload as companies push to meet annual targets,
- holiday season pressures, both personal and professional,
- reflection on unmet goals and looming deadlines,
- accumulated stress from the entire year, and
- shorter days and seasonal changes affecting mood and energy levels.
The result? A feeling of being stretched too thin, feeling like you can’t meet demands, and a loss of passion for work or activities that once energized us.
While burnout may seem inevitable, it doesn’t have to be. By leveraging emotional intelligence (EI)—the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions and those of others—we can develop strategies to prevent or mitigate end-of-year burnout.
3 Actionable Steps to Combat End-of-Year Burnout
EI helps us navigate stress, communicate effectively and maintain a healthier balance between our personal and professional worlds. It increases self-compassion and self-worth, making it more likely we will invest in ourselves through self-care activities such as rest, boundaries, health needs and hobbies/leisure.
Here are three EI exercises to pick from that you can start doing right now to support you through the season and throughout 2025:
1) Conduct a Daily Emotion Labeling Exercise
This practice enhances emotional self-awareness, a key component of EI:
- Set aside 5 minutes each day.
- Reflect on your emotional state throughout the day.
- Write down at least three specific emotions you experienced.
- For each emotion, note what triggered it and how you responded.
This exercise improves your ability to identify and understand your emotions, leading to better emotional management.
2) Practice the “Emotional Autopilot Check”
This technique enhances self-regulation, another crucial EI skill:
- Set three random alarms throughout your workday
- When an alarm goes off, pause and ask yourself:
• What am I feeling right now?
• Is this emotion serving me in this moment?
• If not, what emotion would be more helpful? - Consciously shift to the more beneficial emotion if needed. This isn’t about suppressing your emotions, rather it’s about practicing acceptance and then reframing them so you can learn from them and the situation, and then move forward.
This practice increases your awareness of emotional reactions and your ability to regulate them in real time.
3) Implement the “Perspective-Taking Pause”
This action improves empathy, a core component of EI:
Before responding in any challenging interaction:
- Pause for 10 seconds.
- Ask yourself: “What might the other person be feeling or experiencing?”
- Consider at least two possible perspectives different from your own.
- Incorporate this understanding into your response.
This technique enhances your ability to understand and relate to others’ emotions.
How EI Helps Prevent Burnout
Emotional Intelligence is scientifically proven to help with burnout prevention and recovery. Research has consistently shown that individuals with higher EI are better equipped to handle personal and professional challenges and maintain their well-being.
For example, higher EI is associated with lower stress, higher resilience and healthier coping skills. Individuals with high EI have higher work performance, team cohesion, are more creative and have better focus. They can also handle change more effectively.
Suffice it to say, EI is a powerful skill in protecting yourself from the mental, physical, emotional, financial and relationship costs of burnout. Not only at year’s end but year-round.
About the Author…
Rachel Boehm helps business owners protect their businesses against burnout through private and group coaching, leadership development programs and organizational consulting to banish burnout at the individual and systemic levels. She’s the founder of BS On Burnout®, a nationally board-certified health+wellness coach through the NBHWC, and is a PhD candidate focused on business psychology. Learn more at RachelBoehm.com.