How to Unlock Your Potential and Avoid Sales Burnout: The Truth Lies Within
Photo by @slphotography on Unsplash
"Why have I got everything under control at work, tolerating difficult people and situations all day, and then go home and find myself raising my voice at my sweet 7-year-old son for no real reason?"
A sales leader asked me this question, and it broke my heart, as I had an idea of what he was living.
The Success Paradox: performing brilliantly at work while slowly falling apart inside without knowing why.
Being a Sales Leader has arguably never been so difficult
Let's be honest about what's being asked of you:
New technologies are constantly redefining your role and responsibilities
You're managing teams across different generations, used to working in completely different ways
You're being asked to give up control and coach people to do things their way, while still being responsible for their results
You're expected to be more compassionate, more authentic, more vulnerable, more aware of mental health issues
And of course, hit aggressive targets that have never been achieved before to fund scale-up hypergrowth
Doesn't this feel like a lot to expect from a mere mortal human being?
It's no surprise that I find myself coaching many successful sales leaders who suffer from anxiety, team dynamic issues, or burnout symptoms—while still delivering high performance.
The Success Paradox: Success comes at a cost
I talk a lot about the Success Paradox in Sales. Hitting target and making commission, but feeling down, empty or distressed from the pressure endured. Needing to numb the internal turmoil in the aftermath.
When we aren't present enough in the moment, or when we don't have elevated self-awareness, we can have negative thoughts or repressed emotions that result in behaviors that don't serve us.
Taking frustration out on people close to us at home. Indulging in addictions to substances ranging from coffee to alcohol to drugs.
It's when we're not being our authentic selves, not living in the present, or when performance and wellbeing aren't aligned that internal conflict is created. This is when success has negative side effects that impact other dimensions of our lives.
The Burnout Epidemic in Tech Sales
A workplace app for tech employees called Blind asked thousands of employees across Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Facebook one question:
"Are you currently suffering from job burnout?"
Over half of respondents: 57.16% answered YES.
More than half. Let that sink in.
Research from the World Health Organization now classifies burnout as an "occupational phenomenon" characterized by:
Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
Increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism
Reduced professional efficacy
While it's an employer's responsibility to create a healthy work environment, it's up to us as individuals to take charge of our own wellbeing.
Learn to listen to your body
Our thoughts become our feelings, which, if not processed properly, get stuck in our bodies. They can become chronic recurring pains and eventually cause disease.
Dr Gabor Maté's research on the mind-body connection shows that chronic stress and unprocessed emotions are linked to everything from autoimmune diseases to cancer. Dr Bessel van der Kolk's groundbreaking work in The Body Keeps the Score demonstrates that the body stores trauma and stress in physical ways.
This means learning to listen to our bodies and understanding when we must push back and say no to extra work. In doing so, you'll inspire your teams to do the same.
The problem? Most of us have never been taught how to listen to our bodies and have no idea that burnout is just around the corner.
I learnt the hard way.
My wake-up call
Remember the day I was signed off work for three weeks, like it was yesterday. I was suffering from dizziness, acne due to high levels of acid in my body, and had run out of energy. I had refused to listen to my body, which was telling me I was suffering from chronic stress.
Since I'd moved to France and started a new life and new job, I hadn't found my balance and ended up not being able to really recuperate at weekends. I found myself in a constant state of fight-or-flight response at work and at home—and I hadn't realised.
Human beings are not programmed to be in this state continuously. When cortisol and adrenaline are released constantly, they cause harm.
The Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research found that chronic stress literally shrinks the hippocampus (the brain region responsible for memory and learning) while enlarging the amygdala (which processes fear and threat). You're literally rewiring your brain for anxiety when you operate in chronic stress.
I sought support from many different practitioners. I learnt how to listen to the sensations in my body, acknowledge my emotions, and interpret what they're trying to tell me, so I can express my needs in a healthier way and take better action.
The solution lies within
So I invite you to look inside too.
When you think about KPIs for this year, consider your levels of wellbeing as one of them. What internal indicators could you pay attention to in order to monitor the quality of your mind, feelings and body?
Create your own internal KPI dashboard:
How are you feeling emotionally?
What's your mood like consistently?
Do you have lower back pain? Shoulder pain?
Is tiredness creeping up?
Poor sleep quality?
Bad skin?
Lower patience than usual with yourself and others?
If you don't measure it, you can't manage it.
As a Sales Leader, your business is results-based. That constant pressure to hit targets makes sales leaders and their teams highly susceptible to anxiety or depression. There's plenty of data proving this.
Burnout or breakdown doesn't usually give much warning.
So wake up now. Be proactive in paying attention to your internal world.
3 truths for sustainable high performance
1. Put your own oxygen mask on before helping others with theirs
By focusing on our internal being and understanding how we're wired inside, we become more aware of our strengths and limits. By showing more compassion towards ourselves, we show more compassion to our teams when they need it most.
2. True confidence comes from within
By being more vulnerable with ourselves, we can be more authentic with others. An authentic leader shows up as their true self and isn't afraid to display vulnerability to inspire others to do the same.
True confidence is reflected in all areas of your life, not just work performance.
3. Our external world is a reflection of our internal world
By changing our thoughts, we can change our reality.
Your Self-Reflection
• What are your internal warning signals that you might be ignoring right now?
• On a scale of 1-10, what's your wellbeing score this week?
• What's one boundary you need to set to protect your energy?
• Are you performing brilliantly while slowly falling apart inside?
The truth lies within. You just need to stop long enough to listen. If this article resonated with you and you're ready to develop the self-awareness to recognise when you're in resistance versus acceptance: Follow me on LinkedIn, and visit The Self-Science Lab for more info.
Written by: Lauren Cartigny, Leadership Trainer, Executive Coach and Mindfulness Practitioner
Following a successful international corporate career in Sales for leading Tech firms, Lauren faced an unexpected burnout, life and health crisis. After re-building her life, transforming her career, and healing her body, heart and mind, Lauren has created transformative coaching and training programs to teach High-Performance from a place of Well-Being to prevent burnout, and employee churn in organisations.