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I’ve worked with leaders for forty years. I’ve never seen stress at this level.
AI is reshaping how we work — and raising more questions than answers. The global economy is unpredictable. Supply chains remain fragile. Teams are leaner, expectations are higher and many leaders are doing more with less. At the same time, the workday has collapsed into back-to-back meetings, constant context switching and shrinking space to think clearly. By the time many leaders get home, they’re already depleted.
And work is only part of the equation. Outside the office, leaders are navigating family responsibilities, aging parents, financial pressure, health concerns and a constant stream of global uncertainty. For some, there is also an added “energy tax” of simply trying to belong in environments where they feel different from those around them. The result is cumulative stress — cognitive, physical, relational, emotional and organizational.
But there is another truth we often overlook: joy is still available, even in small moments. And those moments matter more than we think. Joy restores clarity, strengthens connection, improves creativity and helps regulate stress in the body. Stress may be unavoidable. But small, intentional moments of joy are still within reach.
1. Cognitive stress: When everything feels unfinished
When your mind is overloaded, even a productive day can feel like you got nothing done. One of the simplest ways to correct that is to start noticing what is actually getting done. Not the idealized version of your day — but the real one. The decisions made. The messages answered. The things completed before noon even hits. It sounds basic, but it changes something quickly: you stop living only in what’s unfinished.
For part of your morning, keep a “done list.” Write down what you actually complete in real time. Emails. Decisions. Conversations. All of it. Then, once a day, slow down long enough to reflect on one question that actually matters — not just work noise. This interrupts the feeling that nothing is moving forward.
2. Physical stress: When your body is always on edge
Leaders often think stress is a thinking problem. It’s not. It’s a physiological one that shows up long before you notice it. It doesn’t stay in your head. It shows up in your shoulders, your breathing, your energy. The pace of the day becomes the pace of the body. Nothing dramatic happens — you just stay slightly “on” all the time.
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