About this episode

This episode discusses the hidden exhaustion founders face and why conventional advice on burnout is ineffective.

Most people think founder burnout is about working too hard. Take a vacation. Get more sleep. Delegate more. And you will feel better. They are wrong. The exhaustion that accumulates in a founder or business owner who has been building something significant for years is not about the hours. It is about the specific and invisible weight of being the person the whole thing depends on — the decision maker, the culture carrier, the one who holds the vision, the one who cannot let anyone see them struggle — without anyone in their world who is truly outside it and truly honest with them about what that weight is doing to them. The physician who gives everything to her patients and drives home on Tuesday nights wishing it was already Sunday. The financial advisor who manages millions for clients and cannot remember the last morning she woke up genuinely excited to go to work. The luxury spa owner who built something beautiful and cries in the car on the way home. The consultant who is billing more than ever and feels emptier than ever. This episode is for every one of them. Maria Fontana has been working privately with founders and business owners for nearly four decades and in this…

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