Feeling depleted? Who is choosing your priorities?
Modern life is full, it’s chaotic, and it always feels like there is more to do. As we start to feel depleted, we prioritise - we audit time and demand. Anything non-essential? Parked.
The Trap:
Leaders face this constantly, telling themselves it will get better “soon”, “when the current project is done”, “when the next promotions comes”. Even when these achievements land, nothing changes. More obligations follow and the expected lift never comes. In far too many situations, this pattern leads to disengagement, disenchantment and burnout.
The instincts that drive this are reasonable. But there’s another way.
The Story:
Post-pandemic, I was living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that had followed a burnout and illness. My day job as a Learning Manager looked manageable on paper. Steady, flexible hours, no travel, nothing dramatic. And still, I felt like I was on a push/crash roller coaster that was always trending downwards even though I was protecting evenings and weekends for rest, and only doing the necessary to keep my stakeholders happy.
Then I felt a pull toward something that made no sense given my diagnosis: going on-site, as faculty, for a week known to by physically and emotionally relentless. I expected to crash, maybe even mid-week.
Instead I came out renewed. The crash never came. I returned to my day job with greater passion.
I tested it again. And again. The pattern held: my most demanding week became my biggest source of energy and renewal.
The Inversion:
The cost of effort depends not only on size, but on its source. Obligation depletes, even when it’s manageable. Pull renews, even when it’s brutal. That’s why so much of my work with leaders starts with identity – not purpose, not the next goal, but who’s doing the choosing.
Joshua Freedman makes a related case in Emotion Rules: don’t start by asking what your purpose is. Start with what you feel pulled by, however slightly, and then take a step towards it. “Fan the fire. Follow the heat”.
Someone is always choosing your priorities. Obligations hand the choice to someone, or something, else. This inversion is about taking it back.
The Monday Intention:
This week, at the end of each day, notice one thing you’ve filed under “nice-to-have, but can’t afford the energy for”. At the end of the week, look at your list, and notice which you’re most drawn to.
Then consider: what’s the smallest step you can take towards it, and next week, take it. Notice what it actually brings you.
About Monday Intentions
Monday Intention is a weekly reflection on the traps leaders fall into — a common challenge, an inversion that reframes it, and an intention to carry into the week ahead. It's practice, in the same spirit that keeps any craft sharp: small, repeated, deliberate.
Here's how to practice the intention:
Carry the intention with you. Keep this week's inversion somewhere close — a sticky note, a phone reminder, whatever keeps it in view.
Notice as you go. Through the day, catch the moments the trap shows up — don't judge it, just notice it.
Apply the intention, in the moment. When you catch it, run this week's practice right there. If that's too much, you can run the practice after the moment in Step 4.
Take 5 minutes each evening. Ask: where did I notice the trap today? Did I catch it in time to apply the intention — and what happened when I did?
Watch the pattern build. By Friday, you'll likely notice it more often, and catch it sooner each time.
I'm Maya Harris, founder of Inversion Leadership. I coach leaders 1:1 and facilitate leadership development programmes — helping people rise above the noise and pressure long enough to see clearly, and lead differently because of it.
If this week's reflection struck a chord, I'd love to talk: Book a call