Everyone Seems Exhausted… And It’s Only March

In the past few weeks I’ve noticed the same theme in conversations with leaders and teams.

“I’m overwhelmed already.”

“The pace is relentless.”

“I can’t believe it’s March.” Not said with excitement. Said with exhaustion.

When I returned to work in early February, the pressure was already visible. A few weeks in, it became unmistakable. People aren’t just busy — they’re depleted.

There’s a particular kind of tension in the air right now.

Organisations are navigating restructures. Return-to-office mandates are increasing. AI is rapidly reshaping roles and expectations.

Across many industries, leaders are asking new questions about capability, productivity and the future of work. When the ground feels like it’s shifting beneath us, it’s no surprise people feel unsettled.

At the same time, the expectations haven’t slowed down. If anything, they’ve intensified. The result is a workforce that is still delivering — but often running on very low reserves.

When Pressure Stops Being Productive

In my work with leadership teams, I often talk about the difference between performance and sustainability. Most people can push hard for short periods of time. A big project. A tight deadline. A busy quarter. But the reality of modern work is that the sprint has quietly become the marathon.

When teams operate at this pace for too long, their energy erodes. People still show up. They still deliver. But the reserves that support creativity, patience and strategic thinking begin to disappear.

You start to see it in subtle ways. People become more reactive. Decisions take longer. Frustration rises more quickly. Small problems start to feel bigger than they are. Eventually, performance suffers — not because people don’t care, but because they’re running on empty.

What Thriving Teams Do Differently

This is why thriving teams think differently about performance.

In the Thriving Teams model, accountability matters. Results matter. But so do connection, challenge and support. High-performing teams don’t just focus on what needs to get done. They pay attention to the conditions that allow people to keep doing great work.

One of those conditions is energy. The best teams I work with are intentional about protecting it.

That often starts with prioritisation. When everything is urgent, nothing truly is.

One of the most powerful conversations leadership teams can have right now is this: What actually matters most in the next 90 days?

Not the entire strategy. Not the twenty competing initiatives. Just the few outcomes that genuinely move the organisation forward.

Clarity here reduces an enormous amount of pressure.

The Discipline of Stopping

Equally important is the willingness to stop doing things. Many organisations are incredibly good at starting initiatives. Far fewer are disciplined about stopping them.

Thriving teams regularly ask:

• What can we pause?

• What can we simplify?

• What no longer adds value?

Removing work can sometimes create more impact than adding new initiatives.

In periods of pressure, leadership is not just about driving action. It is also about reducing noise. Reprioritising, simplifying and stopping work that no longer serves the strategy are all acts of leadership.

Why Micro-Breaks Matter

Another simple but powerful lever is how teams manage their energy throughout the day.

Many professionals move from meeting to meeting without a moment to reset. It’s no surprise that by mid-afternoon people feel mentally exhausted.

Small moments of recovery can make a significant difference. A short walk between meetings.

Five minutes outside in the sun. Stepping away from the screen.

These micro-breaks may seem insignificant, but they help restore cognitive capacity. When people step away briefly, they return with clearer thinking, greater patience and better focus.

Nature amplifies this effect. Even a short walk outdoors can reduce stress and help the brain reset after long periods of concentration.

Permission to Pause

The challenge isn’t knowing that breaks help. The challenge is feeling like we’re allowed to take them.

In many workplaces, busyness has quietly become a badge of honour. Full calendars and back-to-back meetings are interpreted as productivity. But constant activity is not the same as meaningful progress.

Thriving teams understand that pausing isn’t laziness — it’s maintenance.

Just like elite athletes build recovery into their training cycles, professionals need moments of reset to sustain performance over time.

Leaders play an important role here. The permission to pause is often cultural. If leaders model boundaries, reset between meetings and encourage realistic workloads, teams are far more likely to do the same without guilt.

The Question Leaders Need to Ask

So as we move further into 2026, perhaps the real question isn’t how we squeeze more into already full days. Perhaps the question is this:

How do we create the conditions that allow people to sustain the pace?

For some teams, that might mean sharper priorities. For others, it might mean stopping work that no longer matters. And for many of us, it might simply mean stepping outside for ten minutes and taking a breath.

Small shifts like these won’t remove the complexity of modern work. But they can restore the energy we need to navigate it. Because thriving at work isn’t about running harder. It’s about having the capacity to keep going.

Small shifts like these won’t remove the complexity of modern work. But they can restore the energy we need to navigate it. Because thriving at work isn’t about running harder. It’s about having the capacity to keep going.

If your team is feeling the pressure of the current pace of work, it may be time to pause and ask a different question. Not how to squeeze more into already full days, but how to create the conditions that allow people to perform well and sustain that performance over time.

Claire Gray is a leadership and team coach, keynote speaker, and the author of Thriving Teams: When Teams Unite, Align and Achieve. Claire works with leaders and organisations to build thriving teams that are aligned, accountable and able to perform at their best.