Mission driven leaders are loyal to the mission. Loyal to the team. Loyal to the organization. But what about loyalty to self?

Last Friday night at bedtime, I was reading a chapter book about Eva the owl with my seven year old daughter, Avery. Eva’s owl class was having a show and tell about their hobbies, and each student brought in something to share about what they like to do for fun. After all the owls shared, they talked about their parents’ hobbies. But while other kids could easily say what their parent enjoyed doing, Eva wasn’t quite so sure.

I turned to Avery before flipping the page and asked: “What do you think Daddy and my hobbies are?”

She thought for a quiet moment and then said: “Ummm…lying down and working??”

That hit me in the gut. This is why…

this time, when 30-40% of the workforce is expected to leave their current positions.

After my last essay about burning out from my nonprofit position, I heard from so many of you that the story resonated.

And right now, so many of my clients are asking themselves: Should I stay or should I go? (And if I do go, how do I face those unknowns?)

These conversations are bringing me back to a book that I read around the time I was thinking of leaving—David Whyte's Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity.

There was this one idea from one chapter that felt like it was written just for me.

I felt called out and called forward at the same time.

I think that it might do the same for you:

Four years ago, I quit my job as the associate director of a statewide nonprofit to work at the front desk of a massage therapy studio. It made no sense. You won't see it on my resume. But it's the most meaningful career move I've made. Here’s why.

Burnout is not an individual problem that can be solved with self-care—it's an organizational issue that needs to be addressed at the company level.

"In reality, no yoga app, candle, or day planner can make up for an impossibly large pile of tasks, a day-long string of meetings that requires you to do your 'real work' at night, or a workplace where you have few true connections or friends."

@Harvard Business Review's latest issue of Ascend takes on this topic. Check out this article on why millennial professionals are especially susceptible, which includes a downloadable guide to diagnosing and managing burnout…

Toughing through the hard stuff is part of our work as mission-driven leaders. But too often, we push it too far.

We hold resilience up as a virtue that we all need more of—we are rewarded for muscling through, for sacrificing in service of the mission.

Here’s how we’re getting the meaning of resilience wrong, and a more useful definition that supports sustainable leadership…

I've seen so many mission-driven leaders dive headfirst into new jobs in a hurry. If their last day at one organization is on a Friday, they'll start the new job on Monday. And why not? They're excited to step into new challenges and the organization needed them there yesterday.

But something I've noticed during is that these rapid transitions don't give us what we truly need. Here’s why it’s essential to take time off between jobs.