Exhausted? Maybe It’s Not You—Maybe It’s Capitalism

Humans are not machines, yet we exist in a work culture that treats us like we are—pushing, optimizing, and outputting until we eventually break down. One “just working late one more night” at a time.

And if (when) we finally go out in a blaze of (whatever the opposite is of) glory? The world doesn’t stop. It asks us to self-care our way back to productivity, as if burnout is a personal failure instead of the inevitable result of an unsustainable system.

And here’s the thing: Founders, CEOs, and business leaders aren’t just caught in this system—we’re often the ones keeping it running.

We tell ourselves that the grind is necessary. That the next big hire, funding round, or product launch will bring relief. But the goalposts keep moving, and the weight of cash flow, payroll, hiring, retention, and performance never really lifts.

The Fantasy of Severance—And Why It’s So Tempting

We all have our coping mechanisms for survival in this system. One of mine is a carefully planned binge of some outstanding show I’ve yet to enjoy.

So for my birthday, I watched Severance. I know. Turning 40 is a party. I really optimized the opportunity.

And as I watched, I kept thinking: This hits way too close to home.

Haven’t watched Severance? No worries—this is a spoiler-free zone.

Here’s the basic premise: Employees at a mysterious corporation undergo a procedure that severs their work and personal lives. Their innie—the work version of themselves—only exists inside the office, with no knowledge of life outside of it. Their outie—the version that goes home at night—has no memory of what happens at work.

It’s a clean break. No stress carrying over. No late-night problem-solving. No financial panic haunting your free time.

Now, imagine that for yourself—as a CEO, founder, or leader.

• The version of you who answers Vox messages, texts, and emails at midnight simply wouldn’t exist.

• The weight of hiring, firing, payroll, and performance wouldn’t follow you into dinner with your family.

• You wouldn’t wake up at 3 AM running cash flow numbers on repeat, wondering if you missed something critical.

• The pressure of growth targets, investor expectations, and “hitting the next level” wouldn’t be the undercurrent of your entire existence.

Work-life balance—not as a goal, not as a buzzword, but as a guarantee.

Sounds perfect, right?

Except, of course, it’s not. And the fact that it sounds tempting tells us everything we need to know about the way we work today.

Because in the real world, we don’t need to sever ourselves from work—we need to rewire the way work operates.

The Work Culture Energy Scale (WCES): Where Are You Operating?

Think of workplace culture like a dial, from slow and intentional to high-pressure and relentless:

• 1-3: The Slow Living Zone – Prioritizes well-being over speed. Great for creativity, but may lack urgency.

• 4-5: The Sustainable Productivity Zone – A structured but flexible pace that allows for deep, meaningful work without sacrificing health.

• 6-7: The High-Performance Zone – Fast-moving and goal-oriented, with high expectations. Can be sustainable if managed well—but if it’s relentless, it leads to diminishing returns.

• 8-9: The Hustle Culture Zone – Speed prioritized over strategy, long hours, pressure as the norm.

• 10: The Burnout Zone – Crisis-mode urgency, no recovery time, total depletion.

Most businesses live at an 8 or higher—rewarding exhaustion and mistaking stress for success.

But here’s what founders, CEOs, and leaders often miss: Even a 6 or 7, if not managed well, can become unsustainable.

The Leadership Burnout Trap

High-performance cultures often start out healthy. They are fast, goal-oriented, and exciting. They attract high achievers who thrive on momentum.

But without structured recovery—without actual downtime—leaders and teams still burn out.

A company operating at a 7 for too long, without intentional breaks, will inevitably slide into an 8 or 9.

This is where leaders get it wrong.

They assume that because they’re not demanding 80-hour workweeks, they’re fostering a sustainable culture.

But high expectations without real recovery time don’t just drain employees—they eventually hurt business results, too.

So, ask yourself:

• Where does your company fall on the WCES?

• Where do you operate on the scale?

• Is your business structured for long-term sustainability—or short-term survival?

Because if you’re at an 8 or higher, you’re actively building burnout into your business model.

Work-Life Balance is a Lie. Functional Work Culture is the Truth.

In Severance, the innie can never work late. The outie can never check a Slack notification at the dinner table. The expectation of constant availability doesn’t exist because the structure makes it impossible.

And that’s the real difference: The structure changes, not just the individual's boundaries.

In our world, it’s the opposite. The pressure is on us—as founders, executives, and business owners—to create boundaries in a system that punishes us for doing so.

• If you’re burned out, take better care of yourself.

• If you’re overworked, learn to set boundaries.

• If you’re exhausted, just be more efficient.

But what about the structures that keep us burned out in the first place?

If you’re leading a team, the challenge isn’t just keeping people productive—it’s creating a culture that allows them to be productive without burning out.

That means:

• Defining success beyond revenue and growth—can we measure productivity differently (depth of impact, quality of work, retention)?

• Examining if urgency is truly necessary or just a symptom of corporate addiction to stress.

• Resisting the systemic forces—hustle culture, white supremacy culture, startup grind mentality—that push organizations into an unsustainable 8+.

• Making structural changes instead of forcing employees to figure it out alone.

Because if your company is operating at a 7 with no recovery time, you’re still on a path to burnout.

Severance Shouldn’t Be the Only Option

I don’t want to live in a world where the only way to escape burnout is to completely sever yourself from work.

I want to live in a world where work can exist in the zones where ambition, creativity, and leadership don’t require self-destruction.

We don’t need Severance. We need systems that support humans, not just profits.

The question is: Are we willing to build them?