WTF Wednesday.

 WTF Wednesday. Why the Fighting?

I don’t have a funny story today.

But I do have a real one.

This is what burnout looked like for me.

I’m an observer. Of people. Of processes. Of patterns.

And as a lifelong operator, I’ve been trained to fix things.

Make it better. Make it faster. Make it make sense.

Here’s the problem with that.

When you’re good at spotting gaps… You start seeing them everywhere.

Not just in your lane.

In everyone else’s, too.

And in some environments—especially in healthcare—change doesn’t exactly move at lightning speed.

There’s a lag.

A long one.

And if you’re impatient?

Congratulations—you’ve just signed yourself up for daily frustration.

I could see simple fixes. Clear opportunities. Things that would make life easier for my team—and better for patients.

So I did what strong leaders do.

I brought solutions forward.

Diplomatically. Respectfully.

And got met with…

Defensiveness. Excuses. Resistance.

And sometimes - outright anger.

And here’s where I went wrong:

I kept pushing.

Because I knew I was right.

Enter burnout.

At some point, I had to ask myself a question that stopped me in my tracks:

Why do I care?

Not in a dismissive way.

In a get honest with yourself kind of way.

Is this harming patients? Is this harming employees? Or…

Do I just need them to see that I’m right?

Because here’s the truth no one likes to say out loud:

Being right is not a leadership strategy.

And trying to drag people toward change they don’t want, even if it's the right decision?

It’s a fast track to exhaustion.

So I made a shift.

I stopped treating every inefficiency like it was mine to fix.

I started asking:

Is this mine to carry?

If yes—lean in. If not—put it down. (And boy, is that easier said than done).

Because leadership isn’t about fixing everything.

It’s about knowing what deserves your energy…

And what’s just draining it.

If you’re constantly in a push-pull with your peers…

Let me save you some time:

You can be right. And still be wasting your energy.

Ask yourself:

Why do I care?

If the answer is “because I know I’m right”…

That might be your cue to let it go, and save your energy for when it truly matters.

This is the work I do with leaders every day—helping them stop over-functioning, set boundaries, and protect their energy so they can actually lead.

~Steph