Exhausted to Empowered: Boundaries for Better Leadership

Authored By Basavaraj Goni

Last month, my friend Neha, who’s a Project Manager at a growing tech startup, called me late in the evening. She’d just finished yet another back-to-back meeting day and was catching up on emails from bed. ‘I haven’t eaten dinner, I think I forgot lunch too,’ she laughed, but it wasn’t funny.

Sound familiar?

Many PMs end up in Neha’s shoes ☹working late, skipping breaks, and being the team’s go-to fixer. But here’s the truth: if you don’t set boundaries, burnout sets them for you.

What Burnout Looks Like

• Waking up tired, even on weekends
• Losing excitement for projects you used to love
• Feeling like every task is urgent
• Taking care of everyone, except yourself

Real-World Boundaries That Work

Neha turned things around with small, intentional changes:

• Neha started blocking 30-45 minutes each afternoon for 'quiet work.' No meetings. Just time to breathe and focus.
• She told her team, ‘If it’s not urgent, Slack me during work hours only.’ And everyone respected this.
• She now closes her laptop by 7:30 p.m., prioritizing progress over perfection.

Mental Health Is Leadership

Strong leaders aren’t the ones who work 14-hour days. They’re the ones who protect their focus, energy, and mental clarity because their team takes cues from them.

If you’re a PM, remember Rested you > Exhausted you.

Your project's success depends on your energy, not just your planning.

Try This Today

• Pick one small boundary. Like turning off notifications after 7 p.m. and sticking to it this week.
• Or take 10 minutes tomorrow morning for quiet reflection before jumping into your task list.

A Final Thought

Boundaries aren’t selfish, they’re smart. They help you lead better, think more clearly, and stay kind (to others and yourself).

What’s one boundary you’re setting this week to protect your energy? 

Contributor Bio

Basavaraj crafts compelling product visions, seamlessly aligning business needs with innovative, customer-focused solutions—an expert in facilitating Agile ceremonies, leading cross-functional teams, and resolving blockers to drive value-driven outcomes.

As a Project Manager, he excels in strategic planning, vendor management, and stakeholder collaboration, ensuring the timely delivery of complex initiatives. My impact shines through building impactful data products, customer segmentation models, and robust frameworks for BI, Data Governance, and Data Architecture.

Connect on LinkedIn: Basavaraj Goni