The Cost of Always Being 'Fine'

Leadership. Performance. Responsibility. Results. Balance. Stack them high enough and something at the base begins to crack — usually the part no one sees.

According to Women in the Workplace 2025 by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org, 60% of senior-level women report frequent burnout. The women most visible in organisations are often the ones carrying the heaviest, least acknowledged load.

'Fine' is the most expensive word in a high performer's vocabulary. It postpones rest, masks overwhelm and quietly turns ambition into attrition.

The antidote is not doing everything better. It is deciding, deliberately, what not to carry: delegating without guilt, setting boundaries that hold, and treating recovery as part of the job rather than a reward for finishing it.

Higher expectations can coexist with a brighter tomorrow — but only if wellbeing is treated as infrastructure. Well-being fuels what's next. And it's OK to do less, sometimes.