The Wall: The Chapter Before Full Burnout
I work with people who look like they’ve got it all together, but are running on fumes.
I call it hitting the wall.
It often comes in your 40s. For the first half of your career, you’ve been driven by enthusiasm, talent and ambition. On paper, you’re successful. You’ve built your identity around being the one who can carry it all, who can power through when times are tough.
For years it works. But then it doesn’t. You bonk. Just like what happens to a marathon runner when they hit the 20-mile mark.
Here’s what hitting the wall feels like.
Your mind won’t stop. You find it hard to be present with your family at the weekends. Your to-do list starts the second you wake up. Sometimes you get up from your desk and realise you haven’t breathed for two hours. There’s no joy in your work. You just know you have to keep going, keep grinding. There’s a quiet fear that this is your life now. But part of you also knows you can’t go on like this.
Maybe imposter syndrome comes on strong. You wonder how you’ve got away with it all these years. You start overthinking decisions. You have less patience for everyday challenges – tricky clients, colleagues, constant demands. You start to fantasise about some idyllic career change – spending your days out in nature building dry stone walls is a common one.
This isn’t full burnout. It’s the chapter before.
This difference matters because you can still do something about it.
The trap
Your natural instinct here might be to push harder. To set more ambitious targets. To network more. To take the bigger role. To try to outrun the feeling. It makes sense. It’s what your identity – and the culture – has always told you to do.
But it doesn’t work.
You’re applying first-half career thinking to a second-half problem.
The strategies that got you here – pushing harder, powering through, setting bigger targets – aren’t just no longer effective. They’re making things worse. That’s the trap.
I’ve been here myself.
Ten years ago, I left my career as an advertising creative. I was successful – an award winner. But I was running on fumes. My mind never stopped. I was always knackered. Every brief felt like a shitstorm. My heart wasn’t in it anymore. I was still turning up, but I was close to burn out. I didn’t know it then, but I’d hit the wall.
After one particularly bad night, I reached out to a coach. I didn’t have a clear plan – I just knew something needed to change.
Over the next few months, I learned to unclench. I started to see how some of my thinking and beliefs were keeping me stressed and stuck. I reconnected with what mattered most to me. I began to feel like a version of me I liked being again.
I remember after one session riding my bike home in the rain, smiling. It was sheer relief.
That experience shaped how I work now. I went on to leave advertising and train as a coach myself. I know there are a lot of people like me out there. And I also know that what’s most helpful is often counterintuitive. It’s hard to think your way out of this on your own. You’re inside the system that’s creating the problem.
Over the past seven years I’ve worked with a lot of people who’ve hit the wall. Many have an agency background – creatives, strategists, leaders, founders. But also people in tech, retail and pharma. It’s a common pattern for people who spend their working lives in their heads.
Mike’s story
Mike came to me as the owner of a small creative agency. The business was doing well, but he felt like like was carrying everything. He was constantly thinking about clients and targets. He was rarely present with his partner and kids. He couldn’t remember the last time work felt like fun. The week before we spoke, he’d told a colleague, “I’m done”.
Mike’s instinct was to fix it quickly. To tackle it like everything else he did in his life – as a problem to solve head on. From experience, I trusted that the opposite approach was required. This was about slowing down, not setting any mad goals out of the gate, simply allowing Mike’s mind space to breathe.
Over five months, Mike changed the way he related to his work and his business. He saw how some of the beliefs that had served him were now keeping him stuck. He became better at noticing when he was caught up in his thinking. And he reconnected with the joy that had been missing.
“For the first time in a long while I feel like I’m enjoying my career again. I’m getting back to being creative, leaving work in the office where it belongs, and being present with my family instead of constantly checking my emails and fretting. I can’t recommend Andrew enough.” Mike Cannings, Creative Director and Founder, BM Inc.
Paul’s story
Paul is the MD of a media agency. He was carrying everything – team challenges, client meetings across the country, difficult relationships, pressure to adapt to AI. His mind never stopped. He knew he was at a decision point.
We worked together over eight sessions across four months. The last thing Paul needed was more frameworks or advice. His mind was already busy enough. So I simply listened and responded intuitively to whatever came up. It helped that I understood his world. There was trust and no need to over-explain.
“I found working with Andrew... unexpectedly annoying – in the best possible way (he’ll know what I mean). I’d often enter our sessions unsure where to begin, yet an hour later I’d realise I’d done most of the talking. Through subtle prompts and thoughtful nudges, he has a way of drawing out exactly what needs to surface. I always left our conversations feeling lighter, clearer, and more energised.” Paul Thompson, MD, Media Performance
If this sounds familiar, you’re not broken. You’ve probably hit the wall.
Working with me isn’t for everyone. If part of you still believes the answer is a better productivity system or a bigger goal, you’re probably not ready yet.
But if part of you already knows that pushing harder isn’t the answer, we should talk.
You’ve been carrying this for a while. You don’t need to figure it out on your own. And you definitely don’t need another framework.
You need a conversation with someone who’s been there.
I work with a small number of creative thinkers, agency leaders and business owners at a time.
Hit reply and tell me what’s going on for you.
Meet you at the wall.
Andrew