Prime (noun)
the state or time of greatest vigour or success in a person’s life.

Hi, I’m Jason. This is where I share openly about the challenges, insights and lessons from my own journey. My hope is that these thoughts spark reflections that help you navigate your own path to living better and leading better. 

Jason Leavy
Founder

Prime Perspective:
Reflections on Leadership and Growth

"Burnout is erosion of the soul caused by deterioration of one's values, dignity, and spirit."

–  Christina Maslach

Last week I wrote about burnout – the warning signs, the science, the strategies to protect yourself before you snap. But I held back the most important part of my own story… until now.

Yes, I was working long hours. Yes, I was under sustained pressure. But the truth is I’d been in those situations before and had actually enjoyed it, because the work itself was fulfilling and I had a clear sense of purpose and empowerment.

No, what pushed me to the brink was actually the chasm between my values and the culture of the business – that sense of feeling in a straitjacket and being expected to behave in a way that compromised my beliefs. 

Why Values Can Matter More Than Workload

Christina Maslach is a globally recognised expert on burnout and her research identifies six factors that drive it – and workload is just one of them.

The others? Control, reward, community, fairness, and, yep, you guessed it, values.

Value conflict consistently emerges as one of the strongest predictors of burnout in Maslach's research. When your personal values clash with how the organization actually operates, the proof is there that the psychological cost is severe.

This isn't about being ‘too sensitive’, this is about tangible damage.

The Science of Cognitive Dissonance

Psychologist Leon Festinger identified cognitive dissonance as the mental discomfort when your behavior contradicts your beliefs. Research shows cognitive dissonance activates the anterior cingulate cortex and insula – the same brain regions that process physical pain.

So value misalignment doesn't just feel bad, your brain processes it as harm.

You're constantly trying to reconcile the contradiction between who you are and what you're doing.

The result:

• Mental exhaustion

• Emotional numbing

• Identity erosion

• Performance decline

This is what Maslach means when she refers to "erosion of the soul”. And that was definitely what it felt like to me.

The best way I could explain it to you was that in my final few months in my role I felt a shadow of my former self – I knew what my A-game looked like and this was a world away from that.

The Trap I Fell Into

Viktor Frankl wrote: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response."

I'd lost sight of that space.

I’d always prided myself on my resilience – I was that guy who was always willing to go harder, stronger, longer. And to be frank that had served me well in a number of situations in the past. 

But there was a critical difference this time – I was soaking up the punishment caused by cognitive dissonance but with no finish line in sight. Those of us in high pressure environments will always have to deal with stress, exhaustion etc from time to time – it goes with the territory. 

However, that adversity can be overcome through a combination of smarts and resilience if you have a clear sense of what positive progress looks like. 

By contrast, I was like a boxer lying on the ropes, shipping blows but with no sense of how to turn the fight around. 

How You Can Turn The Fight Around

Enough of my story, because ultimately this is about how I can help you – if you’ve lost that sense of identity, your power of purpose or you just feel stuck in what Josh Waitzkin calls the ‘simmering six’, here’s what you can do:

1. Tune into your own data

In the era of wearables it can be all too easy to forget the most powerful indicator of performance and wellbeing is how you feel.  Emotions are data points, but the problem is we’re normally too busy running on autopilot to fully tune into them. Be intentional. Observe. Reflect. Be curious about what's really going on beneath the surface-level story you tell yourself.

2. Recognize the difference

Not every difficult period signals fundamental misalignment. Work can be deeply fulfilling and still have challenging phases. The question is: are you dealing with temporary adversity or something deeper? 

3. Acknowledge the reality

Many of us stay in misaligned situations not because we're weak, but because the pain of the familiar feels safer than the fear of the unknown. I get that. I lived that. But here's what I also learned: you need to be honest about whether you're actively working to change the situation or just enduring it.

Misalignment can potentially be addressed through clear boundaries, honest conversations, and genuine attempts to influence the culture from within. But if you're absorbing the punishment with no agency to make positive change? That's not sustainable. It's an illusion of safety that will eventually shatter.

4. Accept your agency

Whatever you decide is the path forward, you need to own that choice and act on it. That might mean having those difficult conversations. It might mean setting clearer boundaries about what you will and won't do. But it can't be passive suffering while telling yourself you're stuck.

Research by psychologist Carol Dweck, best known for her work on mindset and resilience, shows that recognizing choice (even difficult choice) predicts better mental health than feeling trapped by circumstances. You have more power than you think. Even if your options aren't easy, they exist.

A final thought: burnout isn't just about the hours you work. It's about whether those hours align with who you are. Don't let your soul erode one compromise at a time.