David A. Fields Consulting Group Whether your consulting firm is drowning in projects or starved for engagements at the moment, you and your team are working hard. Possibly too hard. And that means burnout could be looming.
Burnout is a real issue for consulting firm leaders. In the past two weeks I’ve talked to three different consulting firm Managing Partners, all of whom unexpectedly had to take a month or more off from their business because they had hit a wall.
Whether you’re the founder of your firm or you have taken it over from an earlier generation, as the head of a consulting firm you’re entrepreneurial, ambitious and highly engaged in your work.
That can easily slip into 24/7/365, always-on, workaholism.
How do you establish enough distance to protect against burnout?
3.5 Tips to Preserve Sanity as a Consulting Firm Leader
No-Work Zones
If you run your consulting firm exclusively from an office, leave work at the office.
Your work is engrossing and it’s hard to mentally unplug at the end of the day. Nevertheless, your family, friends, pets and hobbies deserve your attention when you’re at home.
You probably will bring work home sometimes, and you may want to share about your work problems with your significant other. If that’s the case, ensure you have explicit no-work zones in your house.
Similarly, for those of us who occupy home offices a few days per week or all the time, clearly demarcate work zones and no-work zones.
This is particularly important if you live with someone who participates in your consulting business—a very common occurrence in firms under $10M.
If your entire house is a work zone, you’ll start to feel like you can’t escape your consulting firm.
At my house (where my wife and I each have an office), we have a number of spaces where work talk is strictly verboten.
Inviolable, Weekly Day Off
Set at least one day (24 hours) to be a no-work day and abide by that rule religiously.
Even if you’re not religious.
That means no exceptions ever.
You’re a consultant, not a physician. No one is going to lose their life or livelihood if you set your consulting firm aside for a day.
You run a small consulting firm. That means you get to set the rules!
Your weekly furlough doesn’t have to be Saturday or Sunday (though those are easiest because clients tend to be off on those days too).
Consistency makes this technique work.
Of course, let your clients know about your no-work day.
For example, I close my office at 3:00 p.m. on Fridays and don’t reopen until late on Saturday at the earliest.
I have never broken that rule. Not even once.
Has it cost the firm some speaking engagements at conferences that run over weekends?
Probably, but that obviously hasn’t held my firm’s growth back.
Non-Cancellable Vacations
Schedule your vacations well in advance and book non-refundable tickets early.
Sure, it’s easy to tack a day (or five) onto a client trip and call that a vacation.
And as long as you treat vacation days the same as your weekly no-work days, those extended client trips are great.
You’ll achieve even better downtime, though, if you book your vacation time 3-6 months in advance and commit yourself by plunking down your cash for your flights, hotels, cruise, safari or arctic expedition.
Clients respect vacations as long as they have substantial warning.
Your clients’ business isn’t going to disappear while you’re gone.
That’s why you’ve built a competent team.
(Pro-tip: committing to substantial vacation forces you to build a competent team.)
If you’ve followed my articles for any period of time, you probably already noticed I take at least two month-long vacations each year. I spend zero hours doing work during those vacations.
Could you take month-long vacations and still effectively lead your consulting firm?
Absolutely!
Mindlessness
This is either half a tip or the master tip that rules them all.
Train yourself to set your business aside when you’re not “doing” work.
It’s not enough to curtail work discussions and email.
You have to actually stop thinking about work.
Those of you who have practiced mindfulness meditation will recognize this.
Only, as consultants our minds are always full, so mindlessness seems like a better idea.
During a no-work day or a vacation when you notice yourself thinking about your consulting business:
- Recognize you’re thinking about work,
- Remember you’re in a no-work period,
- Remove the work thoughts, and
- Refocus your attention on something not work-related.
Initially, that process may grant only a three-second reprieve, and you may have to repeat it 100 times in a single day.
With practice you’ll find that you’re able to douse the work fire faster, easier and for longer.
Those are only a few tips for establishing some separation that will protect you from burnout (and generally improve your quality of life).
What has worked well for you?
Text and images are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
Great advice David! Having led a practice at another firm prior to launching my own firm last year, I experienced a lot of this blurring of boundaries. Was not great, to say the least. This was despite being Sabbath observant and having 25 hours of being offline a week.
Doing things differently now and have set down a strict set of rules I adhere to so there are boundaries and I can avoid burnout. Going great so far! I also it find it helpful to stop stressing about new business coming in. Build good processes, set yourself up for success, and then let the chips fall. The business will come, or not. Stressing over it does not help at all.
Congratulations on the new business, Josh! And, good on you for creating strict boundaries that protect your life outside of the firm. You’re right that stressing over new business rarely helps. Excellent processes, discipline, and market awareness on the other hand, are extremely helpful!
Thank you for chiming in with your experience, Josh!
Thanks David. I’ve read the concept of doing any work during an off day will impact that whole day. I ask because I’ve been keeping Saturdays and Sundays free from work and have a rule (like you state above about the one day) for the last 18 months or so. I’d like to spend an hour or two prepping for the week on Sunday, but that rule keeps me from doing it, which is great for Sunday but it makes Friday afternoon and Monday morning frantic. Curious what you think about the philosophy of “If you do any work at all, it’ll ruin the day from being an off day.”
First, great job preserving your weekends. You’ve posed an interesting question. My team and I tell our clients, “We’re going to teach you a lot of excellent principles. Principle #1 is: Don’t let principles get in the way of success!”
In other words, the, “If you work even a minute during your two days off you’ve ruined everything” idea is nonsense. Taking time off is supposed to give you peace. If one hour of work avoidance each weekend is actually causing you stress, and you’re currently spending that hour thinking about the fact that you’re not doing work, then just block a certain hour in your weekend for prep time.
Balancing the benefits of inviolable rules with the downsides is important. My experience personally and with our clients has been that every consultant can make 24 hours of non-work time an inviolable rule. Forty-eight hours? Maybe not. Every consultant can take two contiguous weeks of vacation at least once per year. Four contiguous weeks like I do? Maybe not.
Create the one-hour block and call it a misplaced piece of Monday.
Love the first principle! Also, appreciate the input. I’ll start doing that type of work Sunday evening instead of frantically on Friday afternoon.
Chris – What David said (of course). If it helps to hear how it’s worked in practice for someone who was a workaholic for MANY years but finally broke that by taking weekends off (no matter how busy the business gets)… I’ve found that if I take an hour or so Sunday evening to plan the “big rocks” for the week, that actually puts the cherry on top of my weekend off! The off time ends just before the planning time, and I sleep well knowing that I’m all set to hit the ground running on Monday. So it actually complements the time off.
Yup, Gabrielle, that “prep for the week” or “prep for the next day” habit is helpful for many. My assistant and I always review and set goals for the next day at the end of each day. On Thursdays we look ahead at the next week.
I’m glad you shared your experience with Chris and the rest of us, Gabrielle. Real world experience teaches everyone.
Thank you, Gabrielle. Really appreciate the practical description!
What was that? Sorry, I was taking a nap… 🙂 Great as always David!
You’re hysterical, Doc. Naps are, indeed, a good way to destress and preserve sanity. Maybe we can train our AIs to tell us what we missed while we were sleeping at work!
Thanks for jumping into the conversation, Doc.
The guidance I needed at the time I needed it! After a slow period throughout 2025, the end of the year and start of this one have brought in old, client, new clients, and European time zone clients. It’s been all hands on deck; it’s been nights, weekends and holidays for two months and I am tired.
Recently, I opted to skip yoga to prep for a client call that the client cancelled at the last minute.
I’m not religious but I did think “maybe this is the universe’s way of telling me to go to yoga.” And now David is too 🙂
Exactly right, Leslie. The universe and I agree: go to Yoga!
Congrats on the business coming back.
My wife and I do this together. When our kids (and the firm) were young, they used to hate it when we talked work around them, so they would mock us without mercy: “Oh, let’s talk about the ecooooooonomy!” And we would laugh, get the point, and snap out of it.
We still use that today when we catch ourselves all spun up “after hours.” We say, “So, how about that economy?” And then laugh and shut up.
That’s excellent, Chris. You’ve developed your own code-word that you can use to remind each other, “This is a non-work zone/time” in a non-threatening, non-accusatory way.
Very inspiring example, Chris. I’m sure many readers will come up with their own code words to share with their family.