For many high-achieving women, switching off from work can be harder than getting the work done.
The laptop might be closed, the out-of-office switched on and the holiday booked, but mentally, work can still be very much present. There are emails to check, decisions to think through, people to consider and that nagging feeling that something might be missed.
For women who have built successful careers, this can become particularly difficult. High performance often comes with a strong sense of responsibility, ambition and a desire to do things well. Those qualities can be hugely valuable professionally, but they can also make it harder to step away.
When success becomes a habit
High achievers are often accustomed to being the person who gets things done. They are trusted to solve problems, make decisions and take responsibility when things become difficult.
Over time, being busy can become part of their identity. There is always another goal to achieve, another project to deliver or another challenge to tackle. Even when there is no immediate deadline, the instinct can be to keep moving.
That can make rest feel unproductive.
There can also be an expectation, particularly for women in senior positions, that they should remain available and responsive. Technology has made this easier than ever. A quick email response from a phone can feel harmless, but repeated interruptions make it much harder for the brain to properly disengage from work.
The pressure to prove yourself
For women who have had to work hard to progress their careers, switching off can sometimes feel uncomfortable.
Imposter syndrome impacts female senior leaders at a much higher rate, with 75 percent having personally experienced imposter syndrome at certain points in their career, according to a study by KPMG.
There may be an underlying concern that stepping back will be interpreted as a lack of commitment. Women can also feel pressure to demonstrate that they can manage everything: a demanding career, responsibilities outside work and the expectations that come with seniority.
This can create a cycle where taking time away from work brings guilt rather than relief.
But being committed to your career does not mean being permanently available.
In fact, the ability to step away can be an important part of sustaining a successful career over the long term.
Rest is not the opposite of ambition
There is a tendency to think of rest as something that happens once everything else has been completed.
The problem is that, in most careers, everything is never completed.
There will always be another email, another meeting or another problem waiting to be solved. If switching off is dependent on reaching the mythical point where there is nothing left to do, it is unlikely to happen.
Rest needs to be treated as part of maintaining performance, rather than a reward for it.
Research from Lean In & McKinsey (Women in the Workplace Report | Lean In & McKinsey) shows that women in leadership experience more burnout than other employees, with figures for 2025 showing six in 10 senior-level women report frequently feeling burned out, compared to only half of men at their level and about 4 in 10 employees overall.
Taking proper time away allows people to return with more perspective, energy and clarity. It can also create space for thinking beyond the immediate demands of the role – something that becomes increasingly important as responsibilities grow.
Learning to switch off
Switching off does not necessarily mean completely disconnecting from your career or pretending that work does not exist.
It might mean setting clearer boundaries around when you are available. It could mean resisting the temptation to check emails first thing in the morning or last thing at night. For some people, it may mean agreeing with colleagues what genuinely constitutes an emergency before going on holiday, rather than leaving themselves open to constant interruptions.
It is also worth paying attention to the language we use around rest.
If taking an afternoon off is described as "being away from work", while working late is seen as commitment, it is easy to understand why people struggle to prioritise their own time.
Senior women can also play an important role in changing this culture. Leaders who take their annual leave, respect other people's boundaries and demonstrate that they do not expect instant responses send a powerful message to their teams.
Your career should be sustainable
Ambition and wellbeing do not have to be competing priorities.
A successful career is not measured by how many evenings you spend answering emails or how difficult you find it to take a holiday. Nor should being indispensable be the ultimate measure of professional success.
For high-achieving women in particular, learning to switch off can require a conscious change in mindset: recognising that stepping away does not diminish your contribution.
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do for your career is to stop working.
Not because you care any less about what you do, but because you want to be able to keep doing it well.
