If You’re Feeling Burned Out, A Difficult Goal Might Be The Answer

We’re all familiar with burnout these days; feelings of exhaustion, frustration, and disengagement. While it might seem counterintuitive, setting a difficult, audacious goal may be the key to combating these feelings and reigniting your passion for work. Far from adding to your stress, a challenging goal can offer a much-needed focus that diverts your attention from stress and gives you something positive to engage with.

Difficult Goals Engage Your Mind and Shift Focus

One of the main arguments for setting challenging goals when you're feeling burned out is that they give your mind something constructive and positive to focus on. When you’re facing daily frustrations, the last thing you want is to dwell on your stress. But simply trying to avoid thinking about it rarely works. Stress and burnout have a way of creeping back into your thoughts.

However, a difficult goal demands your mental energy. Challenging tasks require problem-solving, creativity, and focus—taking up mental bandwidth that might otherwise be consumed by stress and negativity. In fact, Leadership IQ’s " Are SMART Goals Dumb?" study found that individuals who set difficult, audacious goals are 34% more likely to love their jobs. Why? Because they are fully engaged with a positive challenge rather than ruminating on the negative.

Learning New Skills Rejuvenates Engagement

Burnout is often accompanied by a sense of stagnation—feeling like you're no longer learning or growing in your career. This is where difficult goals come into play. Unlike easy, achievable goals, which rely on existing skills, difficult goals typically require you to learn something new. And learning new skills has been shown to have a direct correlation with increased engagement. According to Leadership IQ’s study, goals that require learning new skills are nearly ten times more effective at inspiring employees than those that don’t.

When you’re learning something new, it creates a sense of novelty and growth, which can counteract the feelings of being stuck or disillusioned. It shifts your mindset from "I'm overwhelmed" to "I'm expanding my abilities," which can be incredibly energizing. Moreover, the act of acquiring new skills can help build your confidence, making you more resilient to stressors in your work environment.

Top Executives Know the Power of Difficult Goals

The Leadership IQ study also revealed that top executives are 64% more likely to set difficult or audacious goals compared to other employees. This insight is important because these individuals are often in high-pressure positions with a great deal of responsibility. If anyone is at risk of burnout, it's likely those at the top. Yet, these leaders intentionally pursue difficult goals. Why? Because they understand that these goals provide a sense of purpose and direction, helping them stay focused and motivated despite their demanding roles.

Moreover, 91% of top executives report enjoying leaving their comfort zone in pursuit of their goals. This willingness to embrace discomfort suggests that difficult goals aren't just about career advancement—they're about personal fulfillment and staying engaged in the long term. In other words, setting audacious goals can help you push past burnout by offering a greater sense of meaning in your work.

Reframing Stress as Productive Energy

When you set a difficult goal, it naturally comes with a certain level of stress. But not all stress is bad. In fact, the right kind of stress—what psychologists call " eustress "—can be incredibly motivating. Difficult goals challenge you to stretch your abilities, and while that might be stressful, it’s a type of stress that propels you forward rather than holding you back. It gives you a clear target to work toward, transforming your stress into a source of energy rather than something that drains you.

Research shows that burnout often stems from a lack of urgency or focus. About 70% of people indicate various forms of procrastination or a general lack of urgency for their goals, which only compounds feelings of burnout. In contrast, setting a difficult goal forces you to create momentum, breaking free from procrastination and the malaise it brings.

If you’re feeling burned out, it might be time to reassess your goals. Rather than opting for something easy and achievable, consider setting a goal that challenges you and forces you to learn new skills. However, the goal shouldn’t be so difficult that it feels impossible. Aim for something that stretches your abilities without overwhelming you.

The right difficult goal will give you something positive to focus on, help you grow by learning new skills, and transform your stress into productive energy. By engaging your mind and giving you a sense of purpose, a difficult goal can be the antidote to burnout that you've been searching for. And as the research shows, people who set difficult, audacious goals are far more likely to love their jobs and enjoy the journey.

By Mark Murphy, Senior Contributor