Deliberate Distance: The Key to Thriving in the Age of Overwhelm

person walking Camino de Santiago — The science shows that intentional walking improves creativity and focus

It feels like a year could have passed already and we’re only into March. This rapid pace also makes it feel like the workplace battleground of 2024, hybrid work, has faded into the background somewhat as AI augmentation and economic uncertainty wreaks havoc on business decision making and our collective aspirations for professional and economic growth.

This got me thinking about a few things… in a world of ever-increasing digital distraction and AI augmentation, the counter-melody to this can only be more intentional time ‘offline/in person’. We’re social beings, and although the intelligence in AI continues to grow, it cannot replace the frequency of being in the presence of others, or in nature. With increased volatility comes increased complexity around decision making, but the trend towards more decisions and more complex decisions started long ago. While we can’t change the macro-environment we’re in, we can become more aware of the compounding issues around decision fatigue and how to manage it.

This article looks at these issues, and more importantly, how to stay ahead when the ground keeps moving.

The Leadership Squeeze And Why Overload is the New Norm

Although the hybrid debate has clearly become more nuanced, the model itself remains in flux. While companies have settled on versions that suit their needs, discontent is evident and perceived gains in either direction are mixed. The current level of global uncertainty is making strategic decision-making harder than ever, and leaders are facing an increasing cognitive load. This is compounded by the rising complexity of decision making as more stakeholders become involved in decisions.

Instead of fostering space for the deep thinking needed to face today’s challenges, issues like meeting volume and quality are draining employee well-being, and disengagement persists—becoming a new identity for Gen Z, known as “taskmasking". Taken together, the challenge environmental and organisational challenge for most leaders today is immense. Burnout, which really came to the fore post-pandemic, is on the with one report indicating that 40% of surveyed leaders had considered quitting.

As I discussed in a previous article on career breaks, sometimes the most productive thing someone can do is create the necessary space to step back and re-calibrate, and although that article focused specifically not on a career break, the type of break I’m suggesting isn’t a 6 month sabbatical (unless you need it). It could be as little as a week of intentional disconnection, or daily practices that help create deliberate distance from work related issues.

Yet, here’s two uncomfortable truths: firstly, research by SHRM shows that many workers still aren't taking their paid time off, or aren't getting the benefit of disconnecting when they are off.

Secondly, and perhaps more interesting, is the proportion of people who identified work-related factors as a reason. Throughout my career, it's been the norm that many leaders feel they can't take that step until they’re forced to. I witnessed in businesses of all sizes and across industries. Before you click away or shout at the screen about the reasons why stepping away isn't possible, hear me out. I know those reasons well, and I was one of those people who didn’t step away until a health crisis forced me to.

The Breaking Point Shouldn't Be Your Starting Point

A health scare. A career implosion. The moment where everything cracks… In my own circumstances, it was continuous episodes of sudden hearing loss that forced me to listen to what my body was trying to tell me. Even then it took four years to identify chronic stress as the cause, at which point I had no choice but to pay attention.

Too often, these moments are when many people, particularly leaders, finally acknowledge the need for space. The challenge is that stepping away can feel impossible if the organisation’s culture rewards always-on behaviour, or where individuals themselves feel unable to set clear boundaries around work. The pressure to be constantly visible, responsive, and engaged can create an unspoken expectation that productivity equals presence, whether that’s in the office or online.

When I’ve approached these topics with coaching clients, they frequently cite a fear of being perceived as not up to their job, or out of sync with expectations. This prevents many from prioritising their own well-being and strategic clarity suffers. Yet, reclaiming your edge goes beyond taking a ‘break’ or ‘vacation’. To get the full benefit means engaging in practices that are scientifically proven to boost your creative thinking, clarity, and resilience, such as breathwork, mindfulness and time in nature (without a digital tether).

The Cognitive Cost of Leadership Overwhelm

It should come as no surprise to anyone that all employee overwhelm, but particularly leadership overwhelm, comes at a measurable cost. What surprised me most was the second one on this list:

Decision Fatigue – The University of Cambridge (2019) highlights how excessive decision-making leads to reduced quality over time, irrespective of your position in the hierarchy. 
Neurological Impact – Studies conducted at Yale School of Medicine, among others, have demonstrated that chronic stress can lead to structural changes in the brain, particularly in areas like the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for decision-making. These changes involve reductions in volume and alterations in neural pathways, impacting strategic thinking and innovation. 
Stifled Creativity – A constant barrage of emails and meetings limits creative problem-solving and deep insight formation.

Stating the obvious here, but the more overwhelmed you are, the less clear and focused your thinking becomes.

How Walking Unlocks Clarity

My experience walking the Camino de Santiago revealed how removing distractions, stepping away from daily demands, and creating intentional space unlocks powerful shifts in creativity and perspective.

Activating Slow Thinking for Strategic Insights 

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's research on fast vs. slow thinking shows that leaders often default to reactive, fast thinking—useful for email triage, but potentially damaging for big-picture strategy. Walking is an activity that can facilitate slow thinking, according to Kahneman's research. It has also been shown to enhance creativity and deep insights that don't emerge in a meeting room.

Building Resilience Through Challenge and Recovery

 While I’ve read a lot about resilience over the years, and reading has been helpful, resilience isn't built in comfort zones. As author Brad Stulberg's research for his book Peak Performance shows: breakthrough insights often emerge when the brain experiences manageable stress followed by intentional recovery periods.

This might explain the transformative leadership lessons that arise from strong physical challenges alongside intentional mental challenge that includes a period of rest and recovery—they're reproducing the conditions where psychological resilience is actually built. Google Kilimanjaro + Leadership Development to get the picture here.

One of my great takeaways from walking the Camino de Santiago, is that walking long distances mimics real leadership challenges: persistence, problem-solving, and endurance when things get uncomfortable. Leaders who practice this level of discomfort in controlled environments return stronger, sharper, and more adaptable.

Gaining a New Leadership Perspective

Stepping away removes the daily noise, allowing for reflection on questions like:

Where am I leading from—reactivity or clarity?
What's missing in my leadership approach?
What patterns am I blind to?

Disconnecting from routine creates space for a renewed vision.

A Blueprint for a Leadership Reset

The best leaders know when to step back to step up. I had to learn this the hard way in my earlier career. Losing my job gave me the opportunity to look at a reset through a new lens, and these past months got me thinking about what a structured leadership reset could look like:

Day 1: Intention Setting – A key part of any journey. It’s your raison d’être. 

Days 2-7: Uninterrupted Clarity – No meetings, no distractions—just space to think, reflect, and mindfully release. Make long periods of movement an essential part of your day - this is why walking is ideal. Supplement the day with analogue practices like hand writing in a journal, contemplative meditation and/or breathwork.  

Walking as a tool for resilience: If you include variations in terrain or some level of physical, or mental challenge, you return stronger, clearer, and ready for the next push. 

Day 8: Integration – Extract insights from journals, notes, shower-thoughts and conversations. Formulate an action plan, and return stronger. Supercharge this with a coaching session or thought partner.

Can't Manage A Week Of Total Disconnection? Try This:

Schedule a 45-minute walking meeting with yourself (longer if you can). No phone. One strategic question. See what emerges.

If you’re at a crossroads where a rest might be on the cards—or you already know you need one—I'd love to help you gain clarity and structure a reset that aligns with your goals, based on my own experiences of short and long multi-day walking experiences. Drop me a message.

Don't like walking? Take the frame and apply it to a movement based activity that forces you into slow thinking and allows the mind to wander. Activities like: slow and mindful gardening, canoeing or kayaking or slow, low-paced running.

Here’s What The Camino Taught Me About Leadership

Before we conclude, let me share what walking 800km across Spain taught me about leadership that no carefully crafted course ever could. Out on those dusty trails, there’s no hiding behind titles, hierarchy or busyness—it's just you, the road, and the challenges that arise. Weather, the terrain, minor injuries, wild animals, and communal living.

I was shown that self-leadership for me was about my adaptability, my sense of community, and my purpose. Some days, I moved with ease; other days, unexpected obstacles forced me to slow down, adjust, or lean on others—to be vulnerable in asking for help.

Where so much of my training and conditioning has been about planning, managing risks and scanning the horizon; the Camino forced me to let go of a detailed plan and step into vision, to truly adapt to the conditions, become super-resourceful in solving problems, and embracing the community of strangers that became my 'team' for the duration.

Out there, the network of community became everything. For my whole career I've focused on 'team', but what I experienced out there showed me new ways to lead, to play and be in a team.

The Camino is a shared journey, much like leadership. You walk alongside people from all backgrounds, on your own journey within a shared journey to reach an end-point. Some leave early, some continue beyond Santiago. You often don't choose who walks when you do, but you do get to choose if you open yourself to compassion, vulnerability, a new perspective, seeing the people behind the mask, being witnessed in your best and worst moments, or simply receiving help when it's offered at times you didn't know you needed it.

And purpose? That’s what keeps you moving. Without a deeper “why,” the hard days can break you. In my work, as on the Camino, clarity never came from pushing harder—it arose when I reconnected to what matters and answering that bigger question - what are we all creating today.

My walks reinforced the truth discovered in the research - that clarity and creativity comes from movement, that slowing down isn’t a weakness, and that stepping away can be the most powerful way to step up.

So many lessons in such a short space of time

Stepping Back to Move Forward

As we navigate 2025's leadership challenges, consider this: Your capacity to lead doesn't diminish when you step away—it expands.

Deliberate distance isn't my fancy description for a vacation. Far from it. It's an intentional form of leadership, because it's about recognising that sometimes the most important leadership move is stepping back to see what others can't.

As Brad Stulberg learned from Matt Dixon: "Anyone can work their asses off,” he says, “But it takes real courage to rest.”

How might your leadership transform if you built strategic retreat into your practice, rather than waiting for crisis to force your hand?

If your curious about walking as a form of reset, I'd love to connect.

Drop a comment below. 👇🏻