Nine things leaders say that reveal decision fatigue and low energy
By Joni Peddie, CEO, Resilient People
SEPTEMBER in South Africa means one thing: Spring. The jacarandas are getting ready, the light shifts, and there’s a change in the air we feel every year without needing a reason. I still catch myself standing in the driveway sniffing the air like it owes me an explanation.
Hmmm, but the calendar feels heavy. This is the same three-month rollercoaster before we all crash into December. And right on cue, our focus softens and attention scatters: holidays, family gatherings, year-end everything.
We have a window: three months to get 2026’s must-dos over the line.
And yet, in boardrooms and coaching sessions these past two weeks, I’ve heard the opposite of spring in people’s voices. Not quite burnout. Something quieter, and honestly more worrying: an early checking out. One client, a sharp, capable Ops Director I’ve worked with for years, said it to me almost apologetically on a Tuesday morning call: “I think I’ve already gone into December mode”. It was the first week of September. She wasn’t being dramatic. She meant it.
Here are nine things I keep hearing leaders say and what each one is really telling me about their CAN DO energy.
“Can we take this offline?” about something solvable in under a minute. Avoidance, dressed up as efficiency.
“I’m fine, just a lot on,” said flatly, eyes already on the next slide. Emotional Agility gone flat.
“Give me a sec, I’ve lost my thread.” Mental Clarity, slipping.
“Whatever the team thinks,” about a decision that was theirs to make. Decision fatigue.
“Sorry, can you say that again?” Twice in one meeting, from someone who never used to miss a beat. Mental Clarity, worn thin.
“Let’s just do what we did last time,” reached for on autopilot. Coasting, not choosing.
“I don’t have the bandwidth,” said with a small, tired laugh. Physical Nexus, running on empty.
“Honestly, ask me again in the new year,” said with three good months still on the table. Energy, written off early.
“I just need to get through to December.” The sentence that quietly turns three productive months into a waiting room.
Every one of these is a tell, not a character flaw. I’d know, I caught myself saying versions of at least three of them in the last fortnight, and I’m the one who built the framework. Physician, heal thyself, and all that. In my CAN DO Adaptive Leadership Framework, they all trace back to one of three dimensions: Mental Clarity, Emotional Agility, or Physical Nexus (Vitality).
Spring isn’t just a season change outside the window. It’s a decent prompt to ask which of those three needs tending in you, right now, before the year quietly makes the decision for you. You don’t need a retreat or a five-step plan to start. Pick one dimension, pick one small, deliberate action this week – a walk without your phone for Physical Nexus (Vitality), one undistracted conversation for Emotional Agility, ten minutes of actual quiet planning for Mental Clarity, and let that be enough for now.
Thirty-five years in this field, and I still need the reminder. If anything, that’s the tell within the tell: knowing the framework and living it are two different jobs, and I fail the second one regularly. September isn’t the home stretch. It’s a runway.
Which one do you recognise, in yourself or your team? Change your words to change your world and do something different today. Don’t wait to hit December frazzled. Pace yourself, and make these three months count. Don’t just tolerate them while you wait for your December break.
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