If you’re already exhausted and summer isn’t even over yet, you’re not alone. I’m hearing the same thing from working moms and women in leadership across every industry: they’re juggling school checklists, deadlines, doctor’s appointments, refunds, and dinner – at the same time.
What’s really causing this? It’s not just stress. It’s not just too much to do. It’s something deeper, more invisible, and far more dangerous.
This is the mental load in leadership explained, and it’s quietly burning out high-performing women every single day.
It’s Not About Who Does What – It’s About Who Remembers Everything
Let’s clear one thing up: the mental load isn’t about who’s doing the dishes.
It’s about who remembers they need to get done.
It’s about being the project manager of your entire household, while also leading your team at work. The one who remembers the dentist appointments, what needs to go in your kid’s backpack, and the strategy meeting happening Friday at 3pm.
Most men in leadership carry two things: themselves and their teams.
Women? We’re often carrying our teams, our kids, our partners, sometimes even our parents – and ourselves. All while doing it quietly and efficiently, without letting a single ball drop.
Why the Mental Load in Leadership Spikes During Summer
Summer doesn’t bring relief – it adds complexity.
Caregivers now have to navigate school being out, shifting routines, and a new layer of logistics. And when back-to-school hits, expectations skyrocket. Most workplaces don’t account for this shift, and women’s mental load spikes hard.
You start to feel like you’re underperforming at work and dropping the ball at home. And it’s not because you’re not capable – it’s because you’re maxed out.
You Don’t Need to Be More Productive – You Need to Set Boundaries
Here’s what I want you to hear:
You don’t need another planner.
You don’t need to optimize harder.
You need to redistribute the load.
That means starting real conversations – with your boss, your coworkers, your partner, and anyone who supports you at home. You can’t keep carrying all of this silently.
Because no one is going to take that mental load off your plate until you put your foot down and say: this isn’t sustainable anymore.
How to Start Releasing the Invisible Weight
This topic hits home for me, because I’ve lived it. And it’s why I created the Overwhelm Culprit Quiz to help you identify the specific root cause behind your burnout and take aligned, strategic action that works for your life.
Take the Overwhelm Culprit Quiz You’ll get clarity, a strategy, and weekly tools to start lightening the mental load – without sacrificing your goals.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
What are you holding that no one else sees?
What’s your invisible mental load?
Send me a DM on LinkedIn or drop a comment. You are not alone. The more we talk about this, the easier it becomes for women in leadership and those who aspire to be.
CLICK FOR TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00]
If you’re already exhausted and summer isn’t even over yet. If your brain is juggling back to school checklists, work deadlines, doctor’s appointments , camp refunds, and dinner all at the same time, then this one’s for you.
Today, I’m breaking down what the mental load really is and why. It’s not just about chores, it’s about the invisible labor that’s quietly draining women in leadership each and every day.
My name is Corrie LoGiudice and I help high achievers, especially women, take confident action without burning out. So subscribe if you’re tired or pretending that you have it all together and you’re ready to lead differently with clarity, with capacity, and with support.
I speak with women executives and working moms every day, and no matter what their job title says, the story is almost always the same,
that they’re the ones holding it all together, and the weight of that is invisible until it’s not. This, my friends, is the [00:01:00] mental load, and it isn’t about who does what, right? It’s about who actually remembers everything that needs to get done.
It’s not about doing the dishes or who remembers to make the dentist appointment. It’s about being the project manager of your entire household on top of your job.
I honestly find it absolutely mind boggling that more people aren’t talking about this, right? When you look at the situation, most men in leadership only carry two things themselves as well as their teams.
But women in leadership, we’re carrying our teams, we’re carrying our kids, our partners, sometimes even our parents, if you’re in the sandwich generation and also ourselves. And the expectation of that is that we’ll do it quietly, we’ll do it efficiently, and without dropping the.
The problem with this is it creates a chronic, low level stress loop. Your brain never fully powers down, so you’re [00:02:00] constantly holding tabs open even when you’re off. This is not only exhausting, it’s unsustainable, and on top of it, it creates a scenario where you’re not performing at a high level anywhere.
At work. You know, you could be doing more if you didn’t have so much on your plate at home and at home you always feel like you’re constantly dropping the ball for, your kids and your spouse and your family and the people close to you, because you cannot let that project go outta your mind that you’re thinking about at work.
All those different tasks. It’s completely exhausting and it’s also unsustainable. I speak from experience, I’ve done it myself.
Now at the timing summer magnifies this load. Because all of a sudden you have an additional layer of complexity added to an already very complex scenario, especially if you’re a caregiver, right? You have to deal with kids being outta school and in camp, figuring out childcare solutions, so on and so forth, on top of everything else that you’re doing, for work and your career.
So then as school [00:03:00] starts back up again, your routines end up shifting and with the expectations that pile up women’s mental load spikes, and most workplaces don’t account for this.
So you don’t need to be more productive. You need to figure out ways to redistribute this load.
All right, and this isn’t optimizing your planner. This is about having conversations. Many of them may be difficult. It’s about setting boundaries. And refusing to carry everything that you’re carrying silently anymore, right? You need to have the conversations with your boss, with your colleagues, with your coworkers, as well as with your partner and anybody that you have supporting you at home.
Because truth is you can’t do it all by yourself, and it’s unrealistic to expect that you can. And until you actually put your foot down and set those boundaries, nothing is gonna get easier, and no one is gonna take that mental load off your plate for you.
I’d love to know what is one thing that you’re holding onto right [00:04:00] now that no one else sees? What is your invisible mental load? You can either drop it in the comments or feel free to send me a dm. I am most active on LinkedIn. And remember, you are not alone. It is time that we finally start talking about these situations so that we can make it easier for women who are in leadership and aspiring to be leaders.
And if you’re feeling your mental load is absolutely maxed out, I invite you to take my free overwhelm culprit quiz. It’ll help you figure out exactly what’s behind your impending burnout and what you could do about it to avoid it altogether. You will also receive weekly tips, tools, and strategies that will help you map out a plan designed specifically for your culprit that actually supports your life and not just your career. I’ll see you on the next episode.
Thanks for checking out the next step with Cory Lowe. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a review. Together we’ll transform overwhelm into action and we’ll keep taking the next step towards competent leadership. See you next [00:05:00] time.