Signs of burnout show up differently when you’re the one in charge. You own the practice. That means you carry the pressure, the risk, and the responsibility. You’re not just providing care — you’re running a business. And most of the time, you can’t talk to anyone about how hard it’s gotten. Because no one else really gets it.
This isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s about feeling stuck. It’s about showing up every day wondering how long you can keep this going. In this blog, we’ll name the real signs of burnout that most optometry practice owners miss. The ones that build slowly. The ones that matter.
Why Burnout Feels Different When You Own the Practice
When people talk about burnout, they usually mean long hours or mental fatigue. But when you run a private practice, it’s different.
You’re not just seeing patients. You’re making payroll. You’re solving billing issues. You’re filling gaps when staff call out. Every decision, from marketing to equipment upgrades, lands on you. And if you get it wrong, there’s no cushion. You own the outcome.
Most owners feel like they can’t afford to be tired. So they push through. They ignore how drained they feel. They tell themselves it’s just a busy season.
But this “just keep going” mindset is exactly how burnout grows. You start to lose joy in the work. You feel distant from your staff. You’re physically present but mentally somewhere else. That’s not just a bad day — that’s a sign that something’s off.
This blog is for the ones who feel that pressure but haven’t said it out loud yet.
1. Emotional Exhaustion Is More Than Just Feeling Tired
Tired is normal. Emotional exhaustion is not.
When you’re emotionally exhausted, rest doesn’t fix it. A weekend off doesn’t help. You wake up tired. You go home tired. And everything in between feels like a chore. Seeing patients becomes a task instead of a connection. Simple decisions feel like heavy lifts.
You might notice that you’re dragging through the day. Not physically, but mentally. You pause longer before appointments. You stare at your screen. You feel slower, less sharp.
This isn’t laziness. It’s your body and brain telling you you’re overdrawn. You’ve been running too hard, for too long, with no refill.
For practice owners, this is dangerous. Because when you hit emotional exhaustion, your ability to lead and make good decisions starts to break down.
2. When Your Leadership Traits Start to Slip
You didn’t become a leader by accident. You built this practice. You trained your team. You made hard calls. You earned trust.
But when burnout creeps in, those leadership traits start to fade.
You stop mentoring. You stop checking in. You don’t have patience for questions. You feel annoyed when staff need your help. Or worse, you ignore issues just to avoid dealing with them.
That’s not who you are. But burnout makes you feel like someone else.
You might also start doubting yourself. You used to make decisions with confidence. Now, everything feels uncertain. That shift isn’t just in your head — it affects how your team sees you. And slowly, your culture starts to change.
If you’re not leading the way you used to, ask why. It might not be about skill. It might be burnout.
3. Work-Life Imbalance Is a Business Risk, Not Just a Personal One
There’s a story we tell ourselves: “If I just work harder now, things will calm down later.”
But for most optometry owners, that “later” never comes.
Work spills into nights and weekends. You catch up on admin at 10 p.m. You skip dinner with your family because a vendor issue popped up. You don’t take a vacation — not because you don’t want one, but because you feel like the practice can’t survive without you.
This isn’t just a personal problem. It’s a business one.
When you run on imbalance too long, your clarity fades. Your ability to plan shrinks. You start reacting instead of leading. That shows up in staff morale, patient satisfaction, and long-term growth.
Work-life imbalance isn’t just hard on you. It’s hard on the practice. And fixing it isn’t optional — it’s essential.
4. You’re Drowning in Admin — But You Can’t Talk About It
There’s a stack of charts waiting for review. There are unpaid claims sitting in the system. Your scheduler needs new templates. Your EHR keeps glitching. And someone has to figure it all out.
Guess who that someone is?
It’s you. Always you.
And the worst part is, you can’t really talk about it. If you vent to your team, it sounds like blame. If you bring it up to friends, they don’t understand. If you tell your spouse, you feel like you’re complaining again.
So you keep it in. And you grind through it.
Burnout thrives in silence. The more you isolate, the heavier it gets. That pile of admin work isn’t just paperwork — it’s a symbol of how unsupported you feel.
Delegating isn’t just about saving time. It’s about protecting your mental bandwidth. And if you can’t delegate yet, it’s time to look at why.
5. Financial Stress Is Quiet — Until It Isn’t
No one likes talking about money. Especially not practice owners. But financial stress is one of the biggest hidden drivers of burnout.
Maybe reimbursements have dropped. Maybe your lease went up. Maybe you’re just not hitting the margins you expected. Whatever the cause, it creates a quiet tension that never really goes away.
You try to solve it by adding more patients, cutting expenses, or taking fewer draws. But those choices come at a cost. You’re working harder for less. And over time, the pressure builds.
Financial stress makes you reactive. You second-guess your plans. You avoid big decisions. You start playing defense, even when you need to grow.
If money is always on your mind, it’s not just stress. It’s a warning sign. And it’s worth paying attention to before it starts affecting everything else.
6. You’re Snapping at Staff and Don’t Know Why
You don’t mean to be short with your team. But lately, you’re more reactive. Little things get under your skin. You feel irritated when someone asks a simple question. You avoid certain staff because they drain you.
That’s burnout talking.
Your team probably notices, even if they don’t say anything. They feel the distance. They sense your stress. And it creates tension, even if nothing obvious happens.
This leads to more turnover, more conflict, and more miscommunication — which, of course, creates more stress for you.
You built your team to support the mission of your practice. If your behavior is shifting, it’s not just a bad mood. It’s a signal.
You need to ask yourself what you’re carrying. And more importantly, what support you might need to stop carrying it alone.
7. Your Patients Feel It, Even If They Don’t Say It
You’re good at masking things. Most optometrists are. You smile, say the right things, and get through the exam.
But patients notice more than you think.
They can tell when you’re distracted. They sense when you’re rushing. They feel when you’re mentally checked out. Even if they don’t complain, the connection weakens.
This impacts everything. Your reviews. Your referrals. Your ability to build long-term patient relationships.
It also takes a toll on your confidence. You know you could give better care if you felt better yourself. But burnout creates a wall between what you know and what you can actually give.
If you’re going through the motions with patients, that’s not laziness. That’s a sign your tank is empty.
8. You Fantasize About Walking Away — But Can’t Admit It
No one wants to say this out loud. But sometimes, you wonder what it would be like to quit. To sell the practice. To just stop.
And then you feel guilty. Because you’ve worked too hard to even consider walking away.
But that fantasy is more common than you think. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you’re overloaded.
Burnout creates tunnel vision. It makes leaving seem like the only way to escape. But most of the time, what you actually need is relief, not an exit.
If you’ve been having these thoughts, pause. Don’t panic. And don’t ignore them either.
These thoughts are data. They’re telling you it’s time to change something.
What to Do If You’re Burned Out and No One Gets It
This part is hard to hear — but important: burnout won’t go away on its own.
You can’t just wait for a slow week. You can’t outwork it. And you can’t keep pretending everything’s fine.
What you can do is start where you are.
- Name the signs. Write them down.
- Talk to someone who understands practice ownership — not just a friend, but someone who gets the load you carry.
- Make one change. Delegate one thing. Block one hour. Say no once.
- Get help. Not because you’re failing, but because you’re leading. And leaders who get help stay in the game longer.
At Accountability Now, we coach practice owners who feel exactly like this. No scripts. No fluff. Just real conversations about what’s hard and what’s next.
You don’t have to carry all of this alone. You never did.
