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Institutional Developmentin English

Managing yourself: how sustainable leadership avoids burnout in the "corre"

For leaders from the periphery, taking care of yourself is not selfishness: it is a survival strategy that protects time, health and money so that the project does not perish along with the person who runs it.

Karla Marques

Casa Hacker

publicado 24 de abril de 2026tempo de leitura ~6 min
A Gestão de Si: Como a Liderança Sustentável Evita o Esgotamento no “Corre”

Giving of yourself to the limit

Sacrifice as a false badge

Those who lead projects in the territory often believe that personal sacrifice is the price of social impact. We commonly see leaders who are the first to arrive and the last to leave, who use their own rent money to cover a gap in the project, and who do not switch off their phone even at bedtime.

However, emotional, mental, physical and financial strain is not a badge of dedication, but a warning sign. If the leader falls ill or collapses financially, the project perishes along with them. Individual self-management is, therefore, a strategy for survival and a responsibility to the cause.

What is individual self-management?

Unlike managing the collective or the project, self-management is a set of practices that the leader needs to learn and adopt in daily life in order to manage their own resources. The three that demand the most attention are: time, health and money.

  • The Economy of Care: understanding that rest and mental health are basic inputs for social work.
  • Non-negotiable boundaries: the ability to say “no” or “not yet” to protect one’s own integrity.
  • Asset separation: in technical terms, this means not mixing the individual’s account with the project’s account (legal entity or collective).

How to apply this in practice: protecting your pillars

To keep the leader from collapsing or falling into an existential crisis, it is important to adopt at least these three practices:

a) Financial self-management: the leader’s pocket is not the project’s funds

Separating accounts and expenses

Draw up a list of everything you spend from personal resources for the project (transportation, food, internet, office supplies). Then look for alternatives to cover those costs: open calls, supporters and partnerships.

  • Separating bank accounts: even if the project or collective does not have a formal legal entity, keep a bank account exclusively for it. Your money and the collective’s money must be kept separate; this avoids the false impression that you have resources that, in fact, belong to the social work.
  • Separating expenses: just as the money must be kept separate, expenses also need to be distinguished. When the project’s base is your own home, this separation becomes harder; one practical approach is to calculate the proportion of time the internet, electricity and other resources are used by the project, listing those amounts in order to know, as accurately as possible, the real cost of keeping the initiative running.

b) Mental and emotional self-management: filtering urgency

We live in the age of urgency: life moves very fast and slowing down sometimes seems like an impossible task.

  • Time management: separate your personal life from your professional one. Develop the habit of setting defined hours to work on the project — for example, answering messages or emails from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — and set aside one day a week for rest and disconnection. The partners you work with tend to understand and respect your boundaries, gradually adjusting to them.
  • Developing another leader: map out, within your collective, who the people are that believe in the project and are willing to walk alongside you. Share tasks with responsibilities that each one is able to take on.
  • A listening network: have someone outside the project to talk to: a mentor, a therapist, a friend or an emotional support group where you feel safe. Remember that you do not have to be strong all the time.

Physical self-management: the body as territory

It is common to hear: “I don’t have time to take care of myself!” But what does that care actually mean? The body must be seen as your territory. Just as you schedule commitments with partners and supporters, set up a schedule for yourself and set aside time for self-care.

  • Nutrition: an intense routine often makes proper nutrition difficult. Build meal times into your time management and do not abandon them. Avoid frequent fast food and, whenever possible, prioritize healthy foods. The secret lies not only in what you eat, but in how you eat it: you have to stop, notice and savor the food. When you cannot dedicate an hour, have the meal in fifteen minutes, with attention, without a phone or other distractions.
  • Sleep: in the rush of the territory, sleep is often treated as a “luxury” or a waste of time. Yet, for those on the front line of social transformation, rest is the foundation of sustainability. Without a rested body and mind, the ability to build networks, make difficult decisions and manage conflicts deteriorates. Identify how many hours of sleep you really need. The ideal is eight hours, but if that is not feasible, adapt it to your reality with six hours or, at least, a nap after lunch. Establish a routine: set fixed times to go to sleep and wake up. Get ready before lying down, switching off your phone or keeping it out of reach.

Sleep is essential for the body. It works on physical and mental recovery, saves energy, processes experiences (strengthening memory and clearing out excess), prepares the brain for new learning and contributes to health, strengthening the immune system and regulating metabolism.

Connection with the territory, social impact and the “corre”

Ubuntu and collective care

In the peripheries, the concept of Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) is very present. But for the “we” to be strong, the parts that make it up need to be whole.

The leader’s financial strain often generates a cycle of poverty that the territory itself is trying to fight. When a leader from the periphery organizes their finances and takes care of their mental health, they break the stereotype that social work is “suffering volunteer work” and come to occupy a place of professionalism and reference. Taking care of yourself is a political act of resistance against a system that expects people to burn out.

Don’t forget

Self-management as endurance

Individual self-management is not selfishness; it is a strategy for endurance. An exhausted leader makes the wrong decisions, drives partners away and compromises the continuity of the work in the territory.

Choose one of these initiatives to start tomorrow:

  • Open a bank account (even a digital one) exclusively for the project.
  • Set a “sacred” time to disconnect from social media.
  • Map out a task you carry out today that could be taught to someone else.

“You don’t need to be well all the time, you need to have balance at all times.” Karla Alexandra

References

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@online{casahacker-a-gestao-de-si-como-a-lideranca-sustenta,
  author = {Karla Marques},
  title = {Managing yourself: how sustainable leadership avoids burnout in the "corre"},
  year = {2026},
  organization = {Casa Hacker},
  url = {https://casahacker.org/en/publicacoes/a-gestao-de-si-como-a-lideranca-sustentavel-evita-o-esgotamento-no-corre-en/},
  urldate = {2026-08-28}
}
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