Managing Stress as an Introverted Leader: What You Need to Know

I am increasingly coaching leaders who are experiencing stress, as well as being asked to speak on the topic. I have also had a few guests recently on my Quietly Visible Podcast who have experienced burnout.

It appears that stress is on the increase. A study looking at the global trends and variations in emotional stress from 2007  to 2021, found that emotional stress had worsened globally. In 2020, 38% of individuals experienced stress compared to 26% in 2007.

It could be that the COVID-19 pandemic skewed this figure as the pandemic significantly amplified stress levels. However, the Mental Health UK Burnout Report 2025 reported that 91% of people experienced high pressure or stress at some point over the last year. A figure that I think is far too high.

I speak to many people (not just introverts) who know that they are experiencing extreme stress, but they are not doing anything about it. There are many reasons for them not doing anything about their situation, and it often boils down to them not putting in place the necessary boundaries (physical and psychological) that will protect them.

Moderate amounts of stress can be good for us. Acute stress helps us to perform better, keeps us alert during interviews or public speaking, etc. It serves as a form of protection, helping us to respond to dangerous situations.

But when stress becomes chronic, it causes problems. Excessive or prolonged stress, whether physical or psychological can lead to illness. We can develop physical or emotional exhaustion, fatigue, and anxiety.

Our bodies are not built for long-term stress. Long-term stress can lower our immune function, cause wounds to take longer to heal, and it can lead to higher inflammation. That is why recognising when you are experiencing stress and you are struggling to manage it, is important.

I often have people come to me for coaching when they are on the verge of burnout and the situation has become too unbearable. They recognise the consequences if they do not do anything to address it.

Experiencing high levels of stress can negatively affect your decision-making and ability to think rationally and put things in perspective. It can chip away at your resilience and self-confidence. Not only will this affect your productivity and performance at work, but it will also spill over into your personal life.

Some of the early signs of stress include: -

·        Loss of motivation/confidence

·        Mood swings

·        Increased emotional reactions

·        Unable to concentrate

·        Irritability

·        Irrational behaviour

·        Not sleeping well

·        Increased usage of mood-enhancing substances (alcohol, drugs, food, etc.)

This list is not exhaustive, and you may experience other symptoms.

Introvert stress

If you are introverted, be mindful of the types of environments and situations that bring on what I call introvert stress. Those environments that are overstimulating and where spending too long in them drains you, leading to you becoming withdrawn.

As an introvert, you may find environments where there is a lot of external stimuli overstimulating. Whereas your extraverted colleagues are energised by such environments. For example, large social gatherings, meetings, open plan offices, lots of small talk. These are situations you can’t always avoid if they are needed for your role.

A lack of quiet time and not having the opportunity to spend quality alone time to process your thoughts and re-energise can deplete your energy and be stressful and exhausting for introverts.

Some tips to manage stress

As the saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup, so it is vital that if you are stressed, you do something about it. Do not wait until you’re on the verge of burnout. earn to recognise when your stress levels are starting to increase.

What you do depends on the level of the stress and the cause of it, and here are a few tips that may help:

Employee Assistance Programmes: If your organisation has an employee assistance programme, tap into the support you can get from that.

Identify the source of the stress: Is your workload too demanding? Do you have little control over your work or not get enough support from the people at work? Is there something in your personal life that is causing you stress? Pinpointing exactly what is causing the stress makes it easier to identify what you need to address it.

Stress risk assessment: If the stress is work-related, ask for a stress risk assessment to be done.

Boundaries: What are the boundaries that you need to put in place, both at work and in your personal life? And how will you enforce them?

Manage your energy: Make sure you are not depleted mentally, physically, emotionally, or spiritually. Doing the things that enable you to stay ‘topped’ up in each of these areas, will help you to feel at your optimal. Being depleted in one of these areas can leave you not feeling at your best.

Self-care: Regularly practice self-care and do those things that help to revitalise and recharge you, and bring you joy. Whether it is meditation, mindfulness, journaling, spending time in nature, having fun, or whatever helps you to switch off, unwind, and reset — that is not harmful or illegal.

Develop your resilience: Resilience reduces the long-term effects of chronic stress and helps protect your mental and physical health. It improves your ability to cope with uncertainty and adapt to change.

Ask for help: Whether it is tapping into your support network (or developing one if you don’t have one), making an appointment with your GP, seeking therapy or coaching, don’t think you have to go through this alone.

Stress temperature check:

Take a minute to pause and check in with yourself. On a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 is you feel calm relaxed and well able to cope with the demands of work and life, and 5 is your stress levels are through the roof and you can't think clearly, feel anxious and exhausted from the pressure and demands you have to deal with) where do you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 in terms of how stressed you are?

If you rated yourself a 3 or above, what needs to happen to bring it down to a 2 or a 1? Use your stress temperature check to determine the level of support you need and identify what you need to put in place, what that support looks like, and where you can get it from. 

Some people don’t like to ask for help and think they have to do it all themselves, or worry about what others will think of them. If this is you, getting help may be the best thing you could do for yourself. Asking for help does not mean you are weak or that you are not good enough. To ask for help when needed is a strength.

How do you manage stress? Share what works for you in the comments. Doing so may help someone else.

I had a great conversation on the Quietly Visible Podcast with JOY Langley a psychotherapist, mindset coach, and author of Navigating Stress where we talked about how introverted women leaders can manage internal pressure, deal with imposter feelings and silence the inner critic that too often whispers 'You're not enough', the link between personality traits and stress, and much more. Click on the link above to listen.

About Me

I am an Executive, Career and Leadership Coach specialising in introverted women who are senior leaders. Through my work, I have helped 1000s of women across the globe to increase their confidence, influence and impact as leaders, and overcome imposter syndrome, increase their executive presence, improve speaking performance in meetings, get a promotion, and much more. If you are interested in my one-to-one coaching, fill out the enquiry form here. Or if you are interested in my group sessions that will help you to lead with confidence, influence, and Impact, find out more here.

If you are an introverted woman and a senior leader and want to increase your confidence, influence and impact, take my free assessment and get a report identifying areas to develop. You can take the assessment here.

I speak in organisations on a variety of topics related to career, leadership, and personal development, as well as belonging, psychological safety, and inclusion. If you would like to enquire about me speaking at your organisation, contact me here.

My book Quietly Visible: Leading With Influence and Impact as an Introverted Woman is available here.