I've managed engineering-adjacent teams for two decades. The pattern is always the same:

I've managed engineering-adjacent teams for two decades. The pattern is always the same:

1. New hire is on fire. Shipping fast, volunteering for extra projects, staying late.
2. Six months in, quality starts slipping. Not dramatically — just enough to notice.
3. By month 12, they're either checked out or actively looking.

The problem isn't workload. It's that nobody taught them how to sustain.

High performance isn't about doing more. It's about knowing what to protect. Your energy. Your focus. Your recovery time. The things that make the work good in the first place.

I wrote a book about this called Bring Your Best Self To Work. It's not a self-help book — it's a framework for people who are good at their jobs but keep running themselves into the ground.

Chapters cover energy management, the myth of work-life balance (it's work-life integration), and how to have honest conversations with your manager about sustainability.

If you've ever felt like you're performing well but paying too high a price for it, this might resonate.