From Burnout to Breakthrough— How Gratitude Became My Leadership Strategy

Dec 30, 2025
3 min read

By Dr. Sanika Doolani

A few years ago, after burning out from my PhD, I went to Aspen searching for something I couldn’t name. I had lost faith in everything—even myself. Achievement felt hollow, so I booked a solo trip, not for a vacation, but to find my way back to who I was.

On paper, I had everything I once dreamed of—a thriving career in Silicon Valley, recognition, and opportunities I used to pray for. Yet inside, I felt empty. Every success came with the same aftertaste: relief, not joy. I was tired of performing success, craving silence to ask the questions that success couldn’t answer—Who am I? Why am I here?

Aspen became my soul’s quiet quest. I hiked mountain trails, journaled by iron springs, and listened to jazz under the open sky. The stillness was uncomfortable at first, but somewhere in that silence, I began to feel grateful—not for what I’d achieved, but for what I’d ignored: my health, the people who believed in me, the sheer gift of being alive. Gratitude stopped being a feeling and became my compass.

From Silicon Valley to the Classroom

Before I became a professor at San Francisco State University, I worked as a user experience designer in Silicon Valley’s fast-paced tech world. My days were filled with opportunity and innovation—but also with constant pressure to perform. Over time, I noticed a pattern: the moments when things truly flowed, when breakthroughs happened or doors opened unexpectedly, were never during my most “strategic” phases. They came when I felt genuinely thankful—for the people, the projects, the lessons.

That’s when I began to understand gratitude as a leadership strategy, not just a mindset. Gratitude, I realized, is a magnet for luck. It opens doors logic cannot. In business, in teaching, and in life, it creates invisible bridges of trust, opportunity, and collaboration.

Now, as a computer science professor leading research projects and mentoring students, I run my entire operating model through gratitude. Every class, meeting, and partnership begins with appreciation—because that’s what keeps curiosity alive.

The Science and Soul of Gratitude

Gratitude isn’t just a nice feeling; it’s a rewiring mechanism. Neuroscience shows that when we consciously express appreciation, our brain shifts from scarcity to sufficiency. We begin to see what’s already working. Chemically, it lowers cortisol, raises dopamine, and strengthens connection.

But beyond science lies something deeply spiritual. Gratitude vibrates at one of the highest energetic frequencies, aligning us with abundance rather than anxiety. It doesn’t make us passive—it makes us magnetic. It turns striving into flow and effort into ease.

The Quartenet: Leading with Wholeness

In my upcoming book I’m Done Dimming My Light, I introduce the Quartenet Framework—four tenets—Health, Relationships, Passion, and Material— designed to help us achieve whole, rounded success. To me, that’s the new rich: a life where achievement coexists with peace.

Leadership doesn’t begin in the boardroom—it begins within. You lead your body when you guide your habits, thoughts, and choices. You lead in relationships when you choose empathy over ego. You lead in passion when you invest time in what gives your life meaning.

When I’m grateful for my health, I treat my body as an ally, not a project.

When I practice gratitude in relationships, I lead with kindness, not control.

When I create from gratitude, my passions feel like play, not pressure.

And when I bring gratitude into the material—money, success, achievement—abundance becomes my new normal.

Gratitude, I’ve learned, turns leadership into wholeness and ambition into impact. As women leaders, we have the extraordinary gift of blending strength with sensitivity, strategy with soul.

Gratitude doesn’t make us less ambitious—it refines ambition into purpose.

So this season, I invite you to pause and ask: Where in my leadership can I trade striving for appreciation?

Because the more light we thank, the more light we create.

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