u/Cute-Split9638

I've noticed something recently and I'm not sure if it's a consulting thing or just a me thing.

Some of the days where I feel the most exhausted aren't even particularly busy days.

Last week I had one of those days where nothing really went wrong. Client was fine. Team was fine. No late night fire drill. I logged off at a reasonable time and if someone had asked me how the day went, I probably would've said pretty normal.

But for some reason I felt completely wiped out afterward.

I've been trying to figure out why and the only thing I can come up with is that my brain spends the entire day bouncing around.

A call about one workstream, then a message from someone on a different project, then fixing a slide, then reviewing comments, then another meeting where somebody changes direction on something you thought was already decided.

Half the day feels like keeping track of a bunch of loose ends and trying not to drop any of them.

The weird part is I don't usually notice it while it's happening.

It's later when I get home. I'll sit down for a few minutes and end up bouncing between Reddit, LinkedIn, YouTube, messages, random articles, whatever. Then I look at the clock and an hour has disappeared.

Sometimes I even catch myself checking work stuff again without really meaning to. Maybe that's normal. I honestly don't know.

Does anyone else feel more drained by the constant switching between things than the actual work itself?

38m. Senior role as of last month. Client dinners, presentations, the kind of visibility I haven't had before.

My wardrobe is from the version of me that sat at a screen for eight hours with minimal video calls.

At a client dinner last week I looked at the other senior people at the table. Not comparing egos just noticing. They were dressed like people at this level. I was dressed like someone who got accidentally invited. The gap wasn't confidence, wasn't what I said  just how I was physically in the room.

Budget is not the constraint. Knowledge is. I've been dressed-as-software-engineer for six years and I don't know what the thinking is for a rebuild at this level. Not which brands what's the actual framework?