Lessons Learned About Burnout

The quickest way to burnout is to run someone else’s race. 

A truer statement couldn’t be made. Think about this in fitness. If your race plan is to run a certain pace that you know you can sustain, that will get you to your goal, but instead you try to run the pace of the person in front of you… BOOM. You blow up. 

The same lesson is true in life. 

It’s taken me years and many hard lessons learned to understand that my race is unique, just like yours. 

If I’m being honest, I’ve burnt myself out in many situations. I was unable to maintain my personal need for boundaries, ended up saying yes to too many things, spread myself thin and then wondered WTF was happening. Recipe for stress right there, no further ingredients needed.

So here’s some of what I learned from my mistakes and what can I share with you to help you avoid them. 

Lesson #1: Your peace is priceless. And often, an unforeseen opportunity cost. 

Audit the things around you:  Your environment, your friends, your family, your business even! 

What is costing you peace?  What are the opportunity costs associated with your decisions and what are you willing to sacrifice? 

For example, do you sacrifice your boundaries for monetary reasons, perceived job security, or something else?

Are you willing to make less money to have more time? Are you willing to have less time to make more money? 

These are just some examples, but there’s MANY more.

Lesson #2: Differentiate between urgent and important.

Urgency culture has taken a massive grip on the way we work. Part of that has been due to necessity (the pandemic), but too much of it has stuck around. Everything can be important, but not everything can be urgent… it just doesn’t work that way. 

The biggest energy suck can be busting your ass for something that goes nowhere. Make sure you understand the purpose and intent of each project you put your energy into and the impact it can have. 

Lesson #3: Say “No.”

This might seem simple and self explanatory, but I’ll elaborate anyway, cause you’re here ;). 

“No protects your yes” - or something like that… but it’s true. 

How many times have you said “yes” to something prematurely because you were scared the opportunity would be fleeting? If this resonates with you, was it because you were moving at your speed or someone else's? Urgency strikes again. You need to do what feels right and if it doesn’t, say no… another opportunity awaits. Life is full of abundance and we all have different processing speeds.

Lesson #4: Ask Yourself: What Do I Want?

Seriously… Have you ever? Make a list of what you want, THEN you can make a plan to figure out how to get there. You must take the first step and look within. 

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Now, don’t take these 4 short lessons as an excuse to avoid pushing out of your comfort zone. We all need a push every once in a while, but make sure you get back to homebase and audit what is important to you and reflect on if the situation fits your life or not. If it doesn't, that's ok. Remember… there’s more fish in the sea. 

Start running your race. Need help navigating a situation? Let’s find it!