How I cured burnout…

Summary

• I've learned that the term "burnout" is often misused to describe a variety of feelings such as disengagement or indecisiveness, rather than its true meaning.
• It's important to pinpoint the specific feelings behind this general label of burnout, as it can lead to a better understanding of the issue and a path to resolution.
• In my own experience scaling businesses, I incorrectly used the term "burnout" when I was actually feeling overwhelmed due to a lack of experience and was avoiding tough decisions.
• Once I recognized my feelings, I realized that labeling them as burnout was an excuse not to take action, and it prolonged my anxiety.
• To overcome burnout, I suggest identifying if you're actually burnt out or just avoiding something, setting boundaries, and being decisive.
• If you do feel genuinely overextended, reassess your commitments, reprioritize tasks, and introduce activities that energize you into your routine.
• When truly burnt out, I ask for help, take clarity breaks to step away and reassess, reprioritize where to put my energy to balance enjoyable and challenging tasks, and examine my mindset for underlying thoughts that may not serve me anymore.
• It's more beneficial to correctly identify specific feelings instead of using "burnout" as a catchall term, as it prevents us from addressing the real issues at hand.
• I encourage everyone to abandon the overuse of the word "burnout" and instead to apply specific emotion labels to better identify and address the reasons behind these feelings.

Video

How To Take Action

A good way of dealing with feelings of burnout is to first stop and figure out if you're really burnt out. Ask yourself if you're actually trying to avoid something or if you're just unsure about a decision. Sometimes, what we call "burnout" could really be us not wanting to handle a tough choice.

I would suggest taking a close look at your day. See if there are things you're doing that don't make you happy, and if so, try to change them. Start with small shifts like taking a longer break for lunch or going for short walks during the day. These little changes can really help you feel better without turning everything upside down.

If you do feel truly burnt out, like you have too much going on, here's what I do: I ask for help, which could be talking to someone who can listen to my worries or give me a new way to look at things. Then, I take a "clarity break" – this means I step back from work to clear my head and think about what's important. I also look at my tasks and decide what to focus my energy on. It's key to balance things you like doing with tough stuff too.

Lastly, think about what's going on in your mind. If there's a thought that's constantly bothering you, try to sort it out. It could be an old belief that isn't useful anymore. Changing the way you think about these things can often make a big difference in how you feel.

Remember, don't just use "burnout" for everything that feels hard. Be specific about how you're feeling, and work through those feelings bit by bit. This way, you'll get unstuck much quicker and you can better handle the problems you face.

Quotes by Leila Hormozi

"You don't get an excuse to not do something because of how you're feeling"

– Leila Hormozi

"Maybe you need to make just a small few changes"

– Leila Hormozi

"We're probably not burned out, we're probably not making a decision, we're probably avoiding something"

– Leila Hormozi

"The only solution for burnout is that I just need to do less, which if you are actually burnt out is probably not the answer either"

– Leila Hormozi

"If you're able to actually label the thing, then you can probably solve for it"

– Leila Hormozi

Full Transcript

in this video today what i want to talk about is how i beat burnout while scaling our companies to 100 million dollars the reason i want to make this video is it's a question that i just get a lot which is you know how do you how do you handle burnout how do you manage when you're feeling burnt out um you know what did you do to avoid burnout how do you keep going and i think that a lot of people i know myself included have hit that spot where we're just we feel like almost there's this buildup of pressure or of noise or whatever it is and we just say like i'm just really burnt out and the reason i want to share this is because over the years something i've come to realize is that i don't actually think i don't really understand i don't think most people use the term burnout in the right way okay and what i mean by that is i think a lot of the times it's an all-encompassing label and it's not actually leading us to any place of resolution because we're not really describing what we're actually feeling i think a lot of the times when people use the term burnt out they mean disengaged dissatisfied uncertain indecisive tired whatever right but instead we say i'm burnt out and it's almost like using the term burnout is like a reason not to do something right it's like well i'm just burnt out i just can't i'm like but you're here so you can right like you don't get an excuse to not do something because of how you're feeling and i think that in society with like all these articles and magazines and everything it's like feeling burnt out you know feeling overwhelmed how to manage pronoun overwhelm i think one they're not getting to the root cause which is it's often not burn out or overwhelm your feeling it's something else and you just don't know how to describe what that is or you cannot articulate it and so you call it something very general and vague which actually makes it much harder to figure out and much harder to manage the second piece of that is i think that people typically handle this feeling in a way that is not productive which is okay i'm feeling fertile i must do less i must do less of everything and it's like we tend to go from these extremes which is if you're feeling you're identifying with feeling burnt out you might feel like there's way too much on your plate and so then you swing to the other end of the spectrum you're like i need to get rid of everything right when in reality it's like maybe you need to make just a small few changes maybe you should start your meetings one hour later maybe you should end your days one hour earlier maybe you should take a 30 minute lunch maybe you should go on a couple walks in the day you know what i mean like there's so many other things that we can do but instead we seem to jump to these extremes because if we are not cognizant while it's happening of what's going on in the meantime while it's building up to this place of burnout then we're not solving anything and then it gets this point where like i can't stand it i can't do it and the truth is you can and saying that we're burnt out is not productive it's not going to help us solve the problem for myself i know that probably in 2018 2019 this is when it was most relevant for me because we were rapidly scaling the businesses i'd never done it before i was feeling overwhelmed with new information and the fact that i had no experience or prior knowledge had no context to apply the information so i didn't know what was right or wrong right i was just like felt like everything was a guess and then i was working more hours than i ever worked in my entire life and i didn't know how to i made everything to a big deal i thought that i had to be perfect with everything and so therefore i kind of amplified the work that i did have and because of that i think i used the term burnout a lot and it wasn't until late 2019 when i had a real few really big decisions to make where i realized what the term burnout really means and what a lot of times uh we think it means and that was when i had a few really big decisions i had to make about letting people go and i knew that they were going to be really difficult decisions to make and i really didn't want to let these people go and i kind of just like kept avoiding the decisions and one day i told my friend i said i'm just feeling really burnt out and she said are you feeling burnt out is that like the actual feeling that you're feeling and i was like um no i actually think that i am uncertain of these decisions and i'm nervous of the consequences in the future if i make them now and so she was like so don't you think like maybe burnout is like a good label to you that's an excuse you don't have to do something i was like hmm yes and that was when i realized i was like burnout is just this awesome label because people like oh you're burnt out okay you should rest like totally understand you can't work today you're burnt out when in reality it's like we're probably not burned out we're probably not making a decision we're probably avoiding something and we're probably actually perpetuating the state of like low-grade anxiety that we're in by calling it burnout because that means we don't do anything about it it's like oh the only solution for burnout is that i just need to do less which if you are actually burnt out is probably not the answer either it's probably you need to do things differently and so when people ask me how do you manage burnout i'm like well one do you even know what burnout is and are you actually burnt out because i think we disguise all of these other things that we're feeling with the word burnout and so it's like are you avoiding things what are you avoiding and that's like one of the things i always ask myself am i avoiding something am i not setting a boundary am i doing things that i hate all the time like what is it right or do i just have a terrible mindset about the stuff i'm doing like sometimes right we'll say like well i have to do this i need to do this and because of that i'm so burnt out it's like well do you actually have to like if someone like forcing you at knife at throat to do this thing it's like well no but that's like what it needs to be done to do this right it's like okay so you're choosing to do it you would rather do it than not do it it's like crap yes i would but then our thoughts about it which are like oh i hate doing this i don't like doing this etc actually perpetuate the state of flow florida anxiety because we're thinking all day about how much we don't like something but in reality we're choosing to do it that's the first thing i would say is figure out are am i actually burnt out right whatever that means or am i disengaged resentful dissatisfied uncertain indecisive in avoidance right i think a lot of the times it's probably going to be you're avoiding something or you're indecisive about something i would say those are the top two for sure and if you're able to actually label the thing then you can probably solve for it right but if you stay in the state of saying like i'm burnt out then you just have nothing to solve for because like what does burnout even mean how do you solve it like what's the solution it's very big so that's the first part um and i think the second part is understanding of what true burnout is and i think i've come in time to understand what that is which is if i'm feeling overextended while i am being decisive not avoiding things and holding my boundaries then that means maybe i need to reconsider what i'm doing maybe i need to look at re-prioritizing maybe i need to say hey maybe i just want to take a little bit more time off the next two weeks maybe i need to say oh i really need to actually just pay attention like maybe i should be doing different things maybe these things no longer energize me it's really taking inventory of what you're doing and saying does this serve me today is this what serves the business the most today am i doing things that energize me every day right am i balancing my days out and so i think that if you feel overextended while doing things that energize you that stimulate you and that move the ball forward that was what i would consider burnout right and i think that a lot of the times if you don't have practice you get to burn out faster because you don't recognize the signs right like getting a little more agitated every day like noticing that you don't like when you look at your calendar you're not excited for the days i think that in the beginning we don't catch those things and so then they kind of compile and then one day we're like yeah i'm feeling worked out like i think i need to take a couple days off and that's actually how you manage it right which kind of brings me to the the next point which is you know i learned how to manage the burnout right which is very simple it's just easier said than done right so it's like let's say that i'm not avoiding i'm not indecisive i'm not in any of those other states i'm just truly feeling burnt out what am i going to do about it the first thing is usually i'm just going to ask for help right and so it's oftentimes i think that help could be a different perspective help could be someone to listen help could be someone to help do something that i'm trying to do that maybe i'm not able to do or i'm not yet competent in the skill set but asking for help i think that oftentimes people get burnt out because they're not asking for help and the moment you talk to somebody maybe you'll even realize that you're not burnt out at all and you have to go back to plan a which is like what am i actually feeling the second thing is taking a clarity break and i think this is probably one of the most important and it took me at least four years to actually put the discipline into my life which is being able to take days off just to get clarity and i didn't realize how important this was until i started actually doing it and realizing how much smarter i was when i wasn't in this you know perpetual state of uh like frenetic energy um because i wasn't slowing down i wasn't taking time to think i wasn't taking time to process things and every time now that i'm starting to feel that way i'm like if i'm starting to feel burnt out or like i have too much of my plate i'm like i actually need to take some time off so two taking a clarity break the third thing is that while i'm taking a clarity break i'll do two things which is one i'll reprioritize where i'm putting my energy so i'm going to say like am i putting my energy into things that i both enjoy and maybe am not yet good at and don't enjoy right now right i think it's looking at not only doing things that you enjoy because that's impossible life is 50 50. um but am i doing both things i enjoy and don't enjoy um like i think we can get really good at being miserable but you know we have to look at our days and say like am i also doing things i enjoy during my day um so that we have you know highlights and low lights of the day um and of the week in the month and so that's the third thing is i'll do is i'll take kind of inventory of where i'm putting my time and say like oh okay well maybe that's why i'm feeling that way is you know i actually don't enjoy anything i've been doing for the last like month so i should probably add some things into my day that i actually do enjoy doing right and then the fourth thing is taking inventory of my thoughts which is i like to kind of visualize them as like there's a little pond and there's all these fish swimming in it and i want to when i'm feeling like there's something bugging me or i'm in like a negative mindset i'm like what's the thought that's causing this and i i visualize it like i'm gonna go catch the fish in the pond and pull it out it's like a dying fish or decaying fish and i kind of do that with my mind which is what's the thought where did it come from and maybe there's you know an underlying thought that doesn't serve me anymore that's the reason that i'm feeling like i'm coming on the edge of burnout maybe i liked doing something once and now i don't or maybe um you know i just liked doing something and i no longer feel like it makes sense or maybe i committed to something i don't want to commit to anymore whatever it may be right i just try to find those thoughts and then either do something about it if it's not something i can if it's something i can change maybe do something about it if it's saying i can't change or i don't want to change because it wouldn't serve me to change it then i'm like okay how can i think more constructively about this situation like what is the thought that does serve me in this situation and so those are honestly the four things i do when i'm actually burned out when i'm not feeling disengaged uncertain or in a perpetual state of avoidance and i'm actually burnt out of doing the things that i enjoy doing or that stimulate me it's like i ask for help i take a break i take inventory of what i'm doing and then i choose new thoughts if i need to so i hope that helped you um i think burnout is i would i would i would say that don't use the phrase burnout anymore i'd say like pick more specific emotions or specific feelings when you're talking about how you're feeling in terms of work in terms of life because i think that when we say burnout it just labels as something that allows us to stay in a state of stuckness longer than we need to be um and in reality most of the time i would say 99 of the time it's not burnout it's one of the other emotions that i pointed out so i would say take that label away don't use that and if you're not using that and you're able to still say like hey i am actually feeling burnt out go through those four steps i don't think there's ever been a situation where i've been able to i've not been able to get myself out of feeling that way if i've gone through those four steps so if you like that video go ahead hit subscribe and i will talk more about this on the next one