Tag: focus

Burnout to Balance: this should help you get your breath. Systems over stress are about strategies that bring order above chaos.  This is my story.

How It Started: Burnout

I was in burnout, trying to build Women Encouragement while working 40 plus hours a week. Burning the candle at both ends can last on adrenaline and grit for a time, but over months and years; burnout is inevitable.

I kept the sprint for about fifteen months, but then hit a wall… hard. Health problems started to plague my body. Being prompt was blowing out the window. Delay seemed to be the heavy cloud over my head.

Multi tasking until the wee hours of the morning to only do it again the next day, ushered in depression. We can’t give, what we don’t have. Running on empty steals. It causes clenched jaws, shoulders at the ears, and numbness.

Burnout to Balance

The Good Lord brought me systems over stress. I wanted to keep the ever running energizer bunny mode on. God thought otherwise.

I quit a very chaotic environmental job. I had another position lined up, but they (four days before my start date) rescinded my acceptance letter. For four glorious months, I have been able to concentrate on systems over stress. I can not exaggerate how much I needed the past 160 days of down time.

Burnout to Balance

At first the hamster wheel was my comfort. I didn’t have a clue as to life off of it. If I wasn’t selling, creating, doing something – what was there to do?

Slowly the onion peeled. Our culture tells us to grind harder. We are exhausted and ashamed of it, so we try so hard to appear rested. The burnout is real.

After about two weeks I finally noticed me quietly picking up books again, baking, and watching shows just for fun. I was suddenly allowed to be me!

Burnout to Balance

Not everyone gets a job lapse. So, let me share some strategies that evade the burnout, bringing balance.

Balanced Mornings

First, the morning routine truly is the Secret Sauce from going from Burn out to Balance. I just finished the 5 AM Club, which was a strange little read. However, the morning schedule shared in the book is sunshine.

Taking the morning to center, calm, meditate, exercise, and read is a huge game changer. Don’t knock it until you try it. This one small system was the quickest savior from the Hamster Wheel.

Balanced Email Systems

Secondly,

Burnout to Balance is helpful in having an email strategy that rescues us from overwhelm (who doesn’t have a full inbox?). It can save hours of searching, struggling, trying to make it make sense. You can find more about this strategy: HERE

Balanced by Time Blocking

Thirdly,

Burnout to Balance happened when I started time blocking. Good bye multitasking. Hello focused attention on one thing. This allows me to stay in the zone without feeling spread thin (where much of burnout comes from).

Time blockers help me with an uptick of production as well. When I was cramming it all in while working 40 plus hours a week, I felt so scattered, it was tough to find results anywhere.

Balanced Planning

Fourth,

From Burnout to Balance, I strongly suggest making a plan. By making a plan before the next day, I wake up with intention. There is no half a$$ing a day. I know what needs to be accomplished for things to move forward.

This keeps me from coasting. Having a few things written down or typed in my phone, keeps me from channel surfing or doom scrolling.

This resource might help you as well.  I wrote it, and it contains two systems for content creation.  Check it out HERE.

Balanced with Social Media Strategy

Lastly,

Burnout to Balance: social media edition… have a plan in place. I now keep a huge monthly calendar of content creation on my bedroom wall. This keeps me from throwing social media content out there and praying it works (giving me a concrete plan). Utilizing this system combats burnout because I have a reference point to implement instead of constant fretting over what might work, what should I post today, etc.

I sit down with the AI masters (Gemini, Chat gpt) and figure it out with them. These sit down sessions are almost always under an hour. This alone gives me such great guardrails for what I’m doing on the webbernets. I strongly suggest this yourself.

How do you know if you are burned out? Great question. I made a list of the symptoms of burnout. You can download it: (complete the form at the bottom of this post).

Balance:

To recover from Burnout, I found I needed more sleep. I’m talking about hibernation level rest. My body craved it hard. Give yourself permission to rest to recover from burnout.

Slowly add some systems to your day. This keeps chaos at bay. I find hustle culture breeds chaos like rabbits breed bunnies (it happens quickly). When we have systems in order, they act as the net below the acrobats at the circus to keep us safe.

Sometimes, people pull on me to break out of systems. I respond, “Sorry, I’m booked at that time.” Systems are much like boundaries: they keep the good in and the evil at bay.

My Burnout/Balance Story

It took me about a full thirty days to feel truly me again. If you don’t have thirty days: I encourage you to take breaks. Give yourself micro vacations to walk outside. Drink your favorite beverage. Eat some favorites. Savor the good in life. Self care as much as possible. In time we will be off the hamster wheel. It is just a matter of time.

If you’d like more along these lines, meet me for my Zoom, Mondays at 7:00pm called the Mom Reset. It’s quick, under 45 minutes and will bring a breath of fresh air to us all. Comment below for the link.

What have done to get out of burnout?  I’d love to hear what worked for you.  Let’s cheer each other on, celebrating each other!  Be blessed