Here's Why Work-Life Balance is BS And How To Eliminate Burnout Once And For All
“When you feel like you’re not productive, it’s not necessarily because you’re lazy or because you have bad habits, it’s because you’re not working on the right projects and you haven’t found the ones that are intrinsically motivating and meaningful to you.”
You won't find me or my business on Instagram or Facebook. I don't share that as a way of flexing my hipster-millennial muscles, I share it because it's a business decision that seems insane to other people. Even as you read this, you're probably throwing your hands in the air screaming "This guy is losing out on huge money!" People interrogate with me a similar fervour to being on trial for murder.
But this isn't a manifesto about how social media is evil and you need to cut it out of your life.
This is a story about taking a stance to remain in control of your freedom.
Regardless of how much money you're making, the car you're driving or the house you live in, if someone is telling you where to be, what to do and how to do it, you don't have freedom.
I mention each of these areas because it's an integral part of the conversation on work-life balance.
Because at the very root of freedom is the power to choose where to put your focus.
Karena de Souza, an expert on the future of work, recently started an eye-opening LinkedIn conversation on burnout. Engaging in this conversation let me see that a lot of my ideas on work-life balance and burnout are unconventional.
She shared a burnout challenge from productivity coach and HBR contributor Matt Plummer. The idea being "your goal should be to start work each day with a full tank of resources and leave work with enough resources to be present and engaged at home." I couldn't agree more. But Plummer lost me in what he said next. "If you don't feel like that's happening right now, you need to start by identifying your normal burnout cycle(s)."
It's worth noting the definition of a cycle: "a series of events that are regularly repeated in the same order." We're not talking random events, these are patterns. As Einstein said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
If you're going through cycles of burnout in your life, you're not effectively dealing with burnout. You're slapping band-aids on all the leaky places that are draining your energy.
As the author of the New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits, James Clear wrote, "It doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results."
So, how the hell do you eliminate burnout once and for all?
You start by asking the question, are you treating the disease or the symptom?
Burnout is not a disease. Burnout is a symptom of a lack of clarity.
The number one habit I have in my life is seeking clarity.
Whether it's for my business, my relationship or any other element of my life.
I have clear goals and intentions in each area.
A single decision made in clarity is the equivalent of a hundred decisions made in overwhelm.
Don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be. Here's a simple exercise that will immediately transform your life.
Every Sunday I do a weekly check-in and rate with brutal honesty on a scale of 1-10 each area of my life.
Health
Family
Friends
Intimate relationship
Mission/work
Finances
Adventure
Hobby
Spirituality
Emotion
And I finish by asking myself "What is the most neglected important area of my life right now?"
That guides my direction for the upcoming week.
It always keeps my priorities where they should be, ahead of everything else.
If you're serious about ending the burnout cycle, this exercise will give you a new perspective on life. Even if someone is telling you where to be, what to do and how to do it, you have the freedom to choose what areas of your life you invest your focus before anything else.
This is the freedom you have every single day.
From this moment forward, recognize that burnout is a choice.
This choice is your personal power.
You and only you are in charge of your life.
Live accordingly.
