Kia ora,

This newsletter is dedicated to my grandfather, Laurence. Thanks for all the pranks.

Estimated Read time: 4 minutes 26 seconds

The Deep Dive: New Year, New Burn-out?

It turns out even the best years can burn you out. 

At the end of last year I was ready for a break, but I just thought it was usual end of year tiredness. 

I’d successfully juggled a contract, my business, starting a newsletter, building a network, and buying a house.

As far as I was concerned, I needed a week or two in nature and then I’d be ready to dive fully back into my routine with even bigger goals. 💥

So I launched into summer: doing the blended family Christmas jaunt between different cities, hiking 165 kms, sneaking in work etc. 

Then my grandfather passed away. His passing signifies the end of an era in many ways: last grandparent and saying goodbye to the family farm where he lived.

It was a sad goodbye, but he lived a great life of independence right up until the end.

When it came to the Sunday before starting work, I felt an immense sense of dread and overwhelm. 

I even tried to sit in a cafe and do some goal-setting to shift my mood, but found myself fighting back tears every time I tried to put pen to paper. The inner monologue screaming “I JUST DON’T WANT TO” was deafening. 

Monday morning rolled around and I felt worse. It finally dawned on me that what I was experiencing wasn’t normal ‘back-to-work blues’. It was burn-out. 😓

Upon reflection, I spent most of last year (including the break) running on adrenaline. 

Grief turned out to be the circuit-breaker, and I realised that I couldn’t put myself through another year of the same pace.

So how did I deal with this?

First, I decided to take 3 days off work (which turned into taking the whole week off). 

The first day all I did was exercise, drive to places in Auckland I’d never been to, buy fresh strawberries and real fruit ice cream, and read at the beach. I didn’t listen to podcasts or music, I just let myself unhurriedly be.

The next day, I listened to a great podcast on dealing with burnout which suggested a sequence of steps (I’ll go into the steps more below) to regain peace of mind. 

One of those steps involved listing out everything I currently felt responsible for, and then seeing what I could delegate and what commitments I needed to cut back on.

My responsibilities fell under 3 categories: “life” (this included house renovations, fitness, relationships, wellbeing), “business”, and “contract” (my current fractional role).

Once these responsibilities were listed out on paper, I realised three things:

1. There were very few items on my list which I COULD delegate. E.g. my own business development must be done by me at this stage; my own property renovations are my responsibility; the requirements of the contract role ARE the role.

2. All three categories were too big to be held as equal priorities for one person.

3. Looking at points 1 and 2, I realised my only way out of burn-out was to cut back on priorities and commitments.

Over the course of the week, I did a lot of journaling and made some commitments to myself on what I was going to STOP (almost like an anti-goal), and actioned one right away. 

To my relief, after a week of having a complete break, some mindful reflection, and a definite action plan for how I’m going to remove stuff from my plate, I’ve been able to return to work this week with a lot of gusto.

I’m not quite ready to set goals yet, but that’s okay. One step at a time. 

Action of the Week:

Also feeling new year burn-out?

I highly recommend this exercise which I learned from the DYFM podcast (linked in recommendations below).

The 8 steps to overcoming burnout are:

1. Identify what you’re feeling

2. Write down everything you currently feel is your responsibility (including finances, emotional, work-related, relationship-related)

3. Delegate: surrender control on certain things which are not a priority for your energy

4. Ask for help

5. Cut back on commitments you can’t delegate/get help with

6. Spend time in total silence

7. Meditate

8. Prioritise sleep quality

The idea is once you have regained peace of mind, don’t immediately increase your workload. Allow yourself to sit at 60 or 70% capacity for a while and IF you feel up for it, you can take on more things — but remember that being at 100% capacity isn’t healthy, productive, or sustainable (as I recently found out).

Inspo & Recommendations:

LinkedIn post: “Bloody well thanks! - The three words I kept thrashing last year” - by Luke Kemys

Podcast ep: 8 Steps to Overcoming Burnout by Do You F*cking Mind

Learning: Currently really enjoying The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Tech: Riverside FM. OBSESSED. So good for capturing video content and making editing a breeze.

Money: Wanting to try something new this year? Try Housesitting! I did it for three months last year while saving for a house and it was amazing. The best apps to use in NZ are Kiwi House Sitters and Trusted Housesitters

Love from your business-minded friend,

Elise