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StitcherA new emotion has entered—burnout! It’s not the worst of the worst, but it is our common enemy. It’s the feeling that stops time and makes us exhausted just by existing. We know it, and we feel it, and now our spending is at risk because of it. That’s why, in this episode, Jen and Jill join Jess Massey of The Hustle Sanely Podcast to share how to identify burnout and combat its inevitable cycle.
We don’t get burned out overnight, so fixing it won’t happen overnight either.
Sponsors:
- The GOHQ Summit. If you feel like you’re on the edge of burnout, this is the best thing that could come up for you right now. It’s a FREE virtual summit, September 9th through 14th, and it’s like Netflix organizing for one week. There are over a hundred speakers, including us, and it’s anything about organizing. Finances, home, clutter, planning, meal planning, wardrobe, paper files, cleaning, digital life, self-care. It’s everything! If you can’t make it or miss a session, you can get an all-access pass on sale right now. But go here, get your FREE ticket, and there’s gonna be so much fun. See you there!
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Jess Massey is the host of The Hustle Sanely Podcast, a planner creator, and the founder of the community-centered productivity brand Hustle Sanely® where she uses her framework The 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely™ to coach ambitious women on how to pursue their goals while prioritizing their mental health and relationships so they can live peacefully productive lives.
Recognizing Burnouts
Jess defined burnout as this overetching feeling of being stretched too thin, as if you’re running on fumes. It’s a constant feeling of being behind, no matter what you do, from the moment you wake up. At its core, she explains, burnout arises from a disconnect between our values and priorities and the way we spend our time and energy.
How It Looks Like
Burnouts could look different on every single person, and as seasons change, it’s going to ebb and flow. But Jess narrowed it down into three categories: emotional, physical, and behavioral.
Emotionally, you can identify burnout by feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, drained, and cynical about most, if not all, things. There’s also a sense of detachment from your sense of purpose. If you look closely, your thoughts are often filled with defeat and self-doubt, accompanied by mood swings and irritability. Physically, burnout can manifest as insomnia or difficulty sleeping. Behaviorally, you may feel an urge to withdraw from activities you normally enjoy, leading to isolation and procrastination, which delays your usual daily tasks.
Emotional Spending Caused by Burnout
Feeling burnout can lead to emotional spending. When we’re overwhelmed, we tend to buy things on impulse, trying to quickly fix how we feel and escape the stress. From the three categories above, Jess shared how emotional spending has manifested from burnout.
The cycle simply goes like this: She wakes up in the middle of the night, feels exhausted the next morning, and then goes for a coffee run to quick-fix the feeling of exhaustion. At night, she would look for things to buy in hopes of improving her sleep. It got to the point where when they reviewed their spending, coffee purchases accounted for most of it.
Kicking Burnout to The Curb
Jess suggests that before taking a leap into building habits you have to first zoom out and get a bigger picture of your situation. Then get your mindset right and sort your thoughts so you don’t get lost in them. Next, clarify your vision by reflecting on where you are right now and where you want to be in the coming months or years, so you have a clear goal to work toward. Finally, identify your priorities by choosing habits that align with your vision and what’s important in your current season of life.
Inspired by The Hustle Sanely’s 5 Keys to Hustling Sanely, this framework helps you avoid burnout and embrace a peaceful, productive life. It provides a wellness-based approach to productivity, allowing you to design intentional days and align your life with with what’s important to you.
What's your favorite way to invest in the most important parts of your life?
For Jess, it’s being a present mom to her daughter. When she decided to become a mother, she knew she wanted a three-day work week, and it has been wonderful. For Jill, sharing meals with friends and family provides her with the best moments of her life. And for Jen, it’s investing in fulfilling work, paying for daycare, and enrolling her child in public school.
Get more from Jesse
Bill of The Week
Thank you Jess for sharing your bill about building a new office and paying it off!
Thanks so Much for Listening!
Thanks so much for listening. We love love love reading your kind reviews and we especially loved this one from Cynthia, the winner of our 1K review giveaway!
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Real Life Advice and easy to use tips
I’ve been a listener for awhile, and have enjoyed the information and easy to apply life tips. Such as making a decision one time, so this podcast helped me to set up a low interest student loan repayment plan and so far helped me pay off more than 36k in a year with one decision instead of trying to send what was left at the end of the month which never worked out well for the loan repayment.
Thanks so much Jen and Jill for the helpful info! Keep doing what you do and I’ll keep listening!
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