How to Feed Your Burnout This Year.

Cultivate ways to let your mind go blank…

Sheer and utter exhaustion.
Feeling completely spent.
Bone tired.

You are a go-getter. You love what you do. You work like your heart’s on fire. It matters – and then again, it’s play for you. You laugh, because you get to do THIS… and share THIS with people.

You’re one of the crazy ones.

For whom “work” and “play” don’t fit into neat little boxes. They blend. They dance. They mix.

Which is wonderful, most of the time.

And horrible, some of the time.

Because when your business is rooted in a passion, it’s easy to get obsessed…

…and then not leave the house or shower for several days. You kind of forget that you have a body (or a life). Because, you’re IN it. You’re moving ideas around with the forklift of your mind. You see all kinds of possibilities, opportunities, and openings. You know that amazing things are possible – because you’ve seen them. Heck, you’ve created some of them.

But then the pendulum swings the other way. From the go-go-go days of hustling and talking to people and such crisp clarity that you know in your bones where you’re headed… a fog settles over you.

It’s like thinking your way through molasses.

You can’t feel a damn thing.

You can’t intuit jack shit.

And you’re left, pushing an empty sack.

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The thing about burnout is that we do it to ourselves. But we also live in a culture that prizes both being “busy” and “successful” — that’s the tough part.

Busy is mindless. Busy is “sorry—can’t talk now, I’ve got things to do.” Busy is checking your phone while there is a person sitting with you, eating a meal.

Busy implies distraction, self-importance.

If you want to feed your burnout, be busy.

Or, you can aim for a life that’s full instead.

And if you could use a jumpstart:

Shut the computer off at night. Don’t check email on weekends. Get outside everyday. Write handwritten notes to your JV partners to let them know that relationship matters to you. Cultivate ways to let your mind go blank regularly. Allow yourself the decadence of a 20-minute afternoon nap. Listen to music while you write copy. Make sure your programs + offers are so awesome, you get exciting just thinking about them. Let your body tell you what to do next. Go on walks to let your mind unspool. Read blogs that have nothing to do with your line of work. Gift yourself a retreat every year, or every quarter. Create a morning ritual that plugs you in to the universe. Lay in bed at night, making a simple list of the events of the day.

Mighty thanks to Sarah flickr photostream for the unplugged daydreamer.