(May 1st, 2024 Lift Up Email – to get inspiration delivered directly to your inbox click here.)
Do you ever have days that disappear?
You leave work and think, ‘Wow, I know I was busy, but why aren’t my priorities done?’
Yes? Me, too!
If you work extra hours to catch up because you’re pulled in a million directions during the workday, and that’s frustrating – keep reading!
At the start of a group coaching program, the conversation went deep quickly.
Members – all senior managers at a large company – shared that it’s harder to get their work done lately because they’re extra stressed. Each one feels burned out in their own way.
Some admitted they regret losing quality time with their family for work. They all agreed they want more fun in their life and to make less of a personal sacrifice to climb the corporate ladder.
I don’t believe that’s a sacrifice any of us need to make!
You CAN have career success AND inspiring levels of stress AND energy to enjoy your family AND take guilt-free breaks from all of it.
If that’s not happening, the way to fix that is to tweak the way you’re using your precious resources to do, think, feel, and be each day.
Please know – feeling overwhelmed or burned out is not a personality failure. It’s the natural human response to the daily grind.
Typically, it’s not one thing that steals resources.
It’s a combination of a lot of little things that add up to days that disappear.
To fix it, we need to identify those little things.
I encourage my clients to use an energy tracking worksheet for a minimum of a week.
[If you’d like my template, reply to this email, and ask me for it.]
This is a VERY powerful exercise and it’s simple to do.
Track what you do each day. (Be VERY specific.)
Capture how it impacts your energy and mood.
Jot down any notes that influence the situation.
This will unveil patterns in your workflow and highlight activities that may be depleting your resources and focus.
Once you know exactly where your resources are going, the fix becomes obvious. This will empower you to optimize your performance while minimizing the risk of burnout.
It’s been eye-opening to see the ah-ha moments for my clients.
That’s why I decided to repeat this exercise for myself. It’s been years since I did it. WOW! Just days of tracking has been self-awareness GOLD!
More on that later…
Hopefully you’ll choose to join me in doing this energy-tracking activity.
Allison “Busting Burnout” Graham
P.S. The first step to design a life you love, optimize your workdays and avoid burnout is to track where your resources are going each day. Doing this highlights patterns. From there it’s easy to create solutions.
If you’d like my energy-tracking worksheet, respond to this email to ask. I typically customize the tracking sheet for each coaching client, but I have a standard base template I can share.
No Time to Focus on Your Priorities? This is the Program for you…
Optimize Your Workweek online course to discover my proven system for taking control of your time.
