24 Mar 2016 · 9 min
In this episode of The Charged Life, Brendon Burchard outlines four concrete actions to prevent burnout. He begins by stressing the prevalence of burnout in a hyper‑connected, ambition‑driven world and invites listeners to grab a journal and apply his advice. The first strategy is to prioritize consistent, restorative sleep (7‑8 hours), emphasizing its impact on cognition, health, and interpersonal behavior, and recommending naps or catch‑up sleep when needed. The second strategy is to “say no first,” encouraging listeners to reject new commitments unless a clear business case is presented, thereby avoiding over‑commitment. The third strategy is to schedule dedicated email blocks (e.g., twice a day) to eliminate constant interruptions and protect deep work time. The fourth strategy is to actively ask for help—leveraging family, friends, assistants, or teammates—to reduce the martyr‑complex and distribute workload. Burchard concludes with a motivational call to reclaim control over one’s day, sleep, communication habits, and support system, promising a more joyful, “Charged” life. He also highlights the podcast’s ad‑free, sponsor‑free format, explains how listener support funds the show, and asks listeners to share the podcast with others.
Chapters
Welcome to the Charged Life. This is Brendan Burchall. Here's four big ideas to avoid burnout. I'm constantly asked about this, and I think that's actually a good thing, is that people really care about their well being. And they also realize that in this time when we all have so many ambitions, we want to change the world, we want to change, chase all these new opportunities, that it's easier and easier and easier to get completely burned out, to drown in the digital stream of distraction, to feel like our days are getting wasted because we're just doing too many things. And ultimately it takes its toll. And if you've ever felt like you are burning out, like you are at your wit's end, you're at the end of the rope, whatever metaphor you want to use, make sure you tune in right now. Bust out your journal, get your pen, take four pieces of advice and start implementing them in your life. You'll feel so much better. Number one, here we go. Get more sleep now. I know, I know, I know you're gonna say, yeah, yeah, Brenda, I know that I'm supposed to get more sleep, but that's the problem. I'm burning out because I can't get sleep. Right. You need to get sleep. You're not prioritizing it enough. So many people are not getting their eight hours of sleep. It's a joke. There's times in your life when that's difficult. You, you know, you got a new baby, you got some new opportunity, you gotta ride that thing for a week. But let me share with you, if you are not on a consistent basis getting your seven to eight hours, we can prove over and over and over again, you focus worse, your cognitive scores go down, your increase of getting sick goes up, and the likelihood that you're gonna be somebody who is not only just stressed all the time, but causes drama on teams or in social situations also increases. Meaning the less sleep you get, the more of a jerk you become. The more of a jerk you become, the more you're gonna feel like you're burning out. Trust me, it's vital that you prioritize sleep again. It is the greatest gift you can give. It is the number one utmost secret to avoiding burnout. Because you and I both know when you're rested, you don't feel like you're burned out. You know, you go on your vacation, you have two or three nights where you finally decompress, you're resting well again on vacation, and all of a sudden you feel like a whole different person. Well, that shouldn't just be one or two weeks a year when you happen to go on vacation. That's got to be every day. You've got to get the sleep back in your life. And if you miss a night of sleep and you had a terrible night, you missed an hour or two, then during the day, either nap to catch up or within that next 72 hour period, catch up or just meditate to catch up. If you're not a napper, but you have to catch up on that rest and that rejuvenation and I cannot share with you, there is nothing more important that you can do. There is nothing more important you can do than catch up on sleep. It's a must. Number two, very, very important. Say no first. If you're already towards burnout, then the worst thing you can do is say yes to a bunch of new opportunities or obligations. If you're towards burnout, what you need to do is say no first to every new thing that comes towards you. Which sounds hard, especially from, you know, a motivational guy like me who's always saying say yes to the world. The reality is when you're first beginning something, let's say you're, you know, you're, you just gotta college, you starting some new opportunities, you're an entrepreneur or you're even working for a career, it's like, yeah, you say yes to a lot of things so you can get in the game, but as you get more established or you achieve more or you're more busy, that that's the time to start saying no to everything first. Unless you can make the case for why you should take something on. Like, you got to think of it as like a business case. Anytime someone says, brennan, I got this new idea for you, I approach it like a business case. The automatic answer is no. And until they've made the case for why it should be a yes for me, or I've made that case internally and really well thought through it, it's an immediate no pass. Focus on what I'm focused on. Most burnout comes from overly committing ourselves and so we have to be very attentive to that. Third big idea, avoiding burnout. Schedule the times that you do your email. You know, it's so funny, A lot of the reason we feel so frazzled and freaked out is because we're constantly checking our text, constantly checking into the world, constantly checking into other people. And it's like if you can get away from that or at least block the time in which you deal with that, your brain can be more Organized. It's like I'm never frazzled unless I interrupt the things I'm doing with something I shouldn't. A call or checking in my inbox all of a sudden. And now I feel more frazzled because your brain can only take on so much. So focus on one thing at a time, including your email. Just decide you're only going to check email twice a day. Pick the times that you're going to check that email and reply to that email. And that's the block of time that you're gonna do it. No one needs to hear from you every five seconds. And if you've allowed them to believe that you're just not managing your life, and you can't blame them. It's your job to set those boundaries. It's your job to set the expectation when people will hear back from you. Now, some of you say, well, Brent, I can't possibly do that. I'm in customer service. I have to reply to email all day long. And I would say, okay, if you're in customer service, but if you're not, if you're leading or you're running your own company or you have a big team, trust me, you need to be working on your projects and you need to have diligent time for that. That is protected away from checking in constantly. The more you are checking in constantly, the more you are checking out of the productive work that you could be doing on your projects. So focus. That will help you so much. And last, you know, to avoid burnout, please ask for help. Too many people don't leverage their team, their comrades, their friends, their family for help. You know, if you're just struggling to take care of the kids, like, are there any in laws nearby, even if you don't like them, you know, is there someone around who could help with those daily tasks, those simple things? Whether it's getting a personal assistant or it's just asking your friends for some support on some. Some simple things. But too many people don't ask for help. And so they're burning out constantly because they feel like they're a martyr. They have to do it well, Brendan, I'm the only person who can do this. You're the only person who can do this. Let's check that ego at the door. You're not the only person who can do anything. Somebody could step in and support you. And whether you gotta hire them, find them, beg them, or borrow, it's all about getting support for you to be able to do more with more sanity in your life. You can do this. Burnout is not something you have to accept as your fate in life. At some point you say, you know what? I want to live a life of peace. I want to have moments of stillness and joy in my life. I don't want to feel like I'm constantly being run over. And the only way to do that is you taking back control of your day, of your sleep, of the times in which you check in, of your ability to ask for help. You can do these things. Life can feel so much more joyous than a big long journey of burnout. But it's up to you to take back control. And once you do that, you'll start to experience what we call the Charge Life. Hey, it's Brendon again. Did you notice something in today's episode? Yep. No ads, no sponsors. Just a positive message to improve your day. How do I do it? How is it that you listen to all those other podcasts and they have minutes and minutes worth of lame ads for underwear or other websites they're promoting? Hey, I don't judge them, but I choose to focus on you in this podcast. And personally, when I listen to other shows, I just skip those long winded sponsor pitches. And anyway, I can only do this because you share my podcast with so many other people and enough folks end up looking me up online and buying my books or taking my online courses that I can self fund this entire effort. And you know how hard it is to do all this and that's why I appreciate you guys so much. I heard that you even helped me break a record too. The longest running top 10 self help show without a single sponsor or product pitch or ad. So if you like this podcast ad free and sponsor free, do me a favor, tell a friend today. You know you should listen to the Charged Life, Brendon Burchard's podcast. Just help spread the word, share why you like my show or tell people to go to podcast.brendon.com it would sure help and I'd appreciate it and I'm sure our community would too. I look forward to talking with you again soon, my friend. Until then, go out there every single day of your life. Live fully, love openly and make your difference. Today.