Three Of My Biggest Lessons To Avoid Burning Out And Enjoy Life Way More

Late May, I spoke at a Young Leaders retreat at Elkridge resort in Northern Saskatchewan. The location was quiet, peaceful and beautiful nestled in the forest.

The event was SO awesome! Because it put the entire focus on leaders taking care of themselves so that they can better the organization.

I had the privilege of speaking on my biggest life lessons going from close-to-burning-out to thriving (in my corporate career and business).

What would I go back and tell my old self and other young leaders . . . and let’s face it, leaders at any stage in life who are struggling too?

I didn’t hit rock bottom or have something really bad happen for me to wake up, and I know I could have just as easily continued down the path I was on.

But I have figured out a few things that make a huge difference in how I show up as a leader, as a parent, and as a person.

As a result, I am accomplishing far more and enjoying life, with way less stress. It’s now what I am trained in and support others to achieve.

Basically, the message is that your happiness and well-being are base features . . . they are absolutely necessary to thrive in the midst of all the demands and expectations.

This matters regardless your position or career. You will always face stress and you have a choice in every moment to choose how you think and respond.

And simply, when you are tired and run down, it makes it a whole lot easier to fall into negative thinking, overwhelm, worry, impatience – all of which make your days a lot harder than they need to be and hold you back from the very thing you want.

“We need to do a better job of putting ourselves higher on our own to-do list”. – Michelle Obama

I shared embarrassing and “real-life” stories at this event that led me to each of these lessons (I’ll save those stories for another day!).

Here are some of those lessons that resonated most with people at the event:

1) When things feel hard or overwhelming, slow down and ‘do less’ instead of ploughing through your days.

I used to hunker down and work harder and harder.

But now know, when you are overwhelmed or stressed, you are less focused, make more mistakes and things take longer (and feels pretty crappy too).

So I will do the exact opposite when I feel this way!

Slow down instead of ploughing forward and ask yourself questions like:

• What really matters right now? Focus on THAT and limit all other distractions.

• What do I need right now? Maybe taking a break or a walk or talking to someone will be just what you need to move forward. Feeling overwhelmed is just as unproductive as doing nothing, so give yourself permission to focus on your needs.

• What can I care about less? You won’t ever get caught up (there is always more to do) so start to give yourself permission to care less about some things.

Also, keeping boundaries is key because it focuses you on what’s important and you let go of what isn’t. It’s important to take time away from the office (even if you love your job).

2) Worry is a huge waste of your mental energy. Change your thoughts, change your entire experience.

Worrying is when you are replaying a conversation in your head over and over again, or feeling anxiety about something that happened in the past or might happen in the future.

I used to spend A LOT of time in worry. Worry what other people think of me especially.

I used to think that worrying was part of problem solving, not realizing just how all that worry was the problem . . .

. . . because it was a huge waste of mental energy and blocks purposeful action.

You have control over how you think. And when you change your thoughts, you will change how you feel, the action you take and the results you get. It’s hard science.

You can reframe and see a situation in a more positive and productive way, focus your attention on what you do want, ‘debunk’ your worries or even just be present in the moment. It’s a mental muscle you build.

This opens up so much more choice and possibility, not to mention it’s feels way better.

3) Life is right now! Not when you retire, when your kids get older or you get that promotion or project done.

This is a big one. Do you ever say to yourself “When I retire, I will do X?” or “When my kids are not young anymore, then life will be less chaotic and I’ll enjoy it more?” or “When that project is done, then I will take care of myself?” I definitely used to!

Here’s the thing . . . don’t put off your happiness or well-being. It’s a choice.

You don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so start being more present and enjoy your life right now. You’ll perform even better when you do.

This perspective can keep you focused on what really matters and not get caught up in all the worries or stress about the small stuff.

It will help you to be grateful for what you do have, which will lead to even more things to be grateful for and appreciate and enjoy.

And, it can remind you to take care of yourself, so that you can then be there for others in a real and meaningful way.

We can choose to look after ourselves first, and we often succeed a lot more quickly when we do in our career and rest of life.

So, my question to you: What is one thing you can do to today to make yourself a priority on your to-do list? And my encouragement is to go and do it 

What next? Here’s a unique experience to focus on YOU . . .

Because of this speaking event, and because I LOVED the location so much, I am inspired to host a small ‘Be At Your Best’ retreat at the very same resort.

• Are you looking to make yourself a priority on your to-do list for a change?

• Are you ambitious and want to be successful in your career, without sacrificing your time with your family or your sanity?

• Want to go deeper into how to implement these lessons above into YOUR life?

• Do you like learning in small groups, love being in nature and would like some downtime from it all?

Then this retreat is for you!

We will go deep into some of the Be At Your Best principles so that you leave feeling energized, confident and focused on what will actually move you forward.

It will happen September 23 to 25, 2019, there will be 12 spots maximum and early bird pricing is available until June 28, 2019.

Here's a link to learn more what this experience is all about and see if it's for you!

What Next?

You can sign up for Stacey's masterclass, The Confident "No" here.

Stacey L. Olson is a Leadership and Certified Positive Psychology Coach, has 15 years of corporate experience and has gone through her own transformational change from burning out to balanced in life while performing at a high level (both in her corporate career and own business). She works with professionals who want to work less, live more and be their best even with all the demands, high expectations and messiness of everyday life. Stacey is the founder of The Balanced Leader™ program and offers executive and leadership coaching, workshops, and speaking.