The Burnout Recovery Blueprint (Workshop Replay)

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 00:00

So how do we actually recover from burnout? Real quick, my name is Dr. Corey Wilkes. I'm a licensed clinical psychologist and executive coach. So this is what qualifies me to talk about burnout and how to recover from it. I've worked with entrepreneurs, creators, and leaders from all over the world in all different industries. And for a lot of us, success comes down to staying in the game long-term, right? Long enough to really hit traction and achieve success. But one of the biggest reasons a lot of us don't succeed is that we just burn out.

Research from ConvertKit has recently found that even though burnout was starting to kind of decline, it's actually on the rise yet again, with over half of creators and entrepreneurs in last year reporting symptoms of burnout. So up to 59 % experienced burnout and making more money doesn't actually seem to help prevent us from burning out. But the biggest problem with a lot of burnout recovery resources, Like if you try to Google how to overcome burnout,

Most of the advice is generic and just super unhelpful and not targeted toward entrepreneurs. It'll say things like have more fun, join a club, be grateful, talk to people more often, take a vacation, get a mani-pedi, right? The stereotypical way to deal with burnout, just get a mani-pedi, take more breaks, throw a pizza party, or just maybe change up your routine. But the issue is none of these actually really work that well. And the reason they don't work very well comes down to this. If you keep

going back to the things causing burnout, you'll just keep burning out, right? Taking a vacation isn't really going to solve anything because as soon as you come back, you're coming back to the exact same environment that was causing your burnout in the first place. So the first thing to understand about burnout is capacity. And what I mean by capacity is what is the capacity you have your own quote unquote burnout battery? Okay. So for example, some of us might have just a smaller burnout battery, meaning we're more susceptible to burning out.

Or like me, for example, it's super easy for me to burn out, but other people, maybe you have a much larger capacity to deal, to handle with some of the stressors that could lead to burnout. So you can just handle more. Okay. Or maybe you have a quote unquote normal size burnout battery, but because of stress, because of maybe you get enough sleep, maybe you haven't really been taking care of your health. Even though you have a normal size burnout battery, you keep waking up with it partially depleted because you're not adequately resting and recharging it.

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 02:30

Well, your capacity influences your susceptibility to burning out. So before you even look at other resources, take that into account first. You may just be more susceptible to it. So how do you actually recover from burnout? This is my five step process that I found to be the most simple and effective way to actually recover from burnout. Step one is inspect. Basically take an inventory of chronic energy drainers. Here are three of the most common sources. Commitments.

thoughts and tasks. So commitments, these are typically related to unaligned work, right? Saying yes to things that don't really align with our values or how we want to show up in the world. Everything has an opportunity cost. And a lot of times the long-term consequences of saying yes to an opportunity that is unaligned to us often outweighs any short-term benefits we might get, right? So saying yes to things that seem like, you know, a quick buck or a quick

boost in revenue or audience or subscribers or something typically isn't worth it in the long run. And a big thing with this is yes is a commitment, but no leaves you open to commit to something else later. Most things just aren't worth your time, energy or attention to say yes to, to commit to. So before you say yes to something, consider where saying yes to this opportunity could lead you. And obviously when in doubt, just default to no.

because no frees you up to say yes later. The second source, thoughts, right? Common psychological sources of burnout include things like the emotional toll of maybe being a personal brand. Maybe you can't mentally disengage from work at the end of the day. Maybe you feel the constant pressure to post everywhere and be everywhere all day long. Maybe you keep comparing yourself to everybody else or you just feel isolated. One of the things that psychologists use to help with this is called metacognition.

And metacognition basically just means thinking about thinking. And it comes down to bringing your awareness to the thoughts you have throughout the day and asking yourself, how are these thoughts helping or harming me right now? Am I comparing myself to other people? Am I being jealous? Am I being grateful for the opportunities I have? Right. Are they helping you or hurting you? And then the third source tasks, every successful business has tasks that just have to get done on a regular basis.

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 04:52

So a super simple, helpful exercise you can do is take out a piece of paper and write down two columns. In column one, write down all the things that you have to do, all the tasks you have to do that are draining, are required, but don't require you to personally handle. And then in column two, think about all the things that are draining, are required, and do need you to actually personally handle. Everything you write down in column one, see how you can potentially offload it.

Right? Can you delegate it? Can you outsource it? Can you leverage technology automations? Can you hire somebody? How are all the ways you can offload everything you put in column one and everything in column two, see if you can restructure it, right? Can you time block some of these tasks? Can you restructure them? Maybe you can set better boundaries with some people, right? Look at of the things you personally have to handle. They don't maybe have to exist in their current version.

there are typically ways you can restructure them so that they're not as draining. This lets you focus on what matters and filter out the rest. So these are the typically the most common chronic energy drainers and the ways that you can quickly deal with them. Commitments default to no. Thoughts learn to bring your awareness to them. Tasks learn to focus on what matters and filter out the rest. So quick writing prompt for you. Pause this and think about what things are currently draining your battery.

Right? With commitments, with your thoughts, with your tasks, learn to bring your overall awareness to these things so that you're more aware of the sources of your burnout. But keep these in mind because they're going to come up later. Step two, disconnect. This is the one most people are most familiar with. Right. And at the end of the day, it's it's easier to remove what's draining your battery than constantly try to recharge it.

Well, if you have a battery and you've plugged in 20 different things to this battery, this power source, that's going to continually drain it over and over and over again. And yes, you can keep it plugged in to constantly be trying to recharge, but it's honestly typically just easier to unplug some of the things that keep draining it. So learning to disconnect some of these can be super helpful, but disconnecting doesn't just mean taking a vacation, right? This is again, while most people think about burnout recovery, take a vacation. It's not really helpful.

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 07:09

And you may be thinking, well, you know, Corey, I can't afford to take time off to disconnect. But here's the thing. If your business is so fragile that if you took a week off, everything would burn down to the ground. Either you intentionally take time off to disconnect and deal with burnout now on your terms or burnout kicks in later and everything goes up in smoke. Anyway, if you think you can afford to take a vacation, to disconnect, the reality is you can't afford not to take time off to disconnect.

but find what works for you, right? Like disconnecting could be an hour a day, right? Maybe the first hour of your morning is what you use to specifically intentionally disconnect from everything. Or maybe you carve out two hours once a week to do it or a full day every month, right? Play around with it. Find what works for you and your schedule, your workflow, but fully disconnect to set yourself up for success. So another quick exercise. What does disconnecting look like for you and how often

Can you commit to doing it daily, weekly, monthly, every other week? What? So disconnecting from what drains you gives you the mental space to do the next step. Step three, reflect. Honestly, this is the probably the most underutilized, but most important aspect of burnout recovery is step three, reflect. So I really want you to focus on this piece. Disconnecting gives you the space to

Reflect because reflection is how you switch from a reactive mindset to a proactive one, right? By cultivating stillness you create space to have insights Because if you're constantly plugged into all of these stressors all these things causing burnout You just feel like you're constantly putting out one small fire after another you're running from one emergency to another one task to another you never have time to Cultivate stillness to be calm to think things through

proactively and get ahead of things. So after you've disconnected and you create the space, use that time, use that space to reflect. So consider this reflect on what actually matters in your life and your business. So think about the life you want today, the impact you want to have tomorrow and the legacy you want to leave behind one day. And then think about what about your current reality is holding you back from achieving these things.

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 09:36

Right? Think of your workflows. Think of your obligations. Think of your routines, your schedule. What about these things are actually holding you back from doing the things you just said really truly matter to you. And I want to share a couple of quotes with you that I think really embody this, this philosophy. One comes from Denzel Washington and he says, never confuse movement with progress because you can run in place and not get anywhere. Right? As entrepreneurs, it's really easy to get so focused on being busy.

that we forget to think about it. Well, are we actually being effective? And the second quote comes from Alex Formosi and he says, running a business with poor strategy is like cutting grass with scissors. It gives you something to do, but it takes you 100 times longer to hit your goals. So again, thinking about am I being effective or am I just constantly busy on low leverage things that aren't ultimately moving the needle for me? So the quick pause to give you some things to consider and reflect on.

One is if you could redesign your workflow from scratch, what would it look like? Right? A lot of times it's really easy to get like, you know, tech bloat or scope creep in our workflows and routines. It's really easy to do so many things and bloat our obligations and commitments that it's burning us out because we've created such inefficient workflows and routines. But if we can just start it from scratch, what would that look like? Another question is where are you getting a lot done and where are you just doing a lot?

This is a super clarifying question for me because it's really easy to do a lot, but not actually get a lot done, right? Because you're being ineffective or you're putting all of your time, energy and attention to low leverage things, low ROI things. Third question is how can you maybe set, communicate and uphold better boundaries, right? It's really easy if we have poor boundaries to say yes to too many things, it just don't matter. The fourth one is what are the needle movers and how can you prioritize them? Right? A needle movers list for me is what are the

top one to three things that if you got nothing else done that day would move the needle progressively closer to a values aligned life and business for you. So on a day to day, week to week basis, really asking yourself, what are the few things that truly, truly matter? And how can I prioritize them to make sure I do them first? Another question is, what are the obvious solutions that you've just been overcomplicating? And the last one is where are the bottlenecks and how can you remove them? And sometimes the bottleneck is you, but

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 11:57

Once you reflect on these questions, now you're ready for the next step. Step four, recharge. So my favorite quotes is meditate for an hour every day, unless you are too busy. In that case, meditate for two hours. And this, know, it's kind of a tongue in cheek thing, but it really echoes a truth, right? Like if you think you're too busy to collect yourself, to really take a second to think things through, that is exactly what you should do. Because a lot of times the things we need most,

to do are the first things we neglect. But especially when we think about things like self care, right? And recharging or doing self care, it may feel pointless. It may feel selfish. It may feel stupid, but I promise you it is critical because a depleted battery is nothing more than a toxic paperweight. It is critical for you to find activities, things you can do that recharge your battery. So for me, for example,

Maybe journaling, writing in general, really recharges my battery. Maybe reading recharges it too. Maybe catching up with friends. Maybe exercise recharges it. Find the things that recharge you and your battery. So another quick prompt. List out the activities that give you energy, whatever they are. Because chances are you probably haven't been doing them that much lately. And after you make that list, add these to your schedule. But after you add them to your schedule, actually do them.

Right? It being put on your Google calendar, your eye calendar, whatever doesn't mean anything if you don't actually do it. Okay. By this point, you've inspected the sources of what drains you. You've disconnected from the things draining you. You've reflected on what matters and come out with tons of clarity and you've recharged by adding energizing activities back into your routine. Now you're ready for the final step. Step five, return. So

At this point, there is a newfound intentionality behind your actions and how you approach work. But this transformation comes at a cost. Your battery isn't compatible with many of the things you used to do because being effective at what matters means being selective about what you connect your battery to. So the quick writing prompt, what will be different when you return to work? What would be different about you?

Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (: 14:20

your routine, your workflow, how you show up, all of it. Final thoughts. Again, going back to this, remember what actually matters in your life and business. The life you want to live today, the impact you want to have tomorrow, and the legacy you want to leave behind. If you burn out, you will not achieve them. You can get showered in positive feedback, accolades, and attention and still burn out. You can have multi-six figures in subscribers and revenue and still burn out.

You can be intelligent, disciplined and ambitious in still burnout. No one is immune to burnout, but now you have a system to help you recover from it. If it happens, this is my burnout recovery blueprint. Inspect, disconnect, reflect, recharge, return. So if you made it this far, if you can drop in the chat, what's your biggest takeaway from today? I would love to know. Drop a comment below.