How to Avoid Burnout: A Simple Solution
English —
Unit 37
00:00
-06:37
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| 0s | Burnout |
| 1s | |
| 1s | It's a dangerous and scary word that has become more and more common in our fast-paced, work-oriented world. |
| 7s | Many of the heroes of western culture are those that |
| 10s | champion hustle and extreme drive. |
| 14s | Steve Jobs |
| 15s | Casey Neistat |
| 16s | Elon Musk |
| 18s | Our idea of success is tied to always being busy. |
| 21s | Doing whatever it takes. |
| 22s | But where's the limit? |
| 24s | Work now follows us everywhere through our laptops and our smartphones. |
| 27s | I can go pretty much anywhere in the world and stay connected |
| 30s | and that's something our parents couldn't do. |
| 33s | This is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. |
| 35s | I've always been work oriented. |
| 38s | So I wanted to share with you what I'm doing to stay on track |
| 41s | and how to Avoid Burnout |
| 43s | By the way, I'm creating this piece as part of a collaboration with Chloé Kian |
| 47s | another fantastic content creator here on youtube. |
| 51s | So before I continue with this, let me give a little bit of context. |
| 54s | I'm the first generation of my family to be born in the united states. |
| 58s | Although my parents are immigrants and they came from a much poorer country, |
| 61s | they worked really hard their entire lives to construct what they have and give me a better life |
| 66s | and in many respects, this is the American Dream. |
| 69s | Work hard and you will obtain a better life. |
| 72s | I discovered the power of working really hard on something for the first time when I was in middle school. |
| 77s | I started to really push the boundaries of my school projects |
| 80s | and that's when I realised that the more I put in, the more that I got out of it. |
| 85s | In fact, the more that I put into anything in life, I feel like the more I get out of it. |
| 89s | For better or worse, working hard became a part of my identity, |
| 92s | it was my way of standing out, of beating the kids that were stronger or faster than me on the playground. |
| 97s | The thing is, this is a real grey area, I've pushed things too far before. |
| 101s | Right now I'm in crush mode and I'm putting everything I've got into this project of creating content online |
| 107s | so that I can make a living doing this. |
| 109s | Many of you may feel the same way: |
| 111s | starting a business, or any new venture for that matter, requires a lot in the beginning |
| 116s | This project is giving flavour and colour and meaning to my life. |
| 120s | What this means is that my life is very imbalanced right now. |
| 123s | I'm hardly going out, I'm not really trying to make new friends because I don't have the time. |
| 127s | That's how important this is to me. |
| 129s | But let me ask you: Do I seem unhappy? |
| 131s | I feel like I've just entered one of the most exhilarating and fulfilling periods in my entire life. |
| 137s | The thing is, work/life balance is this really abstract concept that means different things for each and everyone of us. |
| 144s | Some of us were meant to be employed, OK, and there's no shame in that. |
| 148s | The world needs those people. |
| 150s | I'm just not one of those people. |
| 152s | If I had a 9-5 job I know for certain that I would go into a state of burnout in no time. |
| 158s | There's a simple equation that I use to keep tabs on how I'm doing. |
| 161s | Here's how it looks in my head: |
| 163s | Joy minus drain equals current state of wellbeing. |
| 166s | Ok, so let me break this down a little bit. |
| 169s | Joy is the enthusiasm that I feel in my life. |
| 172s | It's what I feel when I tell stories that matter to me and when I connect with people. |
| 175s | This is the fuel that runs my entire life. |
| 178s | Ok, without this I'm nothing. |
| 180s | Seriously, without joy, I would be depressed, aimless and avoid of purpose. |
| 185s | Now, joy is like a flame that you carry within you |
| 188s | and just like a flame: you've got to maintain it, or it'll go out. |
| 191s | The things that reduce the strength of my joy are what I call drain. |
| 195s | These are things that you hate doing, |
| 196s | people that you hate being around |
| 198s | and any time that you neglect to take care of yourself. |
| 201s | We all have to deal with things in life, |
| 203s | but it is when drain starts to outweigh joy that you have to be really carefull. |
| 208s | This can happen silently, |
| 210s | but if you have good habits like meditation or journaling, you can feel it coming. |
| 214s | And that is why these are such important habits to have. |
| 218s | Now, doing what I do fills me with immense amounts of joy. |
| 221s | I don't care about the fact that I'm making less money than I used to. |
| 225s | It's completely worth it. |
| 226s | Practically nothing in life makes happier than to create these pieces and to put my voice out there. |
| 231s | I've gotten really good at removing negative or manipulative people from my life, |
| 236s | I had to learn that kinda the hard way through some rough experiences, |
| 239s | but that's why my social circle is so small. |
| 242s | The missing piece for me has always been taking care of myself. |
| 245s | In the past, I wasn't so careful. I realised that I would treat others better than I would treat myself |
| 250s | and that's not a good habit to have. |
| 253s | Society has romanticized this as if it were a good thing |
| 256s | and it isn't ok, that's a quick way to burn out. |
| 259s | I'll give you an example, ok. |
| 261s | I don't know when this happened but people started deciding it was ok to cut back on sleep for the hustle or the grind. |
| 267s | However, I discovered that sleep, for me, is non-negotiable. |
| 271s | Eight is my magic number. |
| 273s | If I can get 8 hours a night, I'm good. |
| 277s | I can dip below that for a day or two, |
| 279s | but more than that, if I start to push things, |
| 282s | chinks start to appear in my emotional armour. |
| 285s | Doubts and negative thoughts are to pop up. |
| 287s | I used to think sleep was the least productive part of my day, |
| 290s | but after reading the book 'Why we sleep' by Matthew Walker |
| 294s | I realised I could not have been more wrong |
| 296s | sleep is crazy important for our health, our memory, our energy, our positivity, creativity, humour, the list goes on. |
| 305s | Look, that's just me, I learned that this is how I operate. |
| 308s | We all have our differences and the only way to figure out what works for you |
| 312s | is by experimenting intentionally. |
| 315s | That means that sometimes, you might get a little bit offtrack and cross a line, |
| 318s | but that's ok, that's part of the process. |
| 320s | The key, I think, is to remember that life is a marathon, it's not a sprint. |
| 324s | I really want to perform at a high level for decades to come, |
| 329s | so I'm ok with pacing myself. |
| 331s | I'm grinding right now. I'm making sacrifices, |
| 333s | but I'm abusing myself by depriving myself the things that I know I need. |
| 338s | Like I said at the beginning of the video, |
| 340s | this is a piece that I'm doing in collaboration with Chloé Kian. |
| 343s | She's a wonderful person and does amazing work on topics like sustainability and minimalism among other things. |
| 349s | She has a video on this topic on her channel |
| 352s | and I think it's kind of cool to see the female perspective. |
| 354s | So, if you're interested, go check it out |
| 357s | There'll be a link to that down below. |
| 359s | If you'd like to see more videos of mine, hit the subscribe button and the bell for notifications when I upload. |
| 364s | I've got a newsletter that you can sign up to |
| 365s | and a patreon page where you can support this project |
| 368s | and get excess to exclusive content like bonus material or behind the scenes. |
| 373s | I continue to add new content on there every month. |
| 376s | Alright, thanks for watching. |
| 377s | Feel free for adding any tips for avoiding burnout down in the comments below and I'll see you soon. |