Jeremy Green
Jonathan Stark
Reuven LernerSpecial Guest: Sherry Walling, Ph.D.
In this episode of the Freelancer’s Show, the panel discusses: “Beyond Burnout - How to Work Hard and Enjoy Life.” Dr. Sherry Walling is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive experience treating stress-related problems in high achieving people. She is an academic and professional powerhouse with master’s degrees in psychology and theology, formal training as a yoga teaching, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. For more biographical information, please checkout: https://zenfounder.com/about/.
In particular, we dive pretty deep on:
How to Prioritize Your Life
Great start – you found something that you love to do as far as work!
Have a variety of things going on in your life.
Have backup strategies in play.
“Make it big plan” is a low frequency event.
Are there areas where freelancers chronically under invest in?
Sleep
Diet
Exercise
It’s easy to neglect your body.
Time with friends
Connecting you with human beings.
Connections with online friends are great, but real-life friendships are better for mental health because we connect better with three-dimensional people.
If you make the investments into yourself (sleeping, eating well, exercising) this will better your business.
This notion of should or shouldn’t do X, Y, Z.
Paul Jarris’ newsletter: Defining What Enough Is For You?
Budgeting together as a family.
Gives you a clear sense of what “enough” is for you and your family.
Examples:
Elon Musk
Works 24/7 and is CEO of many companies.
Admired by many, but lifestyle seems toxic to some.
Wisdom is knowing your own personal limits.
Silicon Valley, CA
Patrick Collison
Humble person
Dr. Walling was very impressed on how aware he is as a person.
He recognizes that the right events were in-place and he put in the work, too.
Burnout – different stages and things we can do to address burnout
Burnout is a syndrome where people feel detached from their work. They feel like their input does not equal their output.
It’s subjective.
It’s caused by too much work, feeling out-of-control in your work, a mismatch of daily tasks versus what needs to be done, not enough support, and working with clients who are emotionally draining, etc.
Scientifically we can view a brain that is burned-out.
Other health problems can arise due to stress.
We know how to prevent it and how people can recover.
It could take a few weeks in order to regain a healthy lifestyle to recover from burnout.
Road to recovery
30% of adults experience burnout in some point in their life.
Dr. Christina Maslach
Her research is focused on burnout.
Time is finite and life is finite.
You will choose things that are more gratifying for you and your life.
Sometimes we forget the “love” piece.
I choose to do the activities that really bring me joy.
This will help with the longevity of your business.
Not things that you feel like you “should.”
Listen to the emotional quality to your work to help prevent potential burnout.
Hobbies
If you have some hobbies like yoga, fishing, painting, baking, knitting etc. it can definitely help prevent burnout.
Hobbies are good for a sense of accomplishment.
Mastery and it feeds your soul.
Protecting Personal Relationships
Rhythms and structures in our relationships.
Regularity of date night once a week (for example) helps establishing this routine.
The same is true for friendships.
Find a good mentor.
Grow together and it’s great for psychological support.
Fitness goals
If you don’t use it, you will loose it.
This gets more important the older you get.
Dr. Sherry Waling
KEEPING YOUR S**T TOGETHER
FreshBooks
Linode
Cachefly
valuepricingbootcamp.com
Your Productized Consulting Guide
howtobulilduourfirstproductizedservice.com
James Clear: Building Habits – mailing listPhilip Morgan – Positioning Manual
The New Yorker – Japan’s Rent A Family Industry
Book: KEEPING YOUR S**T TOGETHER
