This is what burnout looks like.
So y'all, I am really, really beat.
But the one thing that's actually made me feel a little bit less burnt out is actually realizing that being burnt out is a super normal thing.
But the problem is that no one actually talks about being burnt out and, even worse, no one actually shares a concrete game plan to actually get you out of burnout.
And so the reason why I wanted to make this video is to share with you all my game plan for how I'm going to beat burnout for myself, so that one day, when this hits you in your own career, you'll actually know what to do about it.
So to figure out how to fix your burnout, you actually first need to figure out why exactly you're burnt out.
So let's break down why I'm super burnt out right now.
So picture this y'all.
You're working 100-hour weeks with barely any pay to scrape, by week after week after week, for two full years trying to start a company of your dreams.
You're constantly stressed out about whether your company's gonna survive, whether you're gonna be able to make payroll that week for all of your team and your employees that trust you to lead this company.
And then, on top of that, you just can't unplug because this thing is your baby where, even if you're not working, you're hanging out with friends, you're with loved ones.
All you're thinking about all the time is just this all-consuming thing that you're trying to build and trying to actually keep surviving.
And it just starts to eat you alive.
So reason number one as to why I'm so burnt out is because I haven't set proper boundaries around work.
Now, the second reason is something you might actually be surprised by, because it's actually really surprised me.
It's something I didn't expect.
And it's something that I actually call the success paradox.
Now, what I mean by that is I've been super, super lucky to have a company that's kind of working out.
But what I didn't expect in that is, as the company has gotten more and more successful, the pressure actually ramps up more and more, and the job gets even harder every single day.
Whereas when I first started the company, it was just me like hustling, trying to make it.
But now I've got all these other people to take care of, right?
I've got investors who are pushing me to grow the company.
I've got a whole team that I want to take care of and make sure that they're doing well.
And then I've got all these customers with all these expectations that we, just we can't ever let down.
And I know all of this sounds absurd and honestly I feel like an ungrateful, even saying this out loud, because there's so much incredible going on with my company.
I'm so lucky to have the 8,000 customers we have, the growth we have, the team we have.
But I will be honest, like this journey isn't perfect and I'm really struggling mentally to just justify me doing this because it's been so freaking hard on me.
And so y'all, I'm feeling, for the very first time in my life, a ton of imposter syndrome where basically every day now, I'm questioning whether or not I'm actually capable of doing this.
So, now that I've had my woe is me moment, it's now actually time for us to set a game plan for how we're going to beat this burnout.
So you might have actually realized, as I was walking you through the reasons as to why I'm burnt out, that they kind of fall into two different categories.
Number one being the day to day struggle.
So what I mean by this is what I was saying before about just working too much.
Basically, when building a company, you just have so many tasks to do and you're working so much that you just really tire out, which is a separate issue from number two, which is a lot more existential.
And what I mean by existential is me asking myself questions like, is this job still right for me?
Does it align with my values and what I care about?
Am I actually gonna be happier or healthier in trying to force myself to build a billion dollar company?
Which are questions that are swirling around in my head.
So at this point I actually have a pretty clear game plan of what I want to do to address my day to day burnout.
But where I'm struggling in this is it doesn't feel like it's enough.
And what I mean by that is basically number one.
I just need to take better care of my physical health.
So all the basics like working out every day, making sure to meditate.
And then lastly, actually getting enough sleep, where I just got a sleep tracker and I'm only sleeping six hours a night.
I'm going to get that up to eight.
Because then that all blends into my mental health here of just taking care of this day to day.
And so that means things like going to therapy, making sure that I'm well taken care of and well rested as well.
But the struggle I have here is like these are all kind of obvious and I don't feel like they're enough.
And so the other piece of this game plan that I have as well is just to work less, which sounds really obvious but is in practice really, really hard for me to do, and so i'm curious if y'all have any suggestions on how to add more to this around, kind of this day-to-day piece of like taking good care of myself and also just setting the right healthy boundaries around work.
Because all of this here then, I think, puts me in a better mental space to start asking myself the existential questions where, for example, I realized the other day that I actually haven't taken a vacation in almost a full year, like an unplugged vacation for more than a single day.
And so, just based off of that and needing to take time, I need the space to unplug from work, to start asking myself these existential questions here of like am I feeling really burnt out because this job isn't for me anymore, or am I feeling burnt out purely because I'm just working too hard?
And all of this starts with me first identifying what actually gives me energy and also what takes away my energy when building a business, where a really good example of this is something that I didn't realize when I first started the company, which is your job as the entrepreneur or the founder or the CEO, changes over time where, back in the day, I got to do all that scrappy fun stuff of like iterating on a product and talking to customers.
And now you know I'm lucky enough to have this team, but that also means that my job has changed, where I'm now, as a manager and a leader, just sitting in meetings all day.
And I just lose a lot of energy that way when I miss all the really fun stuff.
So step number one of me figuring out my existential dread here is just to identify which tasks take away my energy and take away my joy, and figure out who I can hire who actually loves doing those tasks.
Because then that gives me space to ask the question, what gives me joy?
And so when I think about what drives me forward now, it's really just this broader mission I have of empowering anyone to actually get to work for themselves.
Because when I think about myself feeling really burnt out, trying to work for myself, like I have this whole game plan here and I'm still struggling with this, I'm just like John you need to figure this out for yourself so that you can share this with the world, so that if they ever hit this challenge as well which they probably will in trying to start their own thing, they'll actually be able to solve it.
So this part I actually feel pretty confident in handling this day-to-day burnout where I'm actually gonna start setting healthy boundaries on work and actually taking good care of myself.
But I think where I still have a lot of open questions is just around this existential piece where The honest answer is that I don't really know yet if signing up to build a billion dollar company and all the pressure around that is actually what gives me joy and what I actually genuinely value.
And so I'm still leaning towards yes, I'd like to do this learning, because I think we can just help a ton of people.
But through that as well, I just, I don't know.
And so y'all are going to get to see the live journey.
And all I can say to that is I'm going to trust the process and I appreciate you guys' support along the way.
