WEBVTT - How To Handle Burnout in Your Business 0:00:00.050 --> 0:00:04.220 Let's talk about burnout. This is an incredibly popular topic 0:00:04.220 --> 0:00:09.229 inside the entrepreneurial community, where there's difficulty and confusion and 0:00:09.230 --> 0:00:12.620 frustration around how do you create a business that you 0:00:12.619 --> 0:00:17.540 love that's successful while also having your life feel fulfilled? 0:00:17.540 --> 0:00:20.990 And this idea of burnout, when something is not going 0:00:20.989 --> 0:00:23.570 well and things are overwhelming and you're stressed out and 0:00:23.570 --> 0:00:25.849 you're frustrated, it might start to feel like you're getting 0:00:25.850 --> 0:00:28.760 burnt out. I will never forget when Grant Cardone was 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.470 in a conference a few years ago, and he said 0:00:31.470 --> 0:00:34.589 this quote that forever changed my perspective on this topic 0:00:34.590 --> 0:00:38.100 of burnout. He said, you can't burn out. You are 0:00:38.100 --> 0:00:40.590 not a candle. I really like this as a framework 0:00:40.590 --> 0:00:44.070 because if you don't think and never believe that you 0:00:44.070 --> 0:00:47.850 can burn out, you're going to make choices that are 0:00:47.850 --> 0:00:53.310 different and are in accordance with sustaining your output, sustaining 0:00:53.310 --> 0:00:56.959 where you want to go, sustaining what you do every 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.180 single day. Because if you didn't think that you could 0:00:59.180 --> 0:01:01.670 burn out, you're not going to burn out. So what 0:01:01.670 --> 0:01:04.220 are the things that I specifically do? While over the 0:01:04.220 --> 0:01:07.700 past five years, alongside my husband and the cartoons, going 0:01:07.700 --> 0:01:11.030 from zero in revenue to creating a company with hundreds 0:01:11.030 --> 0:01:14.240 of employees, with over $150 million in revenue that we 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.270 will generate just this year. Now, don't get me wrong. 0:01:17.270 --> 0:01:19.690 There are moments of overwhelm, but I never think of 0:01:19.690 --> 0:01:23.110 myself as, oh, I'm feeling burnt out because I put 0:01:23.110 --> 0:01:26.380 these things in place that allow me to just integrate 0:01:26.380 --> 0:01:29.470 my work and my life. The first one would be 0:01:29.470 --> 0:01:31.780 I integrate my work in my life. You'll notice I'm 0:01:31.780 --> 0:01:33.790 sitting here in my home right now. I'm not at 0:01:33.790 --> 0:01:36.760 the office. I'm in my sweatpants. I don't know if 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:38.740 you can see this. I'm not that flexible. I'm literally 0:01:38.740 --> 0:01:43.440 in my sweatpants because I'm integrating my work and my life, 0:01:43.440 --> 0:01:46.860 and I don't put these constraints on myself inside our 0:01:46.860 --> 0:01:49.860 business that I have to be somebody I'm not. I'm 0:01:49.860 --> 0:01:52.530 good with my team seeing me and my sweatpants. I'm 0:01:52.530 --> 0:01:54.630 good with them being in my house and things not 0:01:54.630 --> 0:01:57.300 being all put together all the time. When you feel 0:01:57.330 --> 0:01:59.790 burnt out, you might want to ask yourself this question. 0:01:59.790 --> 0:02:02.250 Do you feel like you're having to be somebody that 0:02:02.250 --> 0:02:05.340 you're not? When I feel like I'm having to be this, like, 0:02:05.340 --> 0:02:08.250 perfect version of Natalie that fits in this box, yeah, 0:02:08.250 --> 0:02:11.790 that can be exhausting, because I'm not being myself. But 0:02:11.790 --> 0:02:14.309 if you are being yourself and you're setting that example 0:02:14.310 --> 0:02:17.280 for your team and you're creating that environment in your business, 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.650 you are going to get further and you're not going 0:02:19.650 --> 0:02:21.810 to feel like you have to pretend or put on 0:02:21.810 --> 0:02:26.220 some facade. That's exhausting. You're just being you. The second 0:02:26.220 --> 0:02:28.710 thing that I do in our business to avoid burnout 0:02:28.710 --> 0:02:32.030 is I choose to work on projects that are exciting 0:02:32.060 --> 0:02:35.180 to me. This weekend, there's a weekend. We don't have 0:02:35.180 --> 0:02:37.340 an event, so what am I going to do tomorrow? 0:02:37.370 --> 0:02:40.250 I'm going to record the audiobook for my new book 0:02:40.250 --> 0:02:43.760 that's coming out called Start the Work. This audiobook is 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.430 something that's exciting to me. I loved getting to write 0:02:46.430 --> 0:02:49.070 this book. I was passionate about writing this book. It 0:02:49.070 --> 0:02:51.769 was something that I recognized over the next ten years. 0:02:51.770 --> 0:02:54.350 I was going to be so proud of myself for 0:02:54.370 --> 0:02:57.850 actually finishing, so I don't feel burnt out that I 0:02:57.850 --> 0:03:01.900 have to go record my audiobook. What a gift. And 0:03:01.900 --> 0:03:05.560 a cool thing that today Natalie, at 31 years old, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.300 gets to go do this. If you would have told 0:03:07.300 --> 0:03:09.669 me that I got to do this ten years ago 0:03:09.669 --> 0:03:11.619 and that this is what my career would look like, 0:03:11.620 --> 0:03:14.350 I would be over the moon. I wouldn't have believed 0:03:14.350 --> 0:03:16.540 you that I would be on my second book already. 0:03:16.540 --> 0:03:18.890 And so you have to choose projects that you are 0:03:18.889 --> 0:03:21.950 actually interested in, that you feel are making an impact 0:03:21.950 --> 0:03:25.220 and furthering you in getting to where you want to go. 0:03:25.250 --> 0:03:27.860 Speaking of, if you want to order my new book, 0:03:27.860 --> 0:03:32.389 you should go to Carter ventures.com/start the work. It is amazing. 0:03:32.389 --> 0:03:35.420 I put blood, sweat and tears. Well, I don't know 0:03:35.420 --> 0:03:37.400 that I put blood in and I really didn't sweat 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.890 that much while writing it. And I don't remember crying, 0:03:39.890 --> 0:03:42.140 but I did put a lot of effort and hard 0:03:42.140 --> 0:03:44.670 work into the book. And if you're interested in growing 0:03:44.670 --> 0:03:49.140 and scaling, it has the best tactics. But back to burnout. 0:03:49.140 --> 0:03:52.860 The next thing that I prioritize is my health. I 0:03:52.860 --> 0:03:55.440 work out almost every single day, and I choose to 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.260 eat things that make me feel good, but I also 0:03:58.260 --> 0:04:01.140 don't beat myself up if I'm not perfect in those areas. 0:04:01.140 --> 0:04:04.710 That's how you feel burnt out. You beat yourself up 0:04:04.710 --> 0:04:07.010 and you're frustrated and you're mad at yourself for maybe 0:04:07.010 --> 0:04:10.640 not being the perfect expectation that you have of yourself. 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.160 So I try to eat healthy most days, but if 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.680 I decide that I want to have cake for two 0:04:15.680 --> 0:04:17.780 meals in one day, which might have happened just a 0:04:17.779 --> 0:04:20.029 few weeks ago, I'm not stressed about it. I'm just 0:04:20.029 --> 0:04:22.010 going to eat cake for two meals in a row. 0:04:22.010 --> 0:04:25.010 Who cares? Don't feel like you just have to put 0:04:25.010 --> 0:04:28.010 yourself in this confinement where you're setting all of these 0:04:28.010 --> 0:04:30.500 systems up for yourself, and you feel trapped in the 0:04:30.500 --> 0:04:33.300 decisions that you have to make every single day. Yes, ideally, 0:04:33.300 --> 0:04:36.719 you're making great decisions on behalf of you, your body, 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.930 your business, and the people who depend on you. But 0:04:39.930 --> 0:04:44.070 if you aren't perfect, that is okay. The expectation is 0:04:44.070 --> 0:04:47.310 always so much worse than what reality really is. It 0:04:47.310 --> 0:04:49.440 is not that big of a deal. If you do 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:53.400 not perfectly take care of yourself and do self care 0:04:53.430 --> 0:04:56.830 all the time, do what works for you, where you 0:04:56.830 --> 0:04:58.900 feel like you are empowered by the decisions that you 0:04:58.900 --> 0:05:02.110 make each and every day. One thing that changed everything 0:05:02.110 --> 0:05:06.070 for me as it related to burnout is saying no. 0:05:06.100 --> 0:05:09.910 I say no so often the majority of the time 0:05:09.910 --> 0:05:12.730 I'm saying no. If you want to get lunch with me, no. 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:14.500 If you want to go get dinner with me, no. 0:05:14.529 --> 0:05:16.599 If you want to go see a movie, nope. Not 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.239 going to happen. I'm not interested in doing things that 0:05:19.260 --> 0:05:22.890 don't interest me. And oftentimes as business owners, especially if 0:05:22.890 --> 0:05:25.770 you're starting out or you're just getting going, you're having 0:05:25.770 --> 0:05:29.580 to break the habits and break the routines that you've 0:05:29.580 --> 0:05:32.099 been in in the past. And you've likely had more 0:05:32.100 --> 0:05:35.099 time in the past than you do today. By saying 0:05:35.100 --> 0:05:37.890 no to things that are not getting you closer to 0:05:37.890 --> 0:05:38.700 your goals. 0:05:38.700 --> 0:05:39.360 You are. 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:43.719 Freeing yourself of the burnout. You're freeing yourself of the 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.900 expectation that your family members put on you. Your friends 0:05:46.900 --> 0:05:49.479 might put on you. Complete strangers might put on you. 0:05:49.510 --> 0:05:51.880 You're just saying no, this is not the right time 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.620 for me now. One of my hacks for this is 0:05:53.620 --> 0:05:55.299 if I'm going to say no to somebody, I'm going 0:05:55.300 --> 0:05:57.010 to say, oh, you know, this is a season for 0:05:57.010 --> 0:05:59.620 me where I'm just not doing those types of things. 0:05:59.620 --> 0:06:02.650 Maybe it's going shopping with friends or going out to lunch, 0:06:02.650 --> 0:06:05.620 or having dinner with family a couple times a week. 0:06:05.650 --> 0:06:08.429 You're in a season of sacrifice and you share that 0:06:08.430 --> 0:06:11.370 with the people that are asking you to spend time 0:06:11.370 --> 0:06:13.350 with them. And then if you're out of the season 0:06:13.350 --> 0:06:16.050 of sacrifice and you want to go spend time with 0:06:16.050 --> 0:06:18.600 those people, go for it. But if at that point 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.460 you still don't want to spend time with those people 0:06:20.460 --> 0:06:22.020 and they are not helpful to you and they are 0:06:22.020 --> 0:06:24.000 not supportive of you, and they're not getting you closer 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.760 to where you want to go, you can still say no. 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.370 Just because somebody asks you for something doesn't mean that 0:06:29.370 --> 0:06:31.830 you have to actually do it. And this is one 0:06:31.830 --> 0:06:35.480 of the most effective strategies for not having to deal 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:38.479 with burnout. If you're really struggling with burnout in this 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.270 particular moment, one of the hacks that I used to 0:06:41.270 --> 0:06:47.780 use that helped me significantly was watching something that was funny. 0:06:47.990 --> 0:06:50.089 Brian and I went through a really stressful time a 0:06:50.089 --> 0:06:52.549 few years ago, and there was nothing that we could 0:06:52.550 --> 0:06:54.830 talk about. There was no person that we could go 0:06:54.830 --> 0:06:57.090 to dinner with that wouldn't just pull us back to 0:06:57.089 --> 0:07:02.310 this place of stress and friction and anxiety. So instead 0:07:02.310 --> 0:07:07.890 of having conversations, we started watching the TV show Impractical Jokers. 0:07:07.890 --> 0:07:10.800 And for 30 minutes every night, he and I would 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.890 just laugh hysterically and take our minds off of the 0:07:13.890 --> 0:07:16.590 thing that was stressful. Because at that moment, at 9:00 0:07:16.590 --> 0:07:19.290 at night, you're not doing anything productive to solve the problem. 0:07:19.290 --> 0:07:22.480 So we loved watching Impractical Jokers. It got us through 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.320 this really stressful period. And still today we learned something 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.920 from that, which is when things are stressful and they're difficult, 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:32.830 you can still make time to laugh. There are still 0:07:32.830 --> 0:07:35.410 things in life that are funny that you can joke about, 0:07:35.410 --> 0:07:38.380 that you can be playful with. And just yesterday there 0:07:38.380 --> 0:07:40.300 was something that came up that was a little bit 0:07:40.300 --> 0:07:43.030 difficult to handle, and he walked in and we did 0:07:43.030 --> 0:07:46.350 this whole funny skit about how it's ridiculous that everybody 0:07:46.350 --> 0:07:49.110 is just like clapping when they see Brandon, and everyone 0:07:49.110 --> 0:07:50.880 gets so excited to see Brandon. And yet most of 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.370 the time he's like all grumpy. And so we did 0:07:53.370 --> 0:07:55.110 this little skit and we laughed about it, and we 0:07:55.110 --> 0:07:57.840 totally took the stress and pressure out of the moment 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:01.140 of the surrounding circumstances. So if you're dealing with burnout 0:08:01.140 --> 0:08:03.420 right now, maybe you just need to find a way 0:08:03.420 --> 0:08:06.930 to laugh and to bring people into your environment who 0:08:06.930 --> 0:08:09.880 allow you to have a good laugh. I truly believe 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.310 that there is a way to build and scale a 0:08:12.310 --> 0:08:17.500 remarkable business without feeling the stress and pressure and bringing 0:08:17.500 --> 0:08:21.310 that burnout feeling into everything else that you do. You 0:08:21.310 --> 0:08:25.960 can make very distinct choices to help you enjoy the process, 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.830 to help you experience it in its fullest. Learn from 0:08:29.830 --> 0:08:33.390 those moments. Appreciate the moments when things aren't so stressful, 0:08:33.390 --> 0:08:37.050 so that when you do go into seasons that are challenging, 0:08:37.050 --> 0:08:40.079 you have those positive moments that you can reflect on 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.030 and say, oh, it was worth it to go through 0:08:42.030 --> 0:08:43.980 that thing back then, because I got out of it 0:08:43.980 --> 0:08:46.500 and was able to create this. So now I'm just 0:08:46.500 --> 0:08:49.020 going through one of those seasons again. But it will end. 0:08:49.050 --> 0:08:52.200 I will get out of it, and it's not forever. 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.150 As long as you can keep that mindset in place, 0:08:54.150 --> 0:08:55.590 you will be successful.