1 00:00:03,440 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: Today's tip is to avoid burnout by having something going 4 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: on in your life that you are intrinsically motivated to do. 5 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: I'm borrowing this tip, as I did in earlier one 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,319 Speaker 1: this week, from my friend Neil Pestricha, who is the 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 1: author of the new book You Are Awesome, How to 8 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: Navigate change, wrestle with failure, and live an intentional life. 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:39,279 Speaker 1: Neil shares a story that in college he wound up 10 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: writing for a humor publication called Golden Worlds. He and 11 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: his fellow students had a blast putting issues to gather 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: each week. He devoted countless hours to writing and editing, 13 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: with no compensation whatsoever, but he enjoyed it immensely. Indeed, 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: he enjoyed it so much that after school he got 15 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: a job doing comedy writing. It sounded it would be 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,360 Speaker 1: perfect alas he discovered that once he was writing humor 17 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: for money, much of the alert was gone. Instead of 18 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: creative freedom, he had to write what he was assigned. 19 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,680 Speaker 1: Instead of freely associating with friends to produce content they 20 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: personally found hilarious, he was scheduled to write with certain people. 21 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: He soon found himself unhappy and decided that he was 22 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:26,680 Speaker 1: best off doing comedy writing mostly for fun. There's something 23 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 1: to this. Realms of research shows that when people are 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: intrinsically motivated to do something, they're more creative and tend 25 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: to work harder. Of course, there's nothing wrong with external 26 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: rewards per se. Most of us need to produce an 27 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 1: income if we're going to feed and house ourselves and 28 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: our families. We enjoy being praised and having our good 29 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: work recognized. The trouble is that when we orient ourselves 30 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: too much towards external rewards of any sort, this can 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,800 Speaker 1: become a trap. For instance, Neil started a blog a 32 00:01:56,800 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: great many years ago to share his thoughts on the world. 33 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: He quickly realized that he could figure out how many 34 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: people visited to read those thoughts on the world, and 35 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: he became obsessed with moving that number higher. Pretty soon, 36 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: this led to a cycle of hitting a goal, still 37 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: feeling unsatisfied, and then setting a bigger goal. The ultimate 38 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,080 Speaker 1: result burnout. So how can you avoid this? In an 39 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,359 Speaker 1: article Neil wrote for Harvard Business Review, he suggests asking 40 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:29,520 Speaker 1: yourself about any potential project. Would I do this for free? 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: And I'll suggest a corollary. If no one knew you 42 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 1: were working on this project, would you still find it interesting? 43 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: If your answer is yes, Neil writes, you've found something 44 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: worth working on. This is wonderful and it's a huge 45 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: bonus if you're actually getting paid to do it. I 46 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: know I feel this way about some of my projects. 47 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: I've always wanted to write books, and I still pinch 48 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: myself to realize sometimes that people pay me good money 49 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: to crank them out. But if the answer is no, 50 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: I would not do this for free, be aware of 51 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: This doesn't mean you do it, of course, but it 52 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,239 Speaker 1: does mean that you should let paid work remain paid 53 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: work and not expect more from it than it can deliver. Instead, 54 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: keep asking yourself what you would do simply for the 55 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: pleasure you derive from doing it. You want to have 56 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: something in your life that keeps you intrinsically excited and 57 00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: that you do for its own sake. Whatever that is, 58 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: it's worth spending time on because there's no risk of 59 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: burnout when you spend big chunks of your time doing 60 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: something you absolutely love. In the meantime, this is Laura. 61 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of 62 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. 63 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. 64 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,200 Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at 65 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:02,720 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod. That's be the number four then Breakfast 66 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email 67 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com 68 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:12,320 Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. 69 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch. 70 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For 71 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart 72 00:04:27,160 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 73 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: favorite shows.