Burnout is certainly a hot topic right now and I know we all tend to experience it at different points throughout the year, however, according to a 2019 article in the UK Guardian “mid-year burnout” really is a thing.
Who knew?
With July 2nd being the official mid-point of the year (and as we are only a few weeks away from a possible peak) I thought it was a great opportunity to conduct my own micro-experiment to see if fatigue/exhaustion/stress was going to be mentioned in my next conversation.
For the record… this was not intended to be a highly researched, planned, scientific experiment – it was just a quick simple way to do a gut check; so here goes…
A quick view of my calendar showed I had a Zoom appointment with Kennedy later that afternoon.
Perfect – I would use the session to conduct my micro experiment.
BTW: a little background about Kennedy…She is an amazingly vibrant woman. In addition to being a mother of 2 high-schoolers, she is also the Product Manager responsible for planning and strategy at a mid-sized tech company.
Okay…here’s how our conversation started…
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Me: Good afternoon Kennedy, how are you?
Kennedy: Tired!
Me: Hmmm – What’s going on?
Kennedy: I wish I knew. I always seem to have so much to do – and there is never enough time to catch up. Between work, life, the kids, and everything else – I’m completely exhausted and can barely keep it together.
She continued…”To be honest, Kafi – I’m not sure how many brain cells I have for our meeting today but I’ll give it a go.”
Although our scheduled time was limited, I could tell her mind was running a-mile-a-minute so I took the liberty of derailing our meeting for a short while to see if she could shift how she felt before the end of the meeting.
She was unaware of the experiment and we just continued as usual.
Using a simple mindfulness tool, I walked Kennedy through a guided process that helps an overactive mind slow down, pause and release the cluttered thoughts taking up mind space.
After our mini mindfulness session – we rolled right into our originally scheduled agenda discussion.
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As for the results of the experiment…
Kennedy finished the meeting coming from a calm, present and powerful position – she had a new sense of energy and oozed positivity during our time together.
Like all great experiments, they are an opportunity to test a hypothesis and perhaps make a discovery – my data pool was tiny – but never-the-less, it provided an insight.
While “mid-year” burnout may be a thing (according to the Guardian) – I believe burnout has actually become a “continuous and ongoing” thing that can no longer be ignored.
Now, more than ever, it’s super important to equip yourself with tools (so when you don’t have acceddddddddddddddddddddds to the professional support you need) you can be your own Firestarter and keep your flame burning.
If you have a few minutes and you’d to experience the process I walked Kennedy through, firsthand – simply hit reply to this email and put Firestarter in the subject line.
I promise it will only take a few minutes of your time and I don’t bite 🙂
Hit reply – I’d love to hear from you.