FS 299: Beyond Burnout - How to Work Hard and Enjoy Life with Dr. Sherry Walling

Panel:

• Jeremy Green
• Jonathan Stark
• Reuven Lerner

Special 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.

Links:

• Dr. Sherry Waling
• KEEPING YOUR S**T TOGETHER

Sponsors:

• FreshBooks
• Linode
• Cachefly

Picks: Jonathan Stark

• valuepricingbootcamp.com
• Your Productized Consulting Guide
• howtobulilduourfirstproductizedservice.com
• James Clear: Building Habits – mailing list

Jeremy Green Philip Morgan – Positioning Manual Rueven Lerner

• The New Yorker – Japan’s Rent A Family Industry

Dr. Sherry Walling

• Book: KEEPING YOUR S**T TOGETHER