It’s an indicator that something needs to change.

A lot of people use burnout as an excuse for why they are not doing what they say they need to do. They find themselves unmotivated, lethargic, tired, exhausted, fatigued, uninterested, distracted, down, and a whole litany of other low energy states of being. Not fun, but…

Burnout is useful.

Burnout is trying to tell you something. The question is, ‘what?’

Possibility #01: Your Goals No Longer Inspire You

Humans need to make progress towards meaningful goals. If we feel like we are not making progress, we eventually want to quit (and probably should). Likewise, making progress towards a goal that is not longer meaningful feels like putting a ladder against the wrong building and climbing with everything you’ve got…

Massive action without a meaningful destination confuses motion with accomplishment.

Your Goals Need to Be Meaningful To You

Your goal needs to be meaningful to you. If it’s not, a few things might be true. First, you may have forgotten the larger context – the reason why you created the goal in the first place. If that’s the case, it’s time to remind yourself that this goal is a waypoint or milestone on the way to a bigger, more meaningful goal. If that’s not the case, the goal may no longer be relevant to you…

If you or the environment around you has changed, it may be time to update your goals accordingly.

Did Your Reach Your Goal & Keep Going?

Finally, it’s possible that you achieved your goals but kept doing the activity. This can feel like you are expending effort and energy for no reason. If that’s the case, then it’s time to create new, meaningful goals that will pull you forward.

When You Accomplish Your Goals, Set New Goals

This seems simple, but you would be surprised at how often highly-intelligent, motivated people will start to feel unmotivated only to realize they already hit their goal. Consciously, they are focused on ‘doing the thing’ but their unconscious mind knows they already won the prize. If this happens to you, set new goals but make sure to clearly define how you will know when you have reached them and then put a recurring practice in place to measure your progress.

Possibility #02: Your Old Strategies Have Expired

If your path up the mountain is going to exhaust the climber long before the summit, stop and look for another way up. Nobody is handing out trophies for working yourself to death.

Put another way…

If your old goals are still pulling you forward, but your strategy is running you into the ground, guess what you need to change. You got it – your strategy.

For decades, my strategy was to outwork everyone around me. I slept 4-5 hours a night. I was intensely focused on achieving my objectives. It worked (very well). Nobody could compete because I had more hours to focus on the projects in front of me. While they were sleeping, I was making progress. The results compounded. But that strategy had an expiration date…

Once I had a family, working all the time didn’t work anymore – instead of causing ‘system success’ it started contributing to ‘system failure.’ A friend shared a little wisdom when he said, ‘Having coffee with her at 22 will never make up for missing time with her on the playground now.’ Thanks friend – that was exactly what I needed to hear.

When your environment, values, or responsibilities change, your strategies need to change as well.

Strategy Side Note: A lot of my clients take off like a rocket ship after they realize and replace childhood strategies subconsciously running different areas of their lives.

Possibility #03: You Need to Recharge Your Batteries

As the saying goes, ‘All work and no play…’

As a coach to high-achievers, I can tell you that many of them have a super-human work ethic. A few don’t have an off switch. That has it’s pros and cons. One pro includes being able to make incredible progress in record-breaking time. A con includes that progress coming at a high-cost to other areas of their lives, primarily health and relationships.

When we initially start working together, many find it hard to actually relax. Their version of relaxing is still productive in some way (e.g. working beside the pool, taking a vacation but being on their phone or taking meetings, etc.).

For some, relaxing equates to ‘being lazy’ and being lazy feels awful when you define your value based on productivity.

I’m not judging. I can still remember the first time I went on a beach vacation and didn’t bring a yellow legal pad, tablet, or phone to keep me company under the umbrella. I was in my late 40’s. I remember saying to myself, ‘I can’t just sit here (like a lazy piece of shit).’ Pardon my language, but that’s exactly what I was saying to myself. If you know, you know. It felt wrong (until it didn’t)…

Relaxing was something I had to learn how to do. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

If you find it hard to relax, consider this…

Even sophisticated, expensive machines require occasional down time and maintenance. You wouldn’t want to fly on a private jet that skipped its annual maintenance because ‘the plane didn’t want to be lazy.’ In fact, I’m betting you would want to know for a fact that plane is receiving top-tier maintenance before you trust it with your life. Why do you think other people don’t feel the same way about you?

As my wise friend Gina Worful once said to me (before I finally learned how to relax), ‘Nobody wants a depleted coach, Jason’. Ouch! Thanks for making me live longer, Gina. Love ya.

If this resonates with you, you are probably more productive than most of the people around you while simultaneously feeling like you are not doing enough. I get it, and…

Sometimes, you just need to recharge your batteries.

TL;DR: Burnout Is Telling You To Change Something

Burnout is simply telling you that something is out of alignment. It’s trying to help you. Do whatever you have to do to zoom out and get some perspective.

If your goals are still meaningful, you may need to adjust your strategy or build in some rest and recovery. If you have already hit your goals, set new meaningful goals. If your strategy is running you into the ground, change your strategy.

Burnout isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of a new way forward.