How To Avoid Burnout Working 80 Hours A Week

If you have a highly successful career chances are that you're working 60, 70, or 80-plus hours per week.

And at the beginning of your career, all those hours were kinda fun, weren't they?

Almost a badge of honor.

I remember my first job out of college I packed 80-hours Monday through Friday working at a global ad agency.

I thought it was amazing to look out over the city lights from our high-rise building at midnight.

Egad.

Once you’ve worked the 80 over and over again, year after year it wears you out.

Let me ask you…

• Do you ever feel like you like at this point in your career work should be easier, but instead it’s just as hard and takes just as many hours as when you were a grunt straight out of college? I clearly remember thinking once I "made it" to VP, I could sit back a bit while my team pulled the late nights.
• Do you find yourself dreaming of quitting your job or finding a simple vocation that will give you permission to take a break? At one point in the height of my burnout, I accepted a position as a youth director for $24k per year...only to decline the job a few weeks later.
• Are you frustrated that the higher you climb the ladder, the less freedom you have? This is clearly the most baffling and stifling feeling to have earned well, accomplished much, and have absolutely no ability to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

You are not alone.

Women are being told to lean in over and over again, yet when it comes to avoiding burnout you’re supposed to figure that out on your own.

It’s not that your boss or company doesn’t care. Quite frankly, they just don’t know what to do.

To compensate, your company builds an on-site gym.

Your company may also provide a flex-time “policy.”

Your boss tells you to take a few days off and “relax.”

None of which solves the real issue. I mean do you really have time to use the gym?

Here is the REAL problem

Burnout is NOT the result of working too many hours.

Let me say that again…

Burnout is NOT the result of working too many hours.

Burnout is the result of not effectively meeting your biological and psychological needs.

We have evolved to survive and thrive.

And yet when all you are doing is barely surviving you will experience stress, anxiety, burnout, and depression UNTIL you begin meeting your biological and psychological needs.

Let's be clear on what needs actually are.

• You do not NEED to buy a new car. A car is simply a strategy you might choose to meet your need for Autonomy.
• You do not NEED to have a date night with your spouse. A date night is simply one strategy for meeting your need for Connection.
• You do not NEED to take time for yourself - what does that really mean? Instead, you want to choose an action that allows you to experience flow in order to meet your need for Leisure.

Needs are not “buckets”. Needs are not random or individualized. We all have the same exact biological and psychological human needs:

Health, Safety, Connection, Autonomy, Esteem, Purpose, Leisure

No specific order. No hierarchy. All your needs demand your attention at the same time. It's your job to understand which one to give energy to in order to create well-being, freedom, and joy.

And when you learn to master your life by using needs as your compass…you find calm amidst the storm.

You can work a long stretch of 80-hour work weeks and feel centered and balanced as long as you are giving energy to each of your needs.

Let me share what I mean.

Ellen joined our program in search of a balanced life. She works for a company that does not have a work-life balance culture. Ellen is a Director and top contributor who is extraordinarily successful and thus in high demand by her leadership team.

She works internationally and often fields late night conference calls. She is also a single mom to two amazing kids. And she is incredibly involved in their activities, never missing an event.

Yet, at her children's events, there was always her briefcase…and despite her best efforts, she was burning out.

Ellen didn’t need more time.

She needed to understand her needs and which actions she could take that would most effectively meet those needs.

During her eight weeks in our program, Ellen had a hedonistic schedule. Day trips to executive meetings. Out of town visitors from abroad. A company re-org that left Ellen with an entirely new plate of responsibilities.

Did Ellen drown?

No. Ellen learned how to meet her needs for leisure, autonomy, connection, and health despite her chaotic career.

She learned to take control over the moment and allocate time to what she needed rather than pushing hard to “make it through”.

Here is what Ellen told us in week six of her training:

"Another grueling week with international colleagues in town. Early meetings, all day working sessions, and evening entertainment. And of course, there are doctor appointments for the kids, spring concerts, and... the water heater broke this weekend so no hot water!

Would I normally be on overdrive and silently freaking out? Yup. Am I freaked out? Nope.

I’m moving in the most balanced way through this week and feel in total control."

So what about you? Are you burning out? How much longer are you willing to wait to control your career and live a life of well-being? Do you want to take control of your life and enjoy success on your terms?

Let me share with you that it's simple, yet not easy. It takes resolve to step outside your comfort zone.

However, the process of leveraging science and psychology is the only sustainable method that works. And once you scratch the surface with these new skills you’ll be amazed at how peaceful and in control your life will be…

Here's to redefining what's possible for high-achieving women with powerful careers!

Corporate Women Unleashed (CWU) teaches high-achieving and high-powered women how to take control of your career and start enjoying the life you've worked so hard to create.

If this resonates with you, feel free to watch this free presentation on how it's done.

Note: once you register, a replay link will be sent to you if you cannot attend at the scheduled time.