What burning out can teach you about working smarter
No.131: Mon 6?Feb?2023
Hi, it’s David here.
Sitting on ‘the blue velvet couch’ taking time to read Community Member Chantaie Allick’s story about how she created a new story for herself.
The metaphoric moment she describes on said piece of furniture is a time that we all need to take for ourselves - a time to decide what, when, and with whom we want to work.
We provide our clients with strategic imagination everyday, but do we ever take the time to stop and think about where we as individuals want to be.
We are currently building out a community of CMO/VP level Marketers who have BeenThereDoneThat and it never ceases to surprise me just how many of them are frustrated with the time wasted working in a way that doesn't work.
(If you are a brilliant marketer or know one, with 15 plus years experience and love working on real problems rather than powerpoint presentations, whether you're in between jobs or in a job, we would love to hear from you.)
As always, curious to hear what you think (or whether you are taking the time to think)...?
David Alberts (Co-Founder and Chief Vision Officer?at BeenThereDoneThat)
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Work smarter, not harder.
Hi, it's Chantaie here.
“Work smarter, not harder.” It’s one of those smug things that life hackers say while you’re drowning in deadlines and just trying to make it through each day. If you’ve ever looked around at your life, the responsibilities and demands on your time from work, family, and employees and wondered how you got there; or dreamt about just quitting and getting a part-time gig at a coffee shop; or been so stressed out and constantly on the go that you can’t see the days for the weeks or months, you’re not alone.
Me too. So, don’t hate me when I say this, but those pompous life hackers may be right. But the type of smart I’m thinking about is actually a wholesale reevaluation of work and its role in our lives.
I came to this realization after finding myself on the blue velvet couch I’d been so proud to buy a few months before sobbing. I’d been working most of my life happily and proudly accumulating expertise and accolades. But in the middle of a pandemic when I needed to be focused on the new business I was growing, I hit a wall. I had nothing left to give and the awards and accolades and couches no longer seemed worth it. I was burnt out.
But unlike most people who burnout, I didn’t take a short break, meditate, and get right back to it.
No. I had already quit my job and was on creative sabbatical. So I spent the next few months learning about burnout, leaning into rest, and discovering the magic of play for neuroplasticity and opening up new ways of thinking and creativity.
This wasn’t about work-life balance, but a full-scale reimagining of the way that we work. Challenging the systems that lead to burnout and refuting the lie that our productivity is our worth and value in the world. Now I find myself helping others do the same.
I had a friend experiencing a similar realization. Together we chose to step off the path of productivity. We prioritized rest and play and discovered new ways to live and work.
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So we developed?Re-Work, a movement to catalyze and support people looking to redefine the meaning of work and worth for the future. It’s about reimagining work and ambition and success on our own terms. A way for anyone who wants to, to get to a healthy, less stress-filled place with the thing we spend most of our lives doing: working.
The true insight is that you’re more creative and get way more and way better work done when you are rested and open to play and experimentation. Now I dive into work every Monday joyfully and eagerly. It took burning out for me to look around at my work life and see that I had given up my physical and mental health and wellbeing to worship at the altar of hard work.
I’m a strategist and communicator at my core, so on the other side of what was an 18-month healing journey, I sat down and identified the process that helped me and others. Then I built a framework to share. We call it the Re-Work equation and if you read every book and article on burnout currently in publication, listen to every podcast, then dive into play research, you’ll likely get to the same equation. It comes down to four steps: (1) recognizing outsize levels of stress in your work life, (2) committing to rest, (3) thereby making room for play, and (4) opening up to creativity and possibility in the workplace. Then you can figure out what working smarter looks like for you.
Re-Work is not about quitting, it’s about re-education. To work differently–be thoughtful about how you structure your work life and activities. I can promise you two things about the journey to working smarter not harder if you choose to go on it: it’s not easy, but it’s certainly worth it.
As always, we are curious to hear what you think.
Chantaie Allick (Community Member at BeenThereDoneThat)
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