Burnout to Brilliance: Crafting a Self-Care Lifestyle

Ever considered a day filled with play before work? Curious how that could help in recharging your batteries and accomplishing all that must be done? Well, this is the episode you don't want to miss. Millions of people are trudging through life getting all the “essentials” done, and burning out by Friday at noon, with nothing left in the tank for playing on the weekends.

Have you ever considered what would happen if you flip the Protestant Work Ethic upside down? Well, I’m doing it! It’s important to be able to recognize your own low battery, your need for self-care, and identify what your unique recharging process looks like.

I hope you’ll find the courage to challenge accepted work vs play ideas, figure out what refuels you, and give yourself the permission to do what it takes.

It’s time for YOU to shine - and it doesn’t need to look like anyone else.

Learn more here:
Get involved!
Core Values Course

Please leave us a rating and review!

Apple: just scroll to the bottom, choose a rating and write a review.

Podchaser (Android): you can go to this link here and leave a rating and review! https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/intentional-optimists-unconven-1406762 

Skillshare: Spark your creativity.
Get 40% Off Annual Membership

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Chapters

• 0:02 The Power of Playing First
• 6:37 Simplifying, Refueling, and Giving Permission
• 11:17 Coaching Program for Accountability and Support

Transcript

Andrea Johnson: 0:02

You're listening to Stand Tall and Own it, the podcast for high performing female leaders who are ready to make an impact by discovering the safety that comes from understanding their own value and exercising their own authority. I'm your host, andrea Johnson, and I'm here to tell you it is time to just truly be you, my strong friend. It's time to Stand Tall and Own it. Hey there, Andrea Johnson here, and I wanted to pop in with what, at least, will be a popular opinion with some, but a very unpopular opinion with others, and it has to do with work versus play. You've heard the old adage you can play when you're finished working. I come from I think I've said this a million more times than I can count the good old fashion Protestant work ethic. Right, you work all day, so then you can play, and a lot of people do that for their entire careers. No, I'm not talking about being an entrepreneur. I'm not talking. That's not what this topic is today, but for sure it is going to turn that work, play, idea and methodology and on its head. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about what it might look like and why you might want to play first and work later. My son is one of those who he would do this every day, so we have to be careful. But at the same time, he's also somebody who will eat his dessert first. My husband will do that every once in a while and I'm like, why are you eating dessert first? Well, because I want to have room for it and I like it. Okay, and you know, as a chronic weight loss person and constantly working on my weight, I eat salad first. It's like fill up on the greens that don't cost you a lot of calories, but they want to enjoy their food and then they eat the stuff that they have to eat. So let's talk about what it's like when we actually flip the whole work versus play on its head and say what happens when you play first and work later.

Andrea Johnson: 2:10

I'm going to give you some examples of why this might need to happen and perfect example of me today and what happened, because it's a very, very good example. The changing of my podcast is a big deal. I have a Trello board that's huge. I have a to-do list that's long and I have my podcast producer is helping me and potentially a virtual assistant who's helping me, but it's still a lot for my brain and every once in a while, my brain just gets tired and gets so full. Well, one of the other things that they don't tell you when you make big business decisions and big changes in your business, it's also going to affect you personally. You are going to grow, things are going to pop up for you that you never knew you needed to work on and they're gonna wear you out.

Andrea Johnson: 2:58

And I feel like I'm getting worn out in all these different areas, and so I found myself this morning Very low on fuel, like Kind of all week and what day am I recording this? On Thursday, and ever since Monday it's like some things have been happening all week long. They just kind of drained my battery. It's not quite getting up to 100%, so I'm starting the day a little bit low. So when I get stuck and when I can't think any longer, or when I'm trying to parse out something or figure out a new problem, learning a lot of new processes, I'm figuring out some legal stuff. I'm figuring out how I want to actually make something happen. That's a lot of like brain noodling, right, it's like a whole lot of figuring things out. My brain just gets really slow. It moves slower and it won't work.

Andrea Johnson: 3:49

I got to a place yesterday where I thought why am I not? I can't even see how this goes together. I can't see how this one flows to that one. I really should walk away. And it's easy to say I need to walk away and do some rest and crash for the night and get some sleep, and when I get up in the morning I'll take care of it. Then what happens when you wake up? And that's where you are and you have a list that's 20 long of things that you really need to accomplish today. Granted, they're all my actual deadlines, but I want to accomplish them. I want to do this. I want for even this podcast episode to be something that you get to enjoy and learn from, and if I don't do the things I need to do, then you don't get the help that you might need, because I'm hoping that, as a listener, this is something that you actually need to hear. So sometimes it's really easy to just push through right. So what do you do when your battery gets really, really low?

Andrea Johnson: 4:50

There's a lot of talk out there about self care. There's a lot of talk about, you know, taking care of yourself first and others later. The problem is, most of us talk about that in ways that are specific to, like, the spa industry. You know it's like oh, maybe I just need to go get my nails done, or I need to go get a massage, or I need to take a nap. My husband's a big napper and he will preemptively take naps when he knows he's got something Wednesday night or when he knows on a Saturday he's worked really hard. He'll take a nap because he knows Sunday morning he's got to show up. He's a pastor.

Andrea Johnson: 5:22

So how do you do the actual recharging? Well, for starters, you kind of have to be willing to know what you need to recharge. For me, it's not going to the spa. I really wish it was, because that it sounds lovely, but the few times that I have been, I have been uncomfortable. Now, granted, maybe that's just something else I need to work on and, like I said, as you level up, you learn the things about yourself that you need to work on. So it may be, but I don't know. Every time I've had a massage I'm like could you stop touching me? You're touching me. This is a thing I know. Don't at me, don't come after me with like. This is what you need to do for a massage, because it's like hot stones sound great, but it's like when you're touching me, it's like stop touching me, right. So for me, that's not a recharging kind of thing. Weird stuff like turning on Netflix and watching a K drama for a little while that's a recharge for me. It's also a checkout for me, so I have to be careful. But one of the things that really does recharge my battery and I just need to know what it is and you need to know what yours are is being able to see a project completed. So, as part of this process is unfolding.

Andrea Johnson: 6:37

One of the things I'm doing is not just simplifying my business and simplifying my podcast, but I'm also simplifying my house. It's been years since I've cleaned things out, but I love working out in the yard. So not only my simplifying things in my house and getting ready things, but I'm also doing stuff out in the yard. I love getting my fingers dirty. It's like I don't know if you can know that the dirt is out from underneath the fingernails, but I spent two and a half hours this morning out in my yard. We have a pool and we have black eyed Susan's around them. All the stuff from last season was out there. It's all these dead black stems sticking up with little snowball looking things on them that are black. Actually it's all black. So now when you go out there, it's all green.

Andrea Johnson: 7:19

But I worked really hard to get that done, and so one of the things that you have to do is you have to know what refills you. So, for starters, if you don't know what refills you, that's where you have to, that's where you begin this process and that's how you know. The second thing is you have to be actually willing to do it First. This idea of playing first and working later is not even remotely a concept that we talk about in the Western world. I don't know where we would talk about this. I don't know who talks about it. I know that some practitioners might, because they're like you have to refuel first, but this is something that I'm going to really pay attention to.

Andrea Johnson: 7:59

I work for myself. I'm getting paid in showing up for my clients in specific ways, but I have control over my schedule. So once I drop my son off at school during the school year, I get to decide the order in which I do my day. So I have to know what refills me, but then I have to be willing to do it. And I had to be willing to say, all right, I don't have another appointment until like three o'clock so I have time to get out there and actually do some work. And so I did and I put on my music and I asked my husband later. I said did you see me out there dancing around? Because you put on some good classic yacht rock and you know, a little owner of a lonely heart with, yes, I'm, I'm all about it and dancing around and tossing weeds in the under the trees and that kind of thing. But it gave me the opportunity to just kind of decompress my brain and let all of that go down and all of it come out. And even just ripping up the weeds felt really, really good. So for me to be able to do that for two and a half hours was great.

Andrea Johnson: 9:06

So I needed to know what it was, I needed to be willing and I needed to give myself permission. This is something that comes up and I'll probably do an entire episode on this idea of permission, because you have to have a certain awareness to know that you even need to give yourself permission to do something. So it's not something I can just go out and tell people you have to give yourself permission. It's like your mom saying or your teacher saying you have permission to have like a study hall, you know, it's like you don't have to do your work. Or I give you permission to take the afternoon off. Well, who gives us, as adults, permission? I have to give me permission myself, right, if I'm, if I'm an employee, it's my employer that gives me permission. If I wanted the afternoon off, I had to ask. And that may be where you are, but in smaller things like this, we have to actually be the ones to give ourselves permission.

Andrea Johnson: 9:59

This is huge, because once I gave myself permission and I was willing and I knew what I needed, I came home from dropping my son off at school, I changed into my work clothes and I went outside and I worked. Now, I came in sore, but I came in fulfilled. So I ask you, number one, where are you on your battery? And what does this concept of because you know they say all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy or Jill a dull girl. Right, but where are you on that continuum? Are you comfortable saying I'm going to play first and then work? Do you feel like if I do that, then I will never, ever work. Well, maybe you have to know yourself there as well.

Andrea Johnson: 10:43

And there's things you can put in place. There's goals you can set up. There's there's accountability you can put together and I have a group for that and and there are apps for that. There's all kinds of stuff for that. There are different ways you could work with me that will actually give you the ability to stay on track with some of those things. But that's a real challenge for you today. Are you willing to say sometimes I just need to charge my battery, I need to know what it needs, what I need. I need to be willing to do it. I need to give myself permission. So if you have this the ability to do that great.

Andrea Johnson: 11:17

If you need some help again, I have a group coaching program. I have one on one clientele that I work with very exclusively. I can do strategic calls. But if you haven't looked at those things, I invite you to look at them. I invite you to work with me in that way, because I am really good at holding people accountable and I do it with what I call gentle accountability. Right, you make a goal. I just ask you if you've met your goal. I ask you how you're doing on that. I check in with you every so often. I have one client who didn't want to meet one to one. She wanted to actually be on text messaging with me. That was new. So I'm open to those kinds of things. Either way, I look forward to hearing whether or not your work and then play, or you're willing to say I play so that I can work Until next time.