Hustling less will get you more
Here’s the right way to do it
When I was a newly-minted PhD and young sociology professor, I had two jobs.
Day job: Teaching.
Actual job? Publishing my research.
This obviously involved writing. But the more I tried to sit down and write, the harder it became.
I tried all the obvious productivity and writing hacks. I changed my environment. Made writing part of my morning routine. Downloaded more than one fancy app to streamline my writing process. I was working harder. Thought I was doing everything “right”.
But none of it worked. I always felt overwhelmed and behind. Stressed. I didn’t fully realize it at the time, but I was burnt out.
My guess is, if you’re reading this, you can relate.
You want to be more productive- so you can stop taking work home with you, pay attention during your kid’s soccer game, and have a semblance of work-life balance.
But you’re going down the SAME path I did- looking for productivity fixes and hustling even more, just to keep up.
It’s not working, but working harder (and harder) is all you’ve ever known.
It’s clear you need a different approach - you just don’t know what that approach would be.
(Yet!)
Rest assured, in this blog post, we’re going to change that.
You’re going to learn why more hustling and productivity tools will actually not make you more productive if you’re already burnt out. In fact, they can often do the opposite.
And I’m going to spell out 3 surprising strategies you can adopt instead that’ll help you get more done in less time, regain your focus, and become even sharper and more creative at solving your most challenging problems at work.
This is what tackling burnout looks like. So let’s dive in!
WHy “optimizing productivity” Can fail
Let this sink in: if you’re exhausted, nearing (or at) burnout, and struggling to be more productive, then more struggling won’t help. More hustling won’t help, either. And for sure, more productivity tricks won’t help.
Even the ones that top CEOs use.
If anything, these approaches will just suck up more of your time, and push you further towards burnout.
Here’s why…
When you focus on optimizing productivity, you’re addressing A surface-level symptom- rather than solving the root problem.
You’re asking the question: “How can get more done in less time, more effectively?” Totally valid! But declining productivity (as well as declining focus and motivation) are actually symptoms of a bigger problem: BURNOUT.
Instead, you need to ask “How did I become so burnt out (and therefore less productive)?” Addressing that problem will get you farther.
Take my client, A, for example. She’d been falling behind on an important project at work. And so she tried a couple proven time-blocking and prioritization strategies to get more work done.
But they didn’t work for her because she immediately was faced with two obstacles:
First, she struggled with setting BOUNDARIES around her work. Literally, she couldn’t seem to carve out the uninterrupted time required to get stuff done. And second, when she was able to set aside time for deep work, she felt ANXIOUS and distracted and got little accomplished.
Her productivity problems ran deeper and couldn’t be fixed by even the best, most effective, proven productivity tools. She needed something more.
Another reason relying on productivity hacks doesn’t work for the truly burnt out —> It just makes you more exhausted.
Here’s what often happens: like a good high-achiever, you research all the possible new routines and habits you could adopt. You download the hottest new productivity app and spend hours watching YouTube videos on how to use it.
You expend a LOT of time and mental energy to ultimately fix the fact that you’ve got too little time, you’re exhausted, and can’t focus.
And you end up even more exhausted and unproductive than you were in the first place.
Trust me, when I was in that stage of burnout where I’d just sit in front of my laptop, getting ready to write, I got really good at procrastinating. And researching the best writing routines- that really do work for writers who aren’t burnt out- became one of my procrastination go-to’s! But they didn’t work for me.
Ultimately, spending all that energy optimizing productivity feeds into your tendency towards hustling and urgency- a couple of the main drivers of burnout in the first place.
If productivity hacks and more hustling haven’t been working for you, then now is a good time to PAUSE and stop pushing so hard.
More of the same will only produce more of the same: more burnout. Less focus. More fatigue. Less to show for all the hard work you’re putting in.
So here’s your task before we go any further:
—> Can you let go of the idea that working more or harder will make you more productive?
And can you imagine what it might look and feel like to get off the human hamster wheel even for just a moment?
If yes, you’re already on the road to restoring your energy and capacity- so you can get more done in less time, and with more ease.
Let me show you 3 strategies to make this happen.
3 Strategies to boost productivity that Actually work (and don’t require working more)
First, some straight talk.
Sometimes you DO need to hustle! And turning to productivity hacks so that you can make the most of that hustling is not inherently bad.
IF you’re not already burnt out and depleted, and simply want to optimize your performance, then it makes good sense to implement the best tips and tricks around workday productivity.
—> I listed my favorite ones in this blog post.
In fact, it’s the kind of thing I’d share with my clients- BUT!!! Only once they have the energy and capacity for it.
That’s the key right there- you need to have energy and capacity for it! Because deep down, burnout has depleted your capacity to get stuff done, and your energy on every level- physical, mental, even emotional.
The three strategies I’m sharing below will help you restore that energy and capacity- so you can become the productive powerhouse you know is inside you!
Strategy #1 - Adopt this mindset: Rest is productive
I know from both personal experience and conversations with countless high-achieving women that there’s a certain degree of guilt and anxiety that comes with the idea of RESTING- or doing anything that’s not overtly “productive” in some way. Especially when your calendar’s already packed.
So the first strategy you must adopt is a mindset shift.
It may sound strange, but if you’re knocking on the door of burnout and want to be more productive, then you need to DO LESS.
When you’re burnt out, by definition, you don’t have the capacity to do more. In fact, you don’t have the capacity to do what you’re currently doing, or else you’d be ending work at a decent hour and also enjoying your life.
You’ve been operating in “on” mode for too long, hustling from one thing to the next, with little space in-between. And no one - I repeat, no one - can think clearly, solve complex problems, or communicate effectively when they’re constantly “on”.
What you need is more off time, where you’re neither doing nor thinking about work.
—> IT’S WHAT WORKS.
Let me prove it to you: have you ever noticed that your best ideas often emerge when you’re in the shower? You’re washing your hair, you’re relaxed, feeling the warmth of the water beating on your back. *And suddenly you have an epiphany!
(I can distinctly remember a lightbulb moment in the shower during grad school, when I came up with my dissertation’s analytical model.)
My client, A, experienced something similar. She noticed that when she’s up against a challenging problem in her work, if she allows herself to take a break and go do something completely unrelated- like go for a walk or fold laundry- the solution often comes to her.
These aren’t just random anecdotes.
They reflect what neuroscience already tells us: that creativity and complex problem solving improves when we’re in a state of relaxation- when your nervous system is in the “rest and digest” state instead of “fight-or-flight” (I’ll get into that below).
So if you’re feeling resistance to taking a break from work or doing something unproductive, try reminding yourself: rest can be productive!
And then take a break, even if just for five minutes.
Often, doing something unproductive is the only way to become better at your job.
Strategy #2 - Add more joy to your life
The best kind of productive rest? It’s when you’re doing something you love, where you feel joy and fun, or where you just get lost in what you’re doing- where time flies.
For years, I didn’t have this.
No hobbies. No sports except the occasional run around the neighborhood or hot yoga class. But even those things weren’t really ‘joyful’.
Truth is: I wasn’t having fun.
At all. And the most surefire way to know you’re never having fun is when you encounter that moment when you actually do feel joy and you realize: “Hey, this is amazing! I feel like I'm on vacation!”
I discovered that when I learned to surf.
Let me be clear: I was not any good at it. I’m still low-level average. But you don’t need to be good at something to have fun doing it.
I’ve found that when I’m struggling with work, often a good surf is what I need to restore my energy, especially on a mental and emotional level.
In fact, having fun on a regular basis is so important that I don’t just count it as a way to improve productivity- but as an integral part of any burnout recovery (or prevention) strategy- including the one I teach my clients in THRIVE.
(THRIVE is my burnout recovery private coaching program for high-achieving women).
Here’s what I recommend they (and YOU) do to have more FUN:
Identify what really lights you up, lifts your energy, and feels joyful. You can start by simply making a list. This could include people, places, and activities- even ones you’ve never tried but would like to try.
Do a little experimenting. Depending on how burnt out you are (and if you’re not sure, definitely grab my Burnout Freedom Roadmap and complete the self-assessment in there), you might feel like nothing could give you joy. But you still need to try! Experiment. Do new things. Get back into old hobbies. Learn what makes you happy.
Commit to inserting joy into your life on a daily basis. You must consciously plan it out, slotting it into your calendar just as you would any other important appointment, and then setting boundaries to protect it.
This doesn’t mean you need to go surfing every day- heck, I don’t have time for that, especially in the winter when the days are so short.
But maybe it means you surf (or do whatever is your thing) twice a week, and you find smaller things that bring you joy and that you can experience on other days. Like a phone call with a friend. Or sitting in a cafe with a good book.
Bottom line: the more you have to look forward to that brings you joy, the more you expand your energy and capacity to get work done- including work that’s creatively challenging.
Not to mention, the more you’ll actually enjoy living your life!
Strategy #3 - Learn to Regulate your nervous system
When it comes to energy, mood, focus, even productivity… all roads lead back to your nervous system.
I mentioned above that we often come up with our best ideas when we’re relaxed. The way you help yourself get into that state more often is through regulating your nervous system.
By ‘regulating’, I mean you need to re-wire how your brain and body respond to perceived stress- so that you’re not living in a constant state of fight-flight-freeze. (And if you’re in any stage of burnout, I can guarantee you’ve been living too much of your life in that state for too long.)
This is the foundation of most of the work I support clients with in THRIVE. We’ll use a variety of approaches- including somatic, body-based techniques- to get you to a place where you don’t get triggered by the small things, where you can deal with stress from a place of calm, and where you have energy and focus when you need it, but can relax when you want to.
You can’t do this overnight. But with time and consistency, you’ll notice a huge difference in your mood and energy.
To start, try this:
Take slow, deep belly breaths to stay calm in stressful situations- even if that stressful situation is you stepping outside your comfort zone and trying to do something just for fun.
Move your body every day. Save the intense cardio for another time and instead try easier movement- like going for a walk in nature or taking a relaxing yoga class.
Get 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. Sleep deprivation can make you more reactive to small stressors during the day.
Each of these action steps sends a signal to your nervous system that you’re “safe” and can relax - and puts you in a better headspace to tackle your work when you need to!
“but I can’t Rest! Now what?”
I know what you’re thinking…
You now understand, in your logical mind, that rest and having fun is productive. You believe it’s possible (at least for some people).
But try as you might, you just CAN’T DO IT!
Whenever you try to take some time away from work, you feel restless and anxious. You can’t stop thinking of work. You’re worried that things will fall apart.
If you do manage to pull yourself away, you fill the void with other “productive” activities- never really giving your brain any ‘off time’.
This is when you need to DOUBLE DOWN on strategy #3- nervous system regulation.
To get to that space in your body and mind where you can enjoy resting, and where rest can do its job of helping you get ‘unstuck’ from burnout and back to operating at 100%, you need to retrain your nervous system so that you feel safe to rest- where it feels safe and ‘ok’ to take a break from work.
And where you can let go of the worry around “What will happen?” and “Am I doing enough?” and place trust in yourself and your abilities.
This nervous system work can include the ideas I offered above- breath, movement, sleep- but it usually needs to go far beyond that, to the kinds of work my clients do in THRIVE:
✔️ You need to become intimately aware of how your body responds to stress.
✔️ You must learn how to “read” your own body’s language and use it to help guide your actions.
✔️ You need to step outside your comfort zone, little by little, and teach your nervous system to interpret rest, in all its various formats, as ‘safe’.
✔️ And you need to identify and unravel the key habits and behavioral patterns that keep you from resting and got you burnt out in the first place .
—> I’m talking about perfectionism. Hustling till you drop. Overachieving. People pleasing. Being overly ‘helpful’. I bet you can identify with at least one of these.
At some point in your past, those habits and mindsets worked well for you! They made you feel safe and comfortable by assuaging your deepest fears about your self-worth, the things you can’t control, and your uncertainty of the future. To a large extent, they were the key to your achievements.
But now they’re bringing you down, keeping you burnt out, and preventing you from reaching the next level of success in your career and life.
It will feel scary to let them go.
You won’t like the sensations coming up in your body (that’s your nervous system reacting). And you’ll come up with excuses and rationalizations every time you try to step out of your comfort zone. You’ll want to believe those excuses are valid.
But you can retrain your nervous system so that taking that scary action feels less and less scary. And makes you feel less and less anxious. Until you’re regularly setting boundaries, taking breaks, having fun… and yes, it actually feels fun.
This is real success.
This is also where having support and guidance becomes so critical.
It’s hard to do this work alone. It’s why I created THRIVE- to make it easier and faster for high-achieving women to get some rest, have fun- and still keep growing in their career.
Ready to make rest your productivity superpower?
If you’ve been hustling to stay productive at work, I get it. You’ve been using the tools you had available, that worked for you before.
But it’s time for a different approach.
In THRIVE, you’ll learn to use rest and the power of your nervous system to supercharge your productivity, your energy, and your life.
THRIVE is my 6-month private burnout recovery coaching program, specifically designed for high-achieving women who want it all: good health, a successful career, and a fulfilling life.
When we work together inside THRIVE, I’ll help you:
✔️ Reignite your energy and restore your capacity quickly using foundational self-care that fits easily into your daily life- simple nutrition, movement, and sleep.
✔️ Cut the overwhelm and anxiety and shift to feeling more calm and in-control, through setting boundaries and learning to regulate your nervous system using proven mind-based and somatic approaches.
✔️ Achieve your next level of success, on your own terms, by re-aligning your career and life with your core values, and refocusing on what truly brings you joy.
So if working less and having more fun- without giving up everything you’ve achieved- sounds good to you, then let’s make it happen. Click below to learn more and book your free Burnout Breakthrough Assessment call:
