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March 8, 2023 13 mins

No Motivation To Do Anything? Steps For When Your Feeling Burnt Out!

 

In this episode, we talk about how to overcome burnout and also how to avoid burnout! If you’re feeling exhausted and tired all the time, then there’s a good chance you’re burnt out!

 

In this ep, I share my personal experience of having no motivation to do anything and what I realised can really help when we’re feeling burnout out.

 

So if you feel like you’re exhausted and tired all the time, this podcast is dedicated to you!

 

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Episode Transcript

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(00:01):
You're now listeningto the Self-Development Collective,
a podcast in community full of inner workand self-development ideas
to help us get unstuckand become the person we truly want
to be.
Hey, guys, and welcometo the Self-Development Collective.
So in this episode I want to talk aboutwhat to do when we have no motivation,

(00:23):
when we feel exhausted,when we feel burnt out.
Yeah, this is something that I found
really challenging towardsthe end of last year.
I was really struggling to get motivated.
I was struggling to trust in myself.
I felt lost.
I just felt really burnt out.
Candles definitely burnt on both ends.

(00:44):
I was exhausted all the time.
No matter what I did, no matterhow much I slept, I just felt so tired.
So what do we dowhen we're really struggling?
When we're feeling burnt out,
When we're feeling like we've gotno energy left to do anything anymore?
So this is what this episode is about.
And I'm going to just share
a couple of tips that howa couple of steps that really helped me

(01:05):
at the end of last year in this yearto sort of get moving again.
So, yeah, let's get into it.
So the first step when you're feeling
no motivation,when you're feeling burnt out.
Firstly, and I know
this is something that I do a lot,I tend to ask myself, why am I so tired?
Why can't I do this?

(01:26):
And instead of asking ourselveswhy, it's probably, in my experience,
a bit more helpful to ask ourselveswhat is my body telling me right now?
What am I doing thatis making me feel like I have no energy?
What is taking most of my energyright now?
And then taking a rest?
And I think the thing is, like a lot of usare looking at this solution

(01:47):
to try and see how we can immediatelyget motivated again and have more energy
without taking that minuteto actually give our body
a risk and trust that our bodyis trying to tell us something.
So the first thing that I want to suggestis if you're feeling burnt out,
it's usually a sign that our energy,most of our energy is going out
and very little energy is coming backin. Right?

(02:08):
And that's definitely the case for me.
I was just doing everythingtowards the end of the
my relationships were
taking a toll because I was tryingto be everything to everyone.
And I finally recognized thatI just needed to take a minute and stop.
And that's exactly what I did.
I think really strong boundaries
towards it, like over the summer holidaysand said, Nah, I need a minute.

(02:28):
I need some time to chill outno matter obviously, no matter what.
Like my husband's quite energeticand he likes to do things over
summer and I was like, No,I just need a minute.
So that's the first step, I wouldsay, trusting what's going on for yourself
right now.
Trust in your body
and give yourself a rest and set firmboundaries around that rest.
Because I knowdepending on your situation,

(02:50):
maybe you've got like me, like a partnerwho's
bouncing off the wallsand always wants to do something.
And it can be really easy to get swept upin that energy and forget our own needs.
So again, trust your bodyif you are feeling burnt out,
if you are feeling
like you have no motivation,if you're feeling exhausted all the time,
it's it's a sign that your body needsa minute, that your body and your mind
need a minute and trustthat it's not that you're incapable, it's

(03:13):
not that you're not trying.
It's literally that you'reyou need a minute, that you need a rest.
And that's somethingI had to recognize with myself.
So step one, if you are feeling burnt out,if you're feeling no motivation, don't
try and focus on how you can get motivatedand how you can get more energy.
Take a rest.
Give yourself, give your body that minuteto just or that moment to take a rest.

(03:33):
And for me, that looked like a whole weekof doing nothing.
No walking,you know, usually quite healthy.
I was kind of lax on the eatingand thought,
whatever, I just need to take a minute.
And that's exactly what I did.
And by the way, I don't mean actually thatthat's just a term that I use.
But I took whatever timefelt like long enough for me.
So I took about a week and a halfand it was amazing.

(03:54):
Yeah.
So whatever that looks like for you,take a moment, take a breather, take some
time out.
Let's get to point number two.
Now, this is interesting
because when we are feeling burnt out,when we're exhausted,
we immediately think again, like,what can I do to get motivated?
What can I do to get moving again?
But I do think and in my experienceand something that helped me

(04:15):
this summer was to first go backand realize, what am I moving towards?
What am I trying to take action towards?
And this goes back to our vision, right?
What we want from our lives, our values,what's meaningful to us?
How can we live a lifethat truly reflects who we want to be?
What does that look like?
And because the thing we burn out,the thing with resentment,

(04:36):
the thing with exhaustion is we tend tospend a lot of time expending that energy.
And it's not just about taking restand then try to expend the energy again.
It's also about acknowledgingand trying to see where that energy went
and whether that energy that we usewas productive
in terms of it was heading towardswhere we want to go in our lives.
And that was something for me,for example,

(04:57):
I really had to look atI can't I'm, I'm exhausted.
So I've taken a risk.
And then I looked back onwhat type of life do I want?
What what do I want for myself this year?
What's my vision?
What are the thingsthat are important to me?
What do I value?
And then looking at where my energyhad gone over the past year
and I definitely didn't put as much workand time into my work, into this work.

(05:21):
And I recognized that and I had to look atwhat was burning me out,
what was taking that energythat I could have used here
and where was I putting it.
And so to me,
I could see some relationshipsthat were taking a lot of energy.
I could see a couple of thingsthat I was doing
in terms of my own physical healththat was taking a lot of energy
the way that I was pushing myself, thelack of rest that would take more energy.

(05:43):
And so firstly, I was like, okay,I can see that
this is where my energy was going,but this is where I want to go.
So re
reevaluating and I like to say
realigning myself, looking at whereI want to go, who I want to be.
So that would be the next step.
Instead of just trying to figure outhow you can get straight
into moving again,think about first who you want to be.

(06:05):
Realign, Reassess where you want to go.
What direction do you want to headingbefore you jump up and start moving?
So that would be step two.
Now shift three.
So once I recognized that, I was like,okay, I didn't put my energy in the places
I wanted to in termsof where I want to be.
I looked at my vision. I was like,Yeah, okay, where do I want to be?

(06:25):
Who do I want to be?What's important to me?
The next step is what actioncan I take right now to get me there?
Now, the biggest challengewhen we're burnt out,
when we're feeling exhausted,when we're feeling no motivation at all,
is taking that first step.
Because I think the challenges, again,we have this mentality that we just need
to be ableto feel motivated and jump back into it.
But the thing is,momentum and motivation is created

(06:47):
through momentum,and momentum is created with small steps.
Expecting ourselves to jump straight intoit is exhausting.
Just the idea of it is exhausting.
So for me, I remember I was sitting there
and I was like,okay, I've had a really good rest.
I need to get back into it.
But I'm really strugglingto find that momentum.
I'm really struggling to get moving.
So I was like, okay,what's one small thing I can do today?

(07:09):
Literally,just something that takes 510 minutes.
What can I do?
And the first thing was writing emails.
So I write emails to my email listevery week.
I absolutely love it.
I write things that I've learned,experiences that I've had.
I'd like to share things that have helped.
And I was writing about
this experience actually,so that was really helpful.
When I was just typing, I was like,You know what?

(07:30):
I'm going to sharewhat's going on for me right now
in the hopes it'll help someone else.
And I always like to ask questionsand help,
you know, with that sort of reflection.
And so that's what I did.
I was like, Yeah, that's going to take me10 minutes at the Morris and I did that.
And then the next hour is like, Oh,
that was really good that I wrote thatemail. What can I do next? Today?
But literally I kept it small.
Five, 10 minutes. That's it.

(07:51):
So the next set, that set would bewhat's one small thing you can do?
So once you've had a restand once you've realized
what one small action5 to 10 minutes that you can do that
gets you to like,that's not building that momentum for you.
Now, step fouris something that I constantly
have to remind myselfbecause I am a serial multitasker.

(08:13):
I try to do everything now.
Something that for me takes a lot ofmy energy is the fact that I do that.
So I don't just focus on one task at hand.
I tend to get a bit scattered like,
Oh, I'll just check my emailsand I'll just see this in between.
I'll just do that.And I don't focus on one thing.
I look at this huge list of thingsI have to do and I get overwhelmed.
So my next step would be onceyou started to take small actions, focus.

(08:38):
So what I've doneis I literally simple thing.
I go to weekly planner and I writeeach day one thing to focus on.
So one thing that I can do that day orwork towards and again it's this is like.
So for example, the first one was writean email and the second one
was I can't remember, but it was somethingsmall as well, like five, 10 minutes.
Now the third thing was a bit bigger.

(08:59):
It was to finish one of my pagesfor my product and I was like, okay,
it's going to take a couple of days,but that's fine.
I will continue to focus onthat task every day
until I get it doneand then focus on the next task.
Now that is where focus comes into play.
Choose like one.
And there was this bookI read a long time ago.
It was called The One Thing,

(09:20):
and it was about focusing on the one thingthat's going to make a difference.
So when you've chosen a small action,make sure to stick to like one theme
for each day, one focus for each day
when it comes towhatever you're trying to do.
So especially if it's like workor reading or, you know,
focus on one thing that you want to doand keep that

(09:40):
for and practice that focus, because it'swhen we start to get scattered.
For example, say that you want to do5 minutes of journaling, right?
But then as you start to journal,
you remember something outand you go and do that.
The idea with the focusis that we stick to that task
and we don't move from that taskuntil we've finished it.
And that's been super helpful for me.
So when it comes to small action,make sure that you have like a faint focus

(10:03):
for each day,for each sort of goal that you have.
So again, for meit was making sure that I had one thing
I would focus on each step, those thingsthat are going to make a difference, say
thingsthat are going to get me towards my vision
and then just focus on that onestep each day, not overdo
it and try to fit in 50 thingsbecause that's definitely a habit I have.

(10:23):
So focusing on that one task for that day.
Then number five, step five.
Don't forget to celebrate yourselfwhen I write that five,
that eight for 5 minutes.
I didn't say to myself, Well,I probably should wait longer.
I was like, Great.
But one thing done todayfocused on one thing stayed focused.
I got my email out, which is to meone of the most important things to do

(10:45):
because I love talking to my subscribers.
I love talking about things I've learnedand sharing things and getting feedback.
I've gotten some great repliesfrom people.
That's an exciting celebrate yourself,self-compassion.
Appreciatethe small things that you've done.
So I was really proud of myselffor getting up and doing those 510 minutes
and I spoke to myselfand I celebrated that small moment.

(11:07):
So don't forget, when you're trying
to work through burnout,when you're trying to find that momentum,
especially if you're feeling exhaustedand have no motivation,
it's really importantto celebrate those small moments
because it's really easyto get into that critical part of us
that thinks that we should be doing
more instead of celebratingthe fact that we've done something.
It's about progress, not perfection.

(11:28):
So getting there, getting in thereand doing something for five,
10 minutes will still create momentum,even if we only do 5 to 10 minutes a day.
So those are my tips when it comes towhat to do
when you have no motivation and stepswhen you're feeling burnt out.
So just going back on those numberone is ranked.
Number two is realign.
Number three is choose a small action, 5to 10 minutes.

(11:51):
Number four is to remember to practicefocusing just on that task every day.
One thing, one theme, one task, and five,remember to celebrate.
Remember to talk to yourselfcompassionately.
Remember to be proud of yourselffor what you've done.
Be proud of the fact that you got upand you did five or 10 minutes
and that you know that you're buildingthat momentum for yourself.

(12:11):
So I hope this episode has helped.
It really helped me.
This is literally how I'm here today.
It is the exact steps that I took,and I'm still taking myself
to make surethat I'm giving myself a minute
and to really work through that feeling
of being exhausted and tired all the time,of that feeling of being burnt out.
These are like little small stepsthat you can take

(12:31):
to help you get out of thatand to help you build that momentum again.
But remember, step number
one is to listen and trust your bodyand rest if you need to.
So thank you so much for being here.
I really appreciate it.
I hope that you enjoyed this episodeand I will catch you in the next one.
You're now listeningto the Self-Development Collective,
a podcast in a community full of innerwork and self-development ideas

(12:55):
to help us get unstuckand become the person we truly want to be.
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