Executive Assistants and Burnout Creep

Speaker 2 · 0:05

The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

Jeremy · 0:16

Hey, friends, thanks for tuning in. You are listening to The Leader Assistant Podcast. I'm your host, Jeremy Burrows, and for this episode, I'm going to share an excerpt of my audiobook. My book is called The Leader Assistant, Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant. This book and audiobook, there's also a digital e-book or paperback version. So whichever medium you'd like to soak in your books, you can do so. But The Leader Assistant outlines four pillars, embody the characteristics, employ the tactics, engage in relationships, and exercise self-care. These pillars will help you rediscover your passion for the profession and become a confident, future-proof, game-changing leader assistant. If you neglect even one pillar, you'll head for burnout, stagnation, and anonymity. You are meant for so much more. Are you ready to be the leader assistant the world needs? In today's episode, we're going to talk about Burnout Creep for executive assistants. I'll tell a little bit about my story of burnout, and I hope you enjoy episode 151. The show notes can be found at leaderassistant.com/151. Enjoy! Chapter 23 Burnout Creep Do something, but don't do everything. Anonymous As I dug a hole in my executive's backyard for his soon-to-be-dead dog, the same dog who had a thing for my leg as a puppy more than a decade prior, I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I was glad to help my executive and longtime friend while he was out of town. His in-laws were dog-sitting but weren't physically capable of burying the poor dog if it were to pass on their watch. On the other hand, I had a sense something wasn't right about the whole scenario. Yes, I was the executive assistant and personal assistant, but was I being taken advantage of in this moment? If not, were there other times I had been asked to do tasks that crossed the line? Was I too willing to serve? Unfortunately, I didn't stop long enough to answer my questions that day. Instead, I pushed them aside and kept sticking my executive's shovel into the dry dirt. Another dog and a few years later, I was in the passenger seat of that same executive's truck. We were on our way to pick up his kids from school. He noticed something was bothering me and asked if I was okay. Not really, I said, as I explained that I was exhausted and burned out. He said he wondered why I had been such an asshole of late. It sounds harsh, but he was right. We'd been running at an unsustainable pace for a while, and I hadn't been myself because of it. I didn't have anything left in the tank. Something needed to change quickly, or I was going to continue to be an unpleasant person. He suggested I work remotely from my hometown of Kansas City that next month, which happened to be during the Royals' playoff run. This gave me freedom to be with my family and friends and attend Royals baseball games, one of my favorite things to do. I attended every game in Kansas City that October. I even had the opportunity to be at games four and five of the World Series in New York City to see the Royals win it all. A lifelong dream come true. To this day, I'm grateful my executive gave me time and space to slow down and separate myself from harmful work rhythms. I'm not sure I would have lasted much longer without quitting, or something worse, if not for that month of working remotely. A few months later, that same executive made mistakes that cost him his job. And burnout was a major contributing factor. I wish I could say that he and I are the only people I've seen damaged by burnout. Unfortunately, I know several people with destroyed relationships, careers, families, physical and emotional health, and more, all due to burnout. When you burn out, you don't think straight or see clearly. Your body shuts down. You get desperate. You say and do things you'll regret. And unfortunately, burnout doesn't just jump out and announce itself. Burnout Creep Burnout is tricky because it creeps up when you least expect it. If I had seen my or my previous executive's burnout coming and understood its consequences, I would have tried to prevent it. Instead, it took him getting fired and me getting stuck in the middle of my career glacier for me to realize how unhealthy I was. I worked long hours because I was addicted to the rush of accomplishing tasks and helping others. I was too willing to serve, even when I was being taken advantage of. I rarely took a day off, and when I did, I saw it as an opportunity to work more. Being busy was my excuse to be lazy when it came to caring for myself and my family. Work was my life, a slow cooker recipe for burnout. Work is no longer my life, but I still love to work, so I'll always have to fight burnout creep. For example, yesterday I planned to spend a few hours writing. As I sat down at my laptop, I realized I was exhausted. But instead of pushing through my exhaustion like I do so often, I closed my laptop and spent the rest of the day with my family. It was a small but powerful attack on burnout. I had an amazing time connecting with Meg and the boys, and the next day I was re-energized. Limiting the Effects of Burnout This is where I'm supposed to reveal a list of tricks to help you eliminate any chance of burnout. Well, I hate to break it to you, but if you're trying to be a leader, there's nothing you can do to completely avoid it. If you haven't already, you will burn out at some point in your life. In fact, burnout is the most common glacier you'll face. But don't lose heart. Exercising self-care will help you limit the effects of burnout. Your desire to do more and be more is not inherently bad. However, far too often a desire to produce ends up not producing anything but exhaustion, lack of clarity, and ultimately burnout. It's time to hit the reset button before you crash and burn. We're going to explore the following elements of self-care to wrap up our journey. Recognizing the stressors that can drive you to burnout. Spotting the signs of burnout taking root in your life. Resisting burnout with five practical antidotes. Let's exercise self-care together. I hope you enjoyed this chapter from my book The Leader Assistant. Be sure to check out the entire book or audiobook at amazon.leaderassistant.com. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 2 · 8:10

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