5 Antidotes to Burnout for Executive Assistants

Jeremy · 0:00

A leader assistant has drive, confidence, adaptability, honesty, integrity, and grit. Even on the hard days. Megan E executive assistant in Austin, Texas.

Speaker 2 · 0:21

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

Jeremy · 0:37

Assistants game-changing assistants The Leader Assistant Podcast is brought to you by Goody. If you're starting to think about holiday gifts for your team like I am, Goody is a game changer. They have amazing gifts that people will really love, including brands that give back to charitable causes. As a long-time executive assistant, I've always been nervous about holiday gifting season. But thankfully, Goody's platform lets you send one gift or hundreds at the same time without ever worrying about shipping details. Can I get an amen? With Goody, your gift recipients provide all their shipping info, and they can even swap out your gift for another option if they prefer. It's free to start gifting, and you can get a $20 credit when you sign up. Oh, and if you mentioned you heard about Goody from The Leader Assistant Podcast, Goody will add an extra $10 credit to your account. Go to leaderassistant.com/goody to start gifting today. Howdy, friends. It's your host, Jeremy Burrows. Welcome to episode 190. You can check out the show notes at leaderassistant.com/190. Today's episode includes an excerpt from my book, The Leader Assistant, Four Pillars of a Confident, Game-Changing Assistant. This is actually a clip from my audio book. It's going to be chapter 25 of the audio book. It's called Five Antidotes to Burnout. And as many of you who have listened to the audio book or read the Kindle ebook or the paperback version of the book, you know that one of the pillars to becoming a confident, game-changing assistant is all about exercising self-care. And I talk about burnout stressors. I talk about burnout signs. And in this chapter that you're about to hear, I talk about the antidotes to burnout. So I hope this helps you. Be sure to check out the entire audio book at audio.leaderassistant.com. And of course, if you prefer a paperback or digital ebook version of the book, you can get those on Amazon or other retailers. The short link to the Amazon version is amazon.leaderassistant.com. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Chapter 25 Five Antidotes to Burnout When you experience the stressors and begin to see the signs of burnout, establish new habits and healthier rhythms as soon as possible. The following habits or antidotes to burnout are crucial not just for recovery, but also for shielding your career against the stress of future glaciers. Whether you currently feel energized or run down, set your trajectory in the right direction with these five practical antidotes that will help you resist burnout. Antidote number one. Clearly define boundaries. The first antidote is to clearly define the boundaries of your work schedule. My former executive and I failed to do this, so I would get pinged about work at all hours of the night, on weekends, and while on vacation. I rarely had a day off or a vacation with zero interruptions. Thankfully, I have defined boundaries with my current executive, and it has made a world of difference. For example, every weekend we go offline for at least 24 hours straight. During the week, we typically work evenings on Monday and Wednesday, but not on Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday. This eliminates the daily am I going to get some work done this evening question. Not to mention, our families know when they'll have our undivided attention and when we'll be busy. There are seasons during which we work a couple more evenings and over the weekend. I knew this would happen when I took the job, and I'm okay with the busier seasons because they're the exception, not the rule. Once your work schedule is agreed upon, set the expectation that when you're offline, you won't respond unless it's a true emergency. Speaking of emergencies, think about the last time your executive sent you a text during off hours. Could they have waited until you were back online to address the issue? Would a simple email asking you to take care of it the next day have been sufficient? Most likely, the answer is yes. True emergencies happen, but your executive calling something an emergency doesn't make it a true emergency. Most things can wait. After all, urgent is rarely urgent, so work with your executive to clarify what is or isn't an emergency. Once you've done this, you can make better decisions in those moments of offline panic. Just as important as setting boundaries is setting yourself up to be able to abide by them. When you're at work, be disciplined and focus on producing so you can go home with a sense of accomplishment instead of feeling like you need to work to catch up. Antidote number two. Find a hobby. When I was 17, I taught myself to play guitar, and it quickly became a life-giving hobby. I'd lock myself in a room and practice for hours at a time, late into the night. My parents enforced a curfew, but it just motivated me to learn how to play quietly so they couldn't hear me. Eventually, I got a solid job playing music every weekend for multiple church services, which was a dream come true. After a few years, however, I lost my passion for it. I'd pick up my guitar, but I wouldn't enjoy the music. Instead, I'd stress out about logistics like whether I'd be able to find a drummer that week or whether our venue was available for a rehearsal. When I no longer needed to play music to pay the bills, I assumed playing guitar would reclaim its place as my recreational hobby. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. It still felt like work to me, so I couldn't enjoy it like I had before. Then I made a mistake by failing to replace my old hobby. Instead of finding a new hobby that would allow my mind to create and cultivate, I would work on my days off. Unfortunately, I didn't prioritize my enjoyment of life until years later. These days my hobby is podcasting. I love audio production, interviewing interesting people, and thinking about creative ways to share my show with the world. There will likely come a day when this hobby ceases to be life-giving, and when that day comes, I hope to remember to find a new one ASAP. But until then, I'm enjoying every minute of it. Spending time on a hobby is one of the most practical and powerful things you can do to resist burnout. If you already have one, block out time to enjoy it on a regular basis. If you don't have a hobby, find something you enjoy doing, something that challenges you intellectually, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, socially, or physically. There are thousands of hobbies in the world, so if you need an idea, start Googling. The point is to regularly spend time doing something you enjoy, other than work, something that actively stimulates your mind, not something you passively consume. For example, zoning out watching Netflix or Disney Plus doesn't count. Sorry. Take a minute to choose one or two hobbies you are going to spend time on in the next couple of weeks. Next, schedule hobby time on your calendar and if required, order gear or supplies today so you have what you need when the time comes. Antidote number three. Reduce decision fatigue. As you make more and more choices throughout the day, no matter how big or small they are, your ability to make informed decisions deteriorates. This is known as decision fatigue. For example, if you spend five minutes in the morning choosing what to eat for breakfast or what shirt to wear, you're using up valuable decision making energy that you'll need for that big meeting after lunch. Here are a few tips for reducing decision fatigue. Block off five minutes each night to decide what you're going to wear the next day. Always schedule important meetings where big decisions have to be made for early in the morning before you've exhausted your decision muscles. Have a running list of your and your executive's favorite orders at restaurants you frequent. This way neither of you need to waste mental energy perusing the menu to decide what to get. Plan your daily rhythms so you know when you're going to work out, check email, or read a book. If you don't schedule your activities, you'll have to constantly choose what to tackle next, which can quickly push you to decision fatigue. In short, if you constantly run out of energy by lunchtime, eliminate some of the decisions you make each morning. Antidote number four. Rest well. Resting well isn't easy for driven leader assistance. A day off is seen as uninterrupted time to get caught up on email or finish a project, right? You tell yourself, I can't slow down, there's too much work to do, which is another way of saying, the world will cease to operate if I take a day off. It sounds ridiculous as I say that out loud, but I know this excuse too well because I've made it myself. If you believe you can't survive without working on your days off, you might as well wear a sign on your back that says, Next Stop, Burnout. I don't care if you're the President of the United States, the Queen of England, or the coolest thing since sliced bread. You need rest. Heck, even God rested on the seventh day and Jesus took a nap on a boat in the middle of a storm. Of course, I conveniently forgot all this when I thought everything depended on me. The rest we so desperately need won't happen until we stop pretending the world revolves around us. Let's make it a priority to give ourselves quality time off on a regular basis to rest and recuperate. Now, you might rest a bit every week, but when was the last time you took a real vacation? By real, I mean an extended time away from the office where you didn't check your email or receive a text from your executive. I went several years without taking a real vacation. I bought into the lie that if I took time off, I was lazy. I even had an executive who, when I returned from vacation, would make subtle passive-aggressive comments like, We weren't able to do that while you were gone, or if you would have been here, that wouldn't have happened. Being made to feel guilty about self-care is a surefire sign of a toxic environment, one I didn't see until later, unfortunately. Since my burnout, I've learned to guard my vacation time. I don't care if you call me lazy, say I'm not hustling enough, or make me feel bad for being offline. I'm taking all of my paid vacation time. I refuse to wait until I'm retired to take a vacation. I recently received an email from an assistant about to turn 60. She said the older she gets, the more she realizes how precious time is. She let me know her friend and assistant for 50 years passed away last week. That friend had retired just three months before passing. She told me, You're right not to wait until we retire, because we aren't guaranteed it. We need and must make the most of the time we're given. Another assistant with 27 years of experience told me she'd always said she'd travel when she retires. Then one day it hit her. Why wait? It took a lot of planning, but she took a five-week vacation and hiked 500 miles across Spain by herself. She didn't check her work email once while she was away, and guess what? The world didn't fall apart. What's more, the experience gave her a whole new perspective on life and made her much stronger emotionally, physically, and spiritually. She just bought her plane tickets to head back to Spain next summer for another three-week hike, and she says she can't wait. Leaders celebrate, encourage, and even require rest. Take a few minutes to examine your vacation habits or lack thereof. Do you have regular rhythms of rest built into your schedule? If not, make it happen before burnout creeps in. Being rested is better than being burned out. I know from experience. Scheduling time off is great, but knowing what to do with that time is just as important. Here are a few practices that help me keep my off time from turning into on time so I can rest well. Turn off notifications. Maybe you use your phone to take pictures of your kids or look up barbecue recipes. That's fine, but turn off notifications, rearrange the apps on your home screen, or use the Do Not Disturb feature to your advantage. Sign out of your work email and IM accounts, or lock your devices in a safe. That's what it takes. Eliminate whatever could draw you into work mode. Write down your goals. Before you log off for the weekend, think through three or four items you want to accomplish when you get back from your break. Don't overanalyze how you'll accomplish each one. Just quickly list them out in a journal or email them to yourself. This will help you clear your head so you can enjoy your time off. Sleep. I know it's cool to brag about your lack of sleep in some circles today, but it's not healthy. Try going to bed early or sleeping in and don't feel guilty about either one. If you're tired in the middle of the day, take a nap. The best part about sleeping? You can't work while you're asleep. At least I haven't met anyone who could. Spend focused, one-on-one time with your partner and kids. Go on a walk with your partner. Take each of your kids out for a meal or treat. Play a board game, even if you prefer to call them board games like I do. Watch a movie, then discuss it. Ask your family what they would like to do, then do it with them. And remember, your phone's notifications will be off while you're enjoying your family. Like me, you probably stare at a computer all day at your job, so take advantage of every chance you get to move around. Play tennis, go on a hike, do jumping jacks, or go for a slim. You can go for a run too, but only if something or someone is chasing you. At work, I take the stairs 99.9% of the time. When I'm on phone calls, I pace back and forth in a conference room or go for a walk. I also try to stay active during my free time. My favorite vacations involve hiking all day in the mountains, especially now that I know to avoid glaciers. I hope these practices help you rest well like they've helped me over the past few years. Antidote number five, ask for help. One of the biggest lessons I've learned in my time as an assistant is this. If you want to lead well without burning out, you need help. Trying to do everything yourself won't get you very far and certainly won't be enjoyable. Whether it's a career coach, life coach, physical trainer, or therapist, every leader assistant can benefit greatly from professional help. I'm also a firm believer in letting your executive know when you're approaching burnout. I know it can be intimidating and make you feel like a failure to admit it, but they need to know where you stand. In fact, if you go back and look at the list of burnout stressors, you'll notice most of them have to do with your work environment. The odds are your executive directly contributes to your health, or lack thereof. Be a leader by asking your executive to help you apply the antidotes. Being vulnerable and asking for help could be the most potent weapon you have against burnout. Lead yourself. You may be on your way to burnout, or already there. Or maybe you're recovering from recent burnout. Wherever you are on the continuum, don't lose hope. Learn to lead yourself by being aware of stressors that could cause you to burnout. Keep an eye out for signs of burnout creep. Have the discipline to establish healthy rhythms to counteract burnout trends in your life. Remember my journey on Andrews Glacier? It wasn't over once I crossed it. Our group breathed a big sigh of relief at first, but then my dad saw what was ahead of us, a 45-minute climb down dozens of large wet boulders. He urged us to focus and take each step carefully. One bad step could mean a broken ankle or worse. In other words, we couldn't get comfortable once we conquered Andrews Glacier. There was another challenge in our path. The same goes for your journey. You might think you're in the clear after crossing a major glacier without burning out. You might have bounced back well from previous burnout. But no matter what, don't sleep on burnout. Recognize the lurking dangers. Be thorough and diligent in exercising self-care, and you'll build a sustainable career as a confident, game-changing leader assistant. Thank you.

Speaker 2 · 20:31

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