Whitney recently sat down with comedian Madison Malloy for an episode of her podcast, ‘Next to Madison.’ Each week, Madison hosts a guest expert who provides insight on topics ranging from health and dating to overcoming obstacles and taking risks, all designed to inspire listeners to live their best lives. In the interview, Whitney shared advice around learning to define success on your own terms, how to prevent burnout, and tips for creating a healthy work-life balance.
How to prevent burnout and create healthy work-life balance
If you feel overwhelmed and like you’re at risk of burning out, you’re not alone. So many of us wake up and immediately jump into work, running ourselves ragged only to wake up the next day and start all over again. But, when you have clarity about what’s important in your life and what’s not, you can start to take back your time by shifting your mindset and changing your habits to focus on the goals that matter to you most. Whitney shared some key tips to help prevent burnout and create space in your daily life.
- Redefine “Balance” – Balance can sometimes imply that you’re spending equal time in all areas of your life — but that’s not always true. Whitney recommends focusing on equilibrium between work and everything else in your life, instead. There are times where you may be pushing a little more in your career and times where you’re focused more on relaxing outside of work. Remember that your life goes through seasons and finding a flow that works for you through different cycles of your life will be more effective in the long term.
- Look at Your Whole Life – Preventing burnout starts with getting real about what’s happening in your life. If you’re constantly stressed and losing sleep, you’re not operating at your peak level in any of the areas of your life. It’s so easy to think of ourselves as just one thing and to believe that our worth comes from our work or our achievement. But, Whitney always reminds her coaching clients that they are whole people. When one area of your life is out of whack, all the other pieces will feel the impact. Once you get clarity on what you want your whole life to look like, you can take steps to stop feeling overwhelmed and start moving in your purpose.
- Test New Habits – Start creating space in your life by doing a small test. For example, if you want to work out more often, set a goal to workout once a week. If you want to meditate, schedule five minutes a day to find your calm. It’s scary to set time aside and commit to letting everything else go during that time. But, you’ll realize that the world won’t come crashing down if you carve out space for what’s truly important to you. Then, you can start making empowered decisions in your life around your personal and professional goals. It can be hard to see the path forward to living the life you’ve always dreamed of until you start building out a step by step plan to get there. Doing small tests is a great way to build your plan for the life you’ve always dreamed of and start putting it into action.
Taking back your time and your life doesn’t happen without big change. You have to put in the effort — stop doing the things that aren’t valuable and start building new habits. When you start putting in the work, it’s also critical to have support and accountability to help you stay on track. Whether that’s a friend or family member who truly understands what you’re trying to do or a coach like Whitney, having someone in your corner when you start feeling discouraged will help you stay on the path to achieving the goals that matter to you most.
