#015 – How to Avoid Burnout & Time Blocking

Quote, Podcast, Framework, Hack, Tweet.

Author

Dimitri Gremos
June 21, 2023

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read time 3 minutes 

#015 at a Glance:

  • Quote that will get you thinking: Living for the future.

  • Podcast you should listen to: The Co-Founder & CEO of My Muscle Chef.

  • Mental Model: How to Avoid Burnout.

  • Hack you should try: Time Blocking.

  • Tweet I liked: What to double-down on.

Quote that will get you thinking:

“Always living in the future can slow us down as much as always looking behind. Many people are always looking ahead and they never seem content. They look for quick fixes, like winning the lottery. I know that goals are important. Money is important. But the bottom line is, money is just a means to an end, not an end in itself. And what is going on now is just as important as what you’re planning for the future.”

Richard Branson

Podcast you should listen to:

The Mentor with Mark Bouris #348: Tushar Menon

I’m guessing that every one of you has either eaten or heard of, My Muscle Chef. It is a pre-made food delivery company geared towards busy young adults who need high-calorie meals to fuel their daily exercise.

The business was co-founded back in 2013 by Sydney-brothers, Tushar and Nish Menon, and generates over $200 Million in annual revenue. It is still privately held.

Pretty bloody cool.

Tushar and Mark discuss getting a multi-million dollar business up and running from idea to launch, getting your product to scale, and how to maintain your competitive edge once other businesses start copying your business model.

Listen on Spotify here. Listen on Apple Podcasts here.

Mental Model:

How to Avoid Burnout 

As we approach July and delve into the middle of winter, it’s about this time that a lot of people start to feel burned out. So, naturally, I’ve been listening to lots of podcasts and reading a host of articles about the topic (as well as reflecting on my own experiences) and have summarised everything into 3 key principles:

  1. Treat yourself like an athlete. Every time someone feels burned out, health is always recommended as the first place to look. In order to be a high-performer, we actually need to treat ourselves like high-performers. Good nutrition, high-quality sleep and good exercise.

  2. Have frequent, short periods of rest. The ideal situation is to avoid having these long, drawn-out periods of high-intensity work which lead to burnout in the first place. Instead, having frequent periods of respite along the way will help prevent us from reaching that stage of stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue in the first place. Going away for the weekend, catching up with family, or even simply going for a walk. This will likely be different for each and every one of you and what is reinvigorating for someone else might not have the same effect on you, so, ask yourself, “What can I do today that will make me feel better?”. The idea is to give yourself a chance to switch off so that you’re firing on all cylinders when you need to be.

  3. Know your purpose. Usually, when we reach a point of burnout, it often coincides with a time when we are putting a lot of time into things that we don’t necessarily love. Having a clear and unwavering focus on our purpose, having a meaningful ‘why’, definitely helps to sustain us when the going gets tough.

Hack you should try:

Time Blocking

'Time Blocking' is the idea of dividing your day into blocks of time and allocating time slots to complete certain tasks accordingly. It differs from the creation of a regular 'to-do list' where you would simply write out all of the tasks to be completed and then get to work crossing off items from the list.

Instead, when you time block, it would look something like this:

  • 9:00am-10:30am – Task 1

  • 10:30am-11:00am – Task 2

  • 11:00am-11:30am – Task 3

  • Etc.

The difference? Compartmentalised time slots to complete your tasks as opposed to open-ended to-do lists with no real-time pressure. This seemingly insignificant adjustment to your to-do lists does wonders for your productivity.

But don't take my word for it...

According to a 2018 study, individuals who operate under higher time pressure exhibit a lower task distraction rate, increased productivity and more effective task prioritisation.

So, give it a go (if you're not doing it already).

Tweet I liked:

That’s all for this week, thanks for reading!

Grateful for your support.

Stay hungry, stay humble, & stay curious. ⚡

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