Karren Brady’s Women in Business & Tech Expo gives all an opportunity to make connections to take your career to the next level, and attend a diverse range of thought-provoking sessions that better your professional career.
There were talks a-plenty, lots of networking and inspiration all around. One of the sessions that stuck with me was “Big Impact without Burnout” by Bianca Best — a global tech leader, executive coach, entrepreneur, author and single parent of 4, who shares the ways she’s learned how to achieve graceful productivity so we can all soar both professionally and personally.
Burn out — what is it?
Burnout is a type of stress that includes being worn out mentally, physically or emotionally. It may also involve feeling useless, powerless and empty. Burnout can show in many symptoms, such as feeling like you’re dragging yourself to work, getting little satisfaction from what you’ve done, and could be worsened by having heavy workload and working long hours, feeling of having little or no control over work to list a few. The cost of burnout as a result of doing nothing about burnout could lead to negative health implications — so if you suspect you are feeling this type of way then it’s time to start handling these unwanted feelings!
How can we mitigate burnout?
Bianca introduces the decision superpower: decisions determine destiny. There are 3 dimensions to conquer:
1. Decide energy — organise life to optimise your energy
2. Decide time — don’t have enough time? You have custody of your own time
3. Decide integrity — decide to honour your own integrity, then fulfilment comes
Graceful productivity is the destination. Let’s delve into each of these dimensions in more detail…
Energy Mastery
Control how you make and deplete energy. Become aware of where energy reserves are within you, and how to maximise the energy.
Bio-individuality is the different reactions we have to stimulation — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. There is no one size fits all.
Understand your hunger — are you bored, are you missing a specific nutrition, are you in pain?
Is it healthy how much you’re doing? Get feedback that you are doing too much and how are you to be around?
Activity for Energy Mastery
Score your energy scale and you will see what to look at (anything 1–2)
Below is your energy scale. 1 = low, depleted, a problem. 5 = high, zingy, good
2. Time mastery
Decisive intentionality.
You need to be intentional how you’re spending your time as it’s precious.
Mini exercise
A) imagine your 25 year vision, what does this dream look like? Who are you with?
B) imagine your next 3 months, where are you, what have you achieved?
3 months = 1% of 25 years. The number 1 regret is wasting time.
High motivation.
Self esteem, chasing joy/passion, success ideologies, role models, vitality, honouring values. E.g. adding some pizazz to your day, like adding a slice of lemon in your water and being like ooh got a buzz of self esteem from fancy water
Make space for more time.
Eliminate distractions — media noise, irrelevant commitments, draggy people, unserving habits (e.g. depending on notifications and social media for dopamine).
Instead, set your goals for the day and be concious. You are the average of the 5 closest people you’re around.
Be heartfelt, intuitive.
Maximise you.
There is a new science called ecological psychology. It depicts the response to different environments for different tasks. Think about the different mindset and locations needed for the task, and move accordingly.
Do you work better for admin in quiet areas and at a desk? Do you think more creatively in the more open living room/cafe?
Activity for Time mastery
Build your own peak productivity plan, with the type of mindset going into the task, your preferred location of where to do this task, and your preferred time of day/week to do this.
3. Integrity Mastery
Your values, purpose and mindset are key.
You won’t be fulfilled if you don’t achieve your values.
Mini exercise
YouTube search “peak experience meditation” — know your values, know yourself
- Purpose — the reason for which something is done or created for which something exists. Just as long as you have a state of being as yourself.
- A response-able mindset — no victimhood, beginner’s mind, adversity builds resilience, be curious about your triggers, you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. Stress + Rest = Healthy, sustainable growth
Decisions = destiny.
“It’s a wondrous thing, that a decision to act releases energy in the personality. In the wake of the decision energy is released. The act of decision sweeps all before it, and the life of the individual maybe changed forever.” — Howard Thurman
Inner balance, outer shine = big impact without burning out.
Bianca Best explores this in more detail in her book, which is available on Amazon as a book and audiobook.
About the Author:
Zena Choi is a Senior AWS DevOps Engineer at Version 1.
