Speaker 1: Welcome to this week’s episode of The Coach Amina Z Podcast, brought to you by coaches Amina Z and Zaid.
Speaker 2: We know that you have big dreams, and it’s our job to show you how you can achieve them. We know that you have it in you.
Speaker 1: And we are going to show you how you can harness it to lead a smarter, fuller, and larger life on the way to ultimate success.
Speaker 2: And now, please welcome the dynamic coach duo, Amina Z and Zaid.
Coach Amina Z: What is that? What is that?
Coach Zaid: It is the sound of something dripping. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Coach Amina Z: Ah, you do realize that we have a podcast to deliver, right?
Coach Zaid: I know!
Coach Amina Z: Okay.
Coach Zaid: Drip. Drip. Drip. I think we started already. Imagine there’s a hole in a pocket somewhere. Drip. Drip. Drip. And as you lay down to sleep, you get the rhythmic tapping of water on the floor. Coach Amina Z, imagine you and I are both in bed and the dripping just won’t stop. Most annoying sound. And what, my dear, do you think at that moment would be going through your mind?
Coach Amina Z: I don’t know. I would probably say something like, Mr. Fixer, will you please go and have a look and at least put a stop to it? Or something.
Coach Zaid: And I do, but shortly after returning to bed, I hear the sound again. Eventually, we both fall asleep.
Coach Amina Z: What an exhausting night that would be. If you’re like many out there, somehow you’re used to the feeling.
Coach Zaid: You hit the shower, head to work, out the door, in the car, driving through rush hour on auto pilot. Into the office parking lot, past the receptionist, into the elevator, walk down the corridor lined with smiling colleagues, to the coffee dispenser on your right, swing into your office as the boss, and finally plunk your laptop on your desk. Despite a strong black cup of coffee, you fight feelings of extreme fatigue. As you settle down to work, you can’t help but think about the constant dripping of water last night. And how that leaking bucket now seems to mirror your life.
Coach Amina Z: You wonder how you ever got used to the felling of tiredness. It seems like every day is a re-run of the one before it. As you get out of bed this morning, your forecast for the day was heaviness in the morning. And, a mental fog by early afternoon.
Coach Zaid: Despite this rather gloomy forecast, you have braved all odds to get to work. And poured every drop of your energy into your work.
Coach Amina Z: You can pretty much also predict the forecast for the rest of the day. Why bother even thinking about it? It is more or less the same. You may be fortunate to pull yourself away from the office in time for a rare dinner with your family. And if you manage to exchange a few words with your partner before crashing into sleep, it’s over blue moonlight.
Coach Zaid: You’re experiencing burnout. As a person, you have your emotional and physical limits. Clearly, we all have different thresholds depending on various factors from personality types to background and upbringing. But critical thing is no matter how much training you receive or accolades you earn, you will end up crashing if you cannot balance your working efforts with your home life.
Coach Amina Z: Take a moment and think of yourself as a bucket filled with energy-giving water. If you wear yourself out and spring a leak, your energy will flow away. Now it’s my turn to do the … Even as you try to refill your reserves, because of the leak, you will soon find yourself exhausted and demoralized. In trying to do everything, it seems you fail at truly accomplishing anything.
Coach Zaid: All is not lost. You have the power to regain control and plug the energy-sapping drains in your life. You need only take the time to make a change.
Coach Amina Z: And that’s why, in today’s podcast, Coach Zaid and I would love to share with you clever routines that will keep you fresh and prevent burnout.
Coach Zaid: Find the leak! You can’t patch the leak in your pocket until you know where it is. A good place to start is with a little introspection. What is making you so exhausted? Are your expectations for yourself too high? Are you putting in too much time at your office? Skipping meals? Or foregoing sleep? Working yourself to the bone might help you push through a busy week, or finish a complex project, but that sort of pace isn’t sustainable in the long term. Once you locate the drains on your emotional and physical energies, you can take steps to resolve them.
Coach Amina Z: Cover the drain. This is the time you want to go beyond identifying the holes. You now need to do something about the holes. As counter-intuitive as it might seem, it is possible to work hard all day and get relatively little done. In the military, there is a term I love so much. Regroup. It means to organize something again in order to make a new effort, especially after a defeat.
Coach Amina Z: So at this point, you want to regroup, as it were, and do a reassessment of your working strategy. What can you do to boost your efficiency rather than your effort?
Coach Zaid: You could, for example, try to delegate more non-essential task to your staff. And take some time to sit down with your calendar and see if you can spread your work into a more sustainable and healthy time table.
Coach Amina Z: For those without a family, you need to settle in your me time. This is when you learn to enjoy your own company. And if you have a spouse, or family, then reconnect with your family. Let your children and your spouse become a part of the solution by asking them to help you with at-home chores and responsibilities. By bringing your family into your life, you’ll create a more supportive and communicative home environment for everyone.
Coach Zaid: I like this next one. Refill the bucket, guys. Pushing yourself through a burnout is a little like getting the flu. If you try to continue at full speed when you’re ill, both your work quality and health will suffer. I know for the guys, this can be a bit of a tough one. But you need to take some time away from work to recover from your burnout. And reconnect with your family. The amount of time you put aside will depend on what you feel comfortable with. You might only shorten your working days by a few hours, or take a week off entirely.
Coach Amina Z: And also, for my girls listening out there, quit trying to be Superwoman. Kick off your high heels and relax your feet. One thing that has helped us tremendously in filling us our buckets is taking the opportunity to have some fun. You can do this in a number of ways, such as incorporating some exercise, book a massage, and include mindful meditation into your daily routine. For those of us who are of a different faith, perhaps you wanna pray. Enjoy the opportunity to engage in self-reflection and focus on yourself for a change. Once you’re well-rested and able to patch the hole in your energy bucket, you’ll be able to return to your work with great enthusiasm, energy, focus, and creativity.
Coach Zaid: Do we have time for one more?
Coach Amina Z: Oh, yes, we do. And this is one of my favorite ways of staying fresh so I can prevent burning out. Check your water level. You see, it is all well and good, plugging the hole, but it will only do so much good if you spring a leak again. So be proactive. Periodically check in with yourself. I did that a lot these past weeks. Are you still feeling energized? Have you slipped back into an old and inefficient process? Are you once again demanding too much of yourself?
Coach Zaid: Yeah. Finding what we’ll call a stable water level will likely take time. You might need to patch and refill your leaky bucket several times before you find stability. But if you stick to it, and remain committed, you will find that place when you know you are well hydrated without the …
Coach Amina Z: Not that dripping noise again! We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast as much as we have. Remember, you can take control. You can set the boundaries and adjust the pace. Think right now, what routines can you adopt? Or what are you doing already that would allow you to check in on your emotional water level? Now we have a worksheet, a Dream Accelerator worksheet for you over at coachaminaz.com/podcast. Remember, it’s season one …
Coach Zaid: Episode eight.
Coach Amina Z: Yeah. So that’s all we got for you today. And remember, if you like this podcast, leave us a review, okay? Don’t forget it. See you next time on Coach Amina Z podcast. Oh, also, if you have not watched the TV show, please make sure to do so. Bye for now!
Coach Zaid: Bye!
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Coach Amina Z podcast at www.coachaminaz.com.
Leave a Comment