Something I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I do NOT do well if I don’t have structure. I know I’ve talked a lot about it over the years – the importance of having a plan –  and how it’s saved my ass more times than I can count.

You see, today is the first day of the rest of my life….I have a team member who finished up on Friday, which means that I have to pick up what they were doing. And I have been itching, if I’m honest, to get my fingers back into some of the things that I had handed over.

Sometimes –  not all the time – it’s better to be doing things yourself rather than handing everything over. Or many things over.

For me, I love it when I’m in the midst of promoting something. I love the build-up, the anticipation, the getting-into-the-vibe-of-what-I’m-promoting.

It helps me to feel connected. Connected to you (which is who I’m talking to, right?). Connected to the program or event I’m running and wanting to get people into. To the copy, to the imagery, to the, well, everything.

Connection is key.

And if I’m honest, brutally honest with you, I haven’t been feeling quite as connected as I normally do.

I’ve had so many moments and times over the years where I’ve done everything. Literally everything. The whole set up of everything from websites, tech, funnels, ads, blogs, social media, money, accounting, coaching, mentoring, tech support, training, set ups, scheduling, recording, uploading, editing, filming, plotting, planning, supporting…. And all of the things in between.

It led to burnout. Fast. The type of burnout, though, that this led to was fatigue-burnout.

Then, I started hiring and outsourcing. This was great…. But this led to managing a team and money burnout.

Then, I took some of it back and this still had me burning out because of having to juggle everyone and manage people.

Then, I took it all back. I brought most of it back to me and just outsourced parts of it. This was great, but it burned me out again with the juggle and the stress of trying to be on top of everything. .

So, I got back to what I wanted to do and what I didn’t want to do, and hired someone to help me. Yes, again. And this led to creativity burn out.

Connection burn out. Or rather, lack of connection burnout.

And now, where I am right now, is loving that I’m back on the tools.

What I’ve learned, through doing this now for more than a decade, is that there are loads of different types of burnout.

Launch burnout.
Content burnout.
Connection burnout.
Lack of connection burnout.
Financial burnout.
Passion burnout.
Team burnout.
Solo burnout.
Doing things too spur of the moment burnout.
Structure burnout.
Emotional burnout.
Lack of emotion burnout.
Social media burnout.
Tech burnout.
Support burnout.
Lack of support burnout.

There are loads, right?

The key, I believe, is acknowledging how you’re feeling and why.

I also know, through riding this wave, is that this stuff ALWAYS comes around for me when I’m not fully involved with my stuff. I mean, it’s obviously me creating the content. It’s me writing the posts. It’s my words in the emails. It’s my face showing up…..

But when I’m not doing the things that really make me feel like I’m contributing, that makes me feel like I have my finger on the pulse it messes with my head!!

I acknowledge, too, that I am a conundrum (aren’t we all?) I love being busy but not pressured. I love having a whole day to get organised and to feel ready. To do the plotting, planning, and preparing. To get clear on what I am doing for the week. To do everything I can to make things work.  Yet. At the same time, if I don’t talk to someone throughout the day, I feel disconnected.

I used to think that there was something wrong with me…

I used to judge myself harshly..

I used to think that I was weird, odd, that I had to change…

When I looked at what the other ‘successful’ people were doing to make what they make…

When I observed how they showed up.

And their ‘laid back life’ …. Well… I used to believe that, well, maybe this is how you make money. Maybe this is how you’re supposed to be…. And for me to feel like that I need to outsource a lot of my stuff and build a team… but that leads to me feeling disconnected….

My point of today’s blog is that you get to do this business of yours in your way.

You get to make the rules.

You get to make up your goals.

You’re welcome to try on a range of different things, strategies, tactics, and ways of doing things, but there is no ‘one way’ to grow a successful business… other than this:

You have to be consistent with what you put out there.
It has to be YOU (don’t ever outsource that!).
Don’t give up.
Rest.
Get back on the horse.

You can try having a team, and then make new decisions when you work out if you like it or not.

You can try doing it solo and then make new decisions.

You can try a hybrid model.

Mix it up.

Try a whole host of different things and see what lands. See what feels right for YOU.

You get ONE life.

Please, for the love of all things holy, don’t try to emulate what everyone or anyone else is doing because you think that it’s the only way to do things.

You get to make up the rules.

Just don’t give up!

Burnout sucks.

It’s like drain-o for the soul. Seriously. It eats away at your passion. It makes you question your purpose. It leads to dissatisfaction. At its worst, it can lead to depression. And pressure. And anxiety. And apathy.

X I love you and what you do way too much to see you succumb to drain-oh of the soul.

You’ve got this.

Imagine that TODAY is the first day of the rest of your life.

Imagine that you get to do whatever you like, in the way you like. And with new information, you can make new decisions.

I used to think I needed to know everything, now, before I did anything. I wanted certainty. I wanted security. I wanted a guaranteed outcome.

I now know, for sure, that I will always find a way.

I know that the way out is through.

I know that the way UP is by going IN first.

To trust myself. To trust my heart. To trust my soul. To trust my intuition. To trust in the fact that the Universe does in fact have my back.

Most of all I remind myself today (and everyday) and YOU that you fucking rock.

Nic x