Maybe you worked too hard on your last project. Or, you exerted too much energy on a work task that ended up not working out. Whatever the case may be, burnout is a real thing that all of us experience. As its name goes, burnout drains you of your energy and motivation. It doesn't only affect how you show up in your business, but also in other aspects of life. How then do you rekindle the spark if you find yourself stuck in the burnout cycle?
In this episode of The Pollen Podcast, Diana talks about the secret to navigating burnout. Burnout happens when you don’t create healthy boundaries for yourself. Remember: you can’t pour from an empty cup. If you think you can, then you’re setting yourself up for a lot of exhaustion and unfulfillment. Recognize when you need to take a step back and put yourself first. Only in this way can you best serve your highest purpose. 😌
Listen to this episode to learn how to recover from burnout and avoid it happening again!
Create your own creative entrepreneurship story of clarity, professional confidence, and profit. Join Diana’s 90-day group course Camp Clarity and learn everything you wish you already knew, like how to land dream clients, harness the power of social media, and make the money you deserve. Learn more here.
🔥Here are three reasons why you should listen to this episode:
Understand how burnout can impact your work and personal life.
Identify the symptoms of burnout and how they can build over time.
Learn tools to heal from burnout and get back to a place of balance in your business and life.
📘Resources
The Pollen Podcast Ep. 24: Reflections from a Magical Week at the Summit Retreat 🏔
Achieve the life, career, and clients you’ve always wanted (and fully deserve!). Join the waitlist for Camp Clarity! The 7th Round starts this October.
Join the waitlist for the ASCEND Mastermind, a four-month immersive mastermind for entrepreneurs ready to scale their next mountain. ⛰️
Want to have one-on-one coaching support from Diana? Check out the brand new Voxer Coaching Container.
Attract your dream clients with my free masterclass!
Access other courses from the Diana Davis Creative
Connect with Caitie Corradino: Instagram
🎧Episode Highlights
[01:49] Camp Clarity Early Bird Extension
Camp Clarity is currently in motion for its seventh round.
SPECIAL DEAL: Listen to this episode, and DM Diana on Instagram to get an early bird extension ($500 OFF 🤑) for Camp Clarity!
Camp Clarity is a 90-day program for creative entrepreneurs in need of community and the three pillars—confidence, cash, and clients.
Tune in to the full episode to learn more about the program and Diana’s special offer for Pollen listeners!
[04:50] Sharing from the Wound
Diana recorded a 30-minute episode that was due to her podcast production team. At the end of the session, she realized it didn’t record.
She then decided to record an episode about the burnout she experienced from this incident.
People oftentimes share the gushing wound of a traumatic experience versus the scar.
Diana recorded this episode from the wound of being burnt out.
[06:44] Working in a Paradise
Diana has had a hard time during her stay in Costa Rica despite the place being a paradise.
If you’re only spending a week in a new place, you have to make it an integration week for yourself.
It’s the hardest to work in a paradise because you don’t get to block off any time and create boundaries for yourself.
[08:13] Experiencing Burnout
One of the first posts Diana has ever made as an NYC photographer was about being burnt out.
Diana has experienced burnout many times since then.
One of her “whys” in coaching is helping creative entrepreneurs try to avoid and learn how to recover from burnout.
Boundaries, time management, and outsourcing are some tools for navigating burnout.
[09:58] Pine Cone vs. Rice Analogy
Imagine you have a jar and you put rice in it first. If you try to force a pine cone in it after, you’ll never get the pine cone in there.
But, if you put the pine cone in the jar first and put the rice in after, everything will fit.
This analogy is to say: the things that fill your cup must come first in order for you to best serve your clients.
Diana had to put a lunch block on her calendar. She previously had booked calls even over her lunch hour.
[12:55] Riverbed Analogy
You have to have the riverbeds to have a river. Otherwise, you’re a lake.
The riverbeds are your masculine energy. It includes things like calendar blocking, support systems, client workflows, etc.
This masculine energy allows you to flow powerfully and intentionally with your feminine energy.
Your riverbeds give you space in a container to flow and feel like you’re supported.
We underestimate the things we can get done in a day.
Diana Davis: “We, a lot of times, think we have to get these 20 things in a day, and actually, it's not possible. But we're beating ourselves up for something that's actually not humanly possible. So boundaries are huge; burnout is real.” - Click Here To Tweet This
[16:18] Putting Yourself First
Diana Davis: “I think it's a big deal to remember that we're going through a lot. We're going through a lot—every single one of us is going through a lot.” - Click Here To Tweet This
With everything happening in your life, it’s important to put yourself first and put your boundaries in place.
You have to fill your cup first before giving to others.
It’s up to you to make the boundary, regulate yourself, and recognize when you’re burnt out.
Reschedule the meeting if you don’t feel like it. Everything is just a blip.
Diana Davis: “Don't focus so much on every little detail. Focus on the bigger picture. Make moves for yourself as the CEO that you want to be. Fill those shoes yourself before you think you're ready and before the evidence is there—and that means taking time for yourself, making boundaries, and just filling your cup.” - Click Here To Tweet This
Your business needs to work around your life, not the other way around. Listen to the full episode to hear about Diana and Caitie’s trip to Costa Rica!
Enjoyed this Podcast on Navigating Burnout?
Burnout happens through a series of stages, but it all begins with compromising your boundaries. When you don’t know your limitations, you’re bound to end up giving and giving without knowing how to stop—until you crash. The thing is, it’s impossible to pour from an empty cup. So start putting yourself first, and see the magic it will create in your life.
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Thanks for listening! Stay tuned to my website for more episode updates and other exciting programs and resources.
Transcript
Diana Davis: It is so important to put yourself first, put your oxygen mask on first, as cliche as it is. Put your boundaries in place so that you're not having 10 calls a day in Costa Rica, if that's what doesn't serve you. If it does, amazing, but making sure you're eating lunch and blocking off on your calendar, making sure that you're getting movement in not because we need to work out but because it makes us feel better.
Making sure we're getting time to ourselves. Welcome to Pollen, the podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I'm your host, Diana Davis, multi passionate creative business coach, Gemini, manifesting generator, macho drinker, and travel junkie. I'm also the founder of Diana Davis Creative, where I went from a six figure photography business to coaching creative entrepreneurs like you.
If you want to have a career and a life you love. You're in the right place. On this show, I'll be coaching on all things creative entrepreneurship, and you'll hear stories from fellow creative entrepreneurs that will show you it is possible to do life the way you want to. They'll share the nitty gritty of their journeys, like the real shit, and how they are doing it differently. I'm stoked to have you along on this journey. Let's go.
Hi Pollen, coming at you from Costa Rica for the week. This is a really cool episode because it happened. Really serendipitously, is that a word? You'll see. It's really good. But it's about boundaries and burnout. Check it out, because I was there yesterday, basically. Speaking from my heart. But before we start the episode, I want to let you know that Camp Clarity is in motion for round seven, you can sign up for it ASAP.
Early Bird for Camp Clarity, which is $500, off ended Wednesday, October 12. However, if you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to give you a special deal and extend the Early Bird. All you have to do is DM me on Instagram and let me know you listen to this episode, and you are interested in Camp Clarity and you want to apply and you will get that $500 off.
Check it out round seven of Camp Clarity, we're actually revamping the entire thing, which is super freaking cool. Seven rounds later, it's time. I just can't say enough about this program. If you are an entrepreneur, a creative entrepreneur, who is in need of community, first of all, because the community is number frickin one, it's epic group of people to tap into.
Talk about networking, it is one of the best things you can do for your business, and your mental health, having the support. But also, if you're a creative entrepreneur who is in need of confidence, cash and clients, this is for you. Those are the three pillars. We go over everything from boundaries to social media to time management, pricing, taxes, accounting, money mindset, client workflow, all of that.
This is truly the foundation for your business. But you don't have to be a baby business or new business or a side hustler. You can actually be an OG business owner. I've had people come through that have 250,000 followers or have been in business for six years. But they're ready to revamp their foundation because something isn't working. Or they're ready to pivot, or they're ready to evolve.
They're ready to rewire their engine. If you are a new entrepreneur, this is perfect for you too. If you're a side hustler, this is the time to jump start your engine and have that foundation to be able to move forward in a really potent way with a roadmap and support, not only from this community, but from me as your coach. It's a 90-day program.
There's also an option to upgrade and do VIP with me, where you have one on one calls as well, which has been super supportive for people. We've had almost 100 creatives come through Camp Clarity alone, over 100 creatives come through my programs in general. We would love to have you. Just mention that you listened to this episode. DM me on Instagram, say "hi,” and we'll get you that early bird.
We start late October for this round seven. Can't wait to see you in there. Hello. You want to know the story behind this little recording, right here? I recorded a 30-minute episode yesterday, because it was due to my podcast production team. Shout out, get a helmet.
And it didn't record, I recorded the whole thing and it didn't record and I will tell you something, I was burnt the fuck out yesterday. I decided to do a podcast about it because I had to quote unquote, and it didn't even record.
I didn't honor myself and didn't take a break, even though, yes, I had a deadline, but also we're the CEOs of our own lives. We're the CEOs of our own boundaries, and we're the CEOs of our businesses. I did it anyway, out of kind of sharing out of the wound, which my friend, Katie, who I'm traveling with in Costa Rica right now, definitely check her out. She's amazing.
She was on the podcast episode with the retreats. She's a nutritionist, and we were talking about sharing from the wound versus the scar. I think that's really powerful. I've seen some jolting content, actually, of people sharing from the gushing wound, like crazy traumatic stuff that's happening to them like that day. Like, I think I've seen big influencers.
No, I know I have literally shared that someone died that day, and they're on Instagram crying about it, which I'm not saying their tears aren't justified, but it's something that should, in my opinion, really not be processed to the world, and during the gushing wound. I think that can be interesting to say the least, so it was interesting when I shared this podcast episode or started recording it from the wound of just being really burnt out.
I've had a hard time this week in Costa Rica, even though it's supposed to be this beautiful paradise, and it is. I think it's actually the hardest to work from a paradise, I think. A place like here almost, especially if you're only spending a week here like we are, you almost have to just make it a vacation. Make it an integration week for yourself, like clear your calendar.
Because flying in on a Monday, which is usually my calibration day, and going to work in the Airbnb on a Tuesday and working from 8am to 5pm, straight on calls, like you don't have groceries to support you. You don't know where the next Cafe is. You don't even have time to go to a cafe and order food and nourish yourself, and you're burnt out by the end of the day, you haven't done any movement, you haven't gone outside and gotten vitamin D.
Then you do that for the next three days, and one of those days is a six-hour bus ride to an island– or not an island, but a beach town on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica called Puerto Viejo. Yeah, you're burnt out because you're in this paradise and you're on your laptop, back to back to back to back client calls, because you did this to yourself.
Because you didn't block off any time for yourself and didn't create the boundaries you needed. You shouldn't frickin record a podcast just because it says you have a due date. Y'all hear me? To be honest, this isn't even what I was gonna come in on here and talk about, but I was just gonna give you a little backstory. But we're just gonna roll with this and go forward because I think it's important, and this isn't me venting about my week.
This is me being relatable because I get it, and you know what, one of the first posts that I ever made– I'll see if I can find it, and I'll try to link it in the show notes. One of the first posts that I ever made that was super vulnerable when I was a photographer in New York City was me just straight up saying that I was burnt the fuck out. That was scary. Because that means my clients are seeing me as burnt out. They know I'm not perfect.
They know that, “Oh my god, she's taking on a lot. Maybe she doesn't have capacity for me. Maybe she's not showing up as her best” That was scary and I did it anyway, because I felt like people needed to hear it. Because I knew I wasn't the only one. I'll try to link that post in the show notes. But burnout has happened to me many times since then. Not in a crazy extreme way.
But that's one of my why's with coaching creative entrepreneurs is helping them navigate that and helping them try to avoid it. Like the potholes in the road of Costa Rica. And maybe the sloths that are crossing the road in Costa Rica. Try to avoid it, tell them where it is on the map. Give them tools to navigate it.
Some of those tools are boundaries and time management and outsourcing, and something I was even telling my one on one boxer client today, which by the way, if you're interested in one on one boxer coaching, I'm doing that now. Go ahead and DM me or apply on my website, we can drop that in the show notes as well but I'd love to support you.
I was talking to him to my one on one boxer client today and she had a couple of hours of free time, and she was asking, “What the hell do I do with this? What would be the best use of my time? I told her some things that would be a good use of her time but I actually answered after those two hours were up. Kind of cool, because she had to figure it out on her own and coach herself, which is really powerful.
All of these things that she could have done, like start planning out her group course, or create some reels for Instagram, she actually went for a run because that's what served her in the moment. She hadn't done anything for herself. We were talking about the pine cone versus rice analogy that I always use, and you can use maybe if you're a beach person, a sand– jar of sand, and like a conch shell, or something like that.
Basically, if you put rice in a jar first, and then try to force a pine cone in it, you'll never ever get that pine cone in there. If you put a pine cone in the jar first and put the rice around it, everything fits, everything falls into place. It's so important to put the pine cone in the jar first, which means the things that you need, the things that you love, the things that are most important to you that fill your cup so that you can fucking serve your clients in the first place.
Like going for a run, like eating lunch, y'all. I literally had to start putting a lunch block, I see it right now on my Google Calendar from 11:30 to 1pm because I wasn't eating and I wasn't feeling myself, and I was crashing by the end of the day. I was having blood sugar moments and all these things and I couldn't show up. But I wasn't giving myself time for that. Clients were able to book calls over my lunch hour.
I would just see my calendar and be like, “Fuck, I screwed that up.” These little things, like date night and a yoga class, or a meditation or whatever, they need to go on your calendar first. Then, little things, even though you think like, “Oh, I'm just in flow, because I'm a flowy person, too, y'all. You can't make me do anything I don't want to do. I'm a manifesting generator and I'm a Gemini, as you very well know.
I'm all over the fucking place.” But you need to put things like checking your emails on your calendar. I did that last week, because my assistants are like, “You need to check your inbox.” I'm like, “I'm avoiding it like the plague. I'm so sorry” They're like, “It literally takes 20 minutes a day,” and I'm like, “Yep, preaching to the choir. I need my own medicine.” So I put a block from 2:00 to 2:30 on my calendar every day. Does that mean I follow it every day?
Absolutely not but we create. Again, I love this analogy. I think I heard it first from Jessica Lazar, always give credit where credit is due. You have to have the riverbeds to have a river. Otherwise, you're a lake.
The river beds are your masculine energy, like the calendar blocking the support systems, the client workflow, the Trello board, the Honeybook portal, then that makes it to where you can flow powerfully and intentionally with your feminine energy. It gives you space– a container to flow.
That's what I want you to do for this. It doesn't mean you have to flow that way but it gives you a space and a container to feel like you're supported. Also, we don't overestimate the things we can get done in a day because if you really block out your calendar and create those boundaries, you realize pretty fast, your calendar gets pretty full. Right?
We, a lot of times, think we have to get done these 20 things in a day, and actually it's not possible but we're beating ourselves up for something that's actually not humanly possible. Boundaries are huge. Burnout is real. It's no fucking joke, and nomad life is not glamorous.
Katie's in the shower right now you probably hear in the background, maybe. We love the background noise at this point. It's a good good little like, ambiance to where I'm at in the world, which is Costa Rica, Puerto Viejo, like I said. You can ask Katie and me, nomad life is not so glamorous on the back end.
We thought it would be a great idea to Wi-Fi camp from a coffee shop in Puerto Viejo yesterday, which is about a 10 minute tuk-tuk or tuk-tuk, depending on how you say it right away because we hadn't really gotten out into the town and we went for my last two calls of the day. It was so freaking hot.
I was literally just like dripping in sweat while I was sitting at this cafe, the Wi-Fi was not good enough to have a Zoom call, and smoothie blenders were going in on the background. I literally had to emergency tuk-tuk ride back home. Like literally 10 minutes after I got there to sit in my Airbnb again, and just be in the AC and all of that, which is amazing. We are so privileged to be able to live this life.
But I'm just saying, not everything on Instagram, first of all is real. I tried to keep it as real as possible, by the way, probably could do a better job with that with the nomad stuff. But I also don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I think that's a whole other conversation. But nomad life, entrepreneurship, all of it, it's just not as easy as people think it's not as glamorous as people think.
I often say to a crowd of people, especially when I'm presenting on a panel or in front of a new group, that not everyone should be entrepreneurs, this shit ain't easy. It's not for everyone. You have to be able to set your own boundaries, you have to be able to self regulate, you have to be able to not take things personally, you have to be able to show up and sell yourself. Those are some of the hardest things for anyone in the world to do.
That being said, this podcast is coming at you after a pretty burnt out week from my end, and that's okay, it happens. I think there's also a lot of stuff that comes up in our heads of like, “Oh, I should be so freakin grateful. I'm in Costa Rica working for myself as a digital nomad. How can I have a day when I don't even want to get out of my bed right now? But I have to show up. Right?”
How can I be so ungratefu, quote, unquote. Katie reminded me, too. We're going through a lot. Her and I actually went through a breakup which, shout out, it should be out by the time this podcast is out. We did a breakup episode. She is a nutritional therapist and, honestly, a therapist in general, and I love this episode with her. We literally filmed it recorded it on our floor of our bungalow the other night. Check that out.
Because we talk a lot about the breakup, we both went through one. That's kind of why we're taking this trip together because we're single right now and carpe diem. But I think it's a big deal to remember that we're going through a lot. We're going through a lot. Every single one of us is going through a lot.
It is so important to put yourself first, put your oxygen mask on first, as cliche as it is, put your boundaries in place so that you're not having 10 calls a day in Costa Rica, if that's what doesn't serve you. If it does, amazing. But making sure you're eating lunch and blocking off on your calendar. Making sure that you're getting movement in, not because we need to work out, but because it makes us feel better.
Making sure we're getting time to ourselves. My client that I was talking about earlier with a one on one boxing, she's a mom. She gives a lot and I know a lot of you are moms out there, too. You are giving a lot to your clients giving a lot to your partners, if you have them giving a lot to your kids, giving a lot to your pets giving a lot to your– I have clients who are caretakers of their grandparents of their parents, you're giving a lot.
Remember that you have to fill your cup first and remember, that's actually up to you. You have to be the one to make the boundary, you have to be the one to regulate yourself, you have to be the one to recognize when you're burnt out, and be able to be the CEO of your own life and your business.
Frickin reschedule that meeting if you have a migraine, or you feel one coming on. Or reschedule that meeting if you just need a minute, because this is all a blip. We're going to look back on this week and I'm not going to go, “Oh my god, remember when I had that crazy fucking day in Costa Rica where I couldn't even function because I like just needed to like lay on the floor.”
Probably not. I'm probably not going to remember that this is all a blip. If I reschedule that meeting, it's not going to matter a year from now; we're not going to think about it. Don't focus so much on every little detail. Focus on the bigger picture. Make moves for yourself as the CEO that you want to be. Fill those shoes yourself before you think you're ready and before the evidence is there.
That means taking time for yourself making boundaries and just filling your cup, and by the way, boundaries are also money; remember that. Energy and money. So that'll be another conversation. This is a shorty over and out. I am going to go have a beautiful fun fricking night on the beach at a bar with Katie.
We're going to live it up and fill our cups because the day is not over, just to give you a little tiny glimpse into today because we took today off, which was so beautiful and I do that for myself. We woke up for sunrise. We went to the beach. We saw snails and all these little critters in the ocean and just took time we sat down and meditated.
We did yoga on our porch. We went to breakfast at a beautiful little cafe, I had a mango passion fruit, pineapple juice that made my whole freaking morning. It was gorgeous. It was like my brand color, also. We went on a tour with this gal from Serbia that has a crazy story, talk about telling people stories on here.
She escaped the war in the 90s, went to Canada was a mechanical engineer, and then officially escaped that work culture and came to Costa Rica. She was a mechanical engineer, and now she does Dewar's and gets to swim and waterfalls all day.
She showed us around, we saw crazy wildlife, we swam underneath a waterfall, which was actually stretchy for me because I'm not really a swimmer, and had a beautiful frickin day and it's not over yet. Here's your reminder that your business needs to work around your life.
We do not need to make our life work around our business. That's a big pillar of Diana Davis Creative, and I'll be here to remind you of it over and over and over again. Let me know where in the world you are, where you're listening from. I would love for you to share this episode on your stories and tag me and just come say hi.
I've had so many cool people from all over the world, literally, come say hi because of this podcast, so please know, I want to know you. Diana Davis Creative. Come say hi on Instagram. That would mean the world to me. It's so cool to connect with people. That's one of my big fires that lights me up right now. Alright Pollen, over and out.
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