You’re tired, you’re overwhelmed, and you’re frustrated. Going to work every day is a complete slog. It takes a mountain of energy to accomplish even the slightest things. You’re completely over it to an epic degree.
It’s time to quit, right?
Maybe … but maybe not.
What if there was a chance that your job wasn’t to blame? What if (and we know it sounds wild right now), once you recover from burnout, you might actually love your job?
How do you tell the difference between actually hating a job (and needing to quit) versus being burnt out (and not needing to quit)?
That’s the question we’re answering in a brand new Side Chat!
We’re talking about:
- The times we seriously questioned whether or not to quit Clarity on Fire altogether, and why we didn’t quit.
- How one client started loving her job again after ten years of hating it.
- The two biggest questions you can ask yourself right now to test for burnout.
- How to recover from burnout, regardless of your situation.
- And more, of course!
It’s about 25 minutes, which is the perfect length for your commute, a walk, or a break from the office. You can either play it right here on the page or download and save it for later.
{Press play to listen now or download by clicking the arrow in the top right corner.}
And after you’ve listened, we want to hear from you! We’re asking you to share your answers to two questions we asked during our conversation, below in the comments.
MORE GOOD STUFF TO HELP WITH THIS
Here are some past blogs we mentioned during this conversation that will help you recover from burnout and/or help you get clear about quitting your job:
Something new you HAVE to try: No expectations day
How to make your own Rules for Sane Living
This one shift will transform your low energy & burnout
How to take a long sabbatical from working
How to know when it’s time to quit (a job, or anything else)
NEVER HEARD OF SIDE CHATS?
As you can imagine when two best friends run a business together, there’s SO MUCH MORE good stuff — insights, revelations, struggles — that we’re talking about behind the scenes than what you’re reading in blog posts.
Our random back-and-forth conversations — while we’re supposed to be “working,” while we’re eating tacos, while we’re chilling in sweatpants on the couch — aren’t planned at all, and that’s why they’re good … anything can and does come up.
We always find ourselves having these good conversations and thinking, “It’d be cool if people could listen in to this, fly-on-the-wall style.”
So, we decided to just press “record” and start sharing with you.
We’re calling these “Clarity on Fire Side Chats,” and there’s no big plan for them. When inspiration hits, which is usually at random, we’ll press record and share another with you. The freer it flows, the better it usually is, anyway!
Want to catch up on previous Side Chats? Check out the archive.
Enjoy!
Much Love,
Kristen + Rachel
Hi ladies, thanks for this great piece. Lots of wisdom in it as usual. I am 99% sure I hate my job as I have felt pretty much the same since j started, despite making changes (reducing my work hours, making requests for particular types of clients) I still much prefer being off work than at work and I’d say I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve enjoyed it. My boss even took me aside the other day to ask me to try to put ‘on an act’ in front of clients as apparently it’s glaringly obvious that I don’t want to be there. The problem is I don’t really know where to start with getting out as I want a total career change and the sheer enormity of it terrifies me. I don’t have a clue where to start. I’ve become lazy and I know it! But I’d love to care about my work, and I just don’t. I feel like I’m wasting my time there.
Glad you loved this Side Chat, Maria! If you’ve hated your job since the beginning, despite trying multiple changes to make it more bearable, I’d say you’re right. This isn’t JUST about burnout, although you may have burnout on TOP of hating your job, which is where the “feeling lazy” part might come in. (Side Note: The fact that you said you really WANT to care about your work tells me you’re definitely not a lazy person — you’re just drained and overwhelmed right now.)
I would try some of the ideas we suggested in this Side Chat to relieve some of your burnout, while still working toward the career change you want so badly. If you’re feeling scared and uncertain about where to even start, I’d suggest enlisting someone close to you who cares about you and is a good listener to help you come up with bite-sized, manageable steps toward this goal, as well as deadlines for each. Sometimes, getting some outside perspective can be amazing for alleviating overwhelm and making you realize, “this really IS possible!”
Thanks so much for the reply Kristen. I’ll try your advice.