Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - How To Beat Burnout like Simone Biles

Episode Date: August 9, 2021

You don’t need to be an Olympic athlete to feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders… Nicole shares her burnout story, how she recovered and how you can too. Please note that today’s episode deals with themes of depression and suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Line at: 1-800-273-8255. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your

money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow. To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's b-o-f-a dot com slash n-e-w pros p-r-o-s media. bfa.com slash newprosmedia. Before we get started, I wanted to give you a heads up that today's episode is all about mental health. And in order for me to honestly and openly talk about mental health like I do everything else, I need to openly and honestly share my own story of when I hit my own personal rock bottom and tried to take my own life. Because this episode does deal with topics of suicide and depression that may be triggering for some people, please take care while listening. Completely upended by an unlikely player. GameStop. And should I have a 401k?

You don't do it? No, I never do it. You think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn't. Charge for wasting our time. I will take a check. Like an old school check. You recognize her from anchoring on CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg.

The only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. Nicole Lappin. If you have a TV, Instagram account, or happen to be walking past a bar that had news on TV, you probably heard that while in Tokyo, Simone Biles left the competition due to concern for her own physical and mental well-being. Simone Biles is a rock star. She is an Olympic gold medalist. She does quadruple flips and impossible jumps and makes it look easy. She's renowned as the most skilled gymnast of all time. But this moment established her not just as a gymnastics champion, but a champion for mental

health. Now, you don't need to be an Olympic athlete to feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. In fact, I've never met someone who hasn't experienced stress at home or at work. If you're the exception to this rule and for you, every day at work is happy-go-lucky, then please reach out. DM me at Money Rehab Show because you are a unicorn, my friend, and I want to have whatever you're having. But if you're part of this majority of people who are experiencing stress at work, this episode is for you. Today, I'm going to tell you how to deal with burnout, and I'm also going to share how I learned these lessons the hard way. Burnout is a state of physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion, when the demands of your job or life in general have become so overwhelming that you don't feel like you can cope. It's often

caused by extended stress, but it feels the opposite. Instead of feeling up, you feel empty and unmotivated. I've had to deal with burnout to the extreme. A few years ago, stress coupled with depression and PTSD from a chaotic and abusive upbringing led to a mental, emotional, and physical breakdown that stemmed from burnout that ended with me in the psych ward. I remember waking up not knowing where I was. It was an emergency admittance and being endlessly questioned by a revolving team of doctors, social workers, and nurses asking me if I knew why I was there. Well, I was there because I had been picked up by EMS and the police with an entire bottle of Ambien that I was intending to take. Even now, after writing

a book about this experience, it's still hard for me to say out loud. But I did try to take my own life. I was at my own personal rock bottom. The psych ward is actually the best and worst place I've ever been. It's the great equalizer. I met everyone from a musical theater star to an Orthodox Jewish man to people experiencing homelessness and CEOs. There were no padded rooms or screaming in the middle of the night like you see in movies. Just a lot of people like me who were suffering and needed to get better. And I did get better. This, of course, is the Olympic equivalent of burnout. And I'm not saying that burnout is a one-way ticket to the psych ward. I am saying, however, that burnout can especially be challenging if you

have a history of mental illness because of the way that stress, anxiety, and depression can form a coalition of evil supervillains in your head. So if you're struggling, please, please ask for help. I'm speaking from the bottom of my heart. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am that I got help and I ultimately turned what I thought was my biggest weakness into my biggest superpower and you can too. And asking for help made me realize just how strong I am. I'll link mental health resources in the show notes just in case you need them. But regardless of your own mental health history, burnout is real for all of us. And more and more studies have come out showing the negative effects of stress on mental health. So the world is listening. This summer, a joint

study from St. John University and University of York found that burnout increases the chance of teachers leaving the profession, with some estimates suggesting that over a third of new teachers leave the profession within five years. Recent studies show that burnout has especially been difficult to navigate as the pandemic rages on. It's a phenomenon well supported by research, but also, don't you just feel it in your bones? I know I do, with or without any studies to back it up. Here's an example. At Ohio State, in August of 2020, 40% of a random sample of students reported experiencing burnout. experiencing burnout. But in April of 2021, from the same random sample of students, 71% said they were experiencing burnout. The survey also found that students were coping with burnout

in unhealthy ways like vaping and alcohol use. So let's talk about how to beat this burnout in a healthy way. If you're not in tip-top mental shape, you're about as useful as you would be if you weren't in tip-top physical shape, like you had the flu. And just like when you have the flu, when you're experiencing burnout, you need to take a day off work. Are you unsure about this whole mental health day thing? So was I, until I took my first mental health day. I foolishly had bought into the stigma that they're just an excuse to skip work, play hooky, and slack off. But it's not, and your team will thank you for taking the day off and coming back with a fresh mindset if you're actually feeling burnt out. Hold on to your wallets, boys and girls. Money Rehab will be right back.

your wallets, boys and girls. Money Rehab will be right back. Now for some more Money Rehab. Here's a quick quiz for you to figure out if it's time for you to take a mental health day. Number one, your boss asks you to help with an additional project this week and you say, A, absolutely. I have time. Let me get started. B, I have a few things on my to-do list to complete first, but I'm happy to help with it starting tomorrow. C, no way, you have me doing too much, go find someone else to do it. Number two, it's time for a presentation you've been working on all week. So you, A, get to the conference room early, notes prepared, ready to show them what you've been working on. B, have sweaty palms and feel exhausted from all the hard work you put into this, but you're ready and feeling confident. Or C, have a stress headache that you just can't shake and

three cups of coffee aren't enough to help you feel awake. Number three. When asked to rank your top three priorities, you list A, myself, family, and work. B, family, work, and myself. Or C, work, work, work. Number four. When you're asked to name your hobbies, you say A, lately I've been into, insert some cool class you're taking or activity you're passionate about. B, spending time with family and friends. Or C, working. Number five. It's Friday night and you are A, spending the night on the couch with popcorn and a movie. It's been a long week and it's time to relax before a fun weekend. B, going out to drinks with friends. It's been a rough week and you're ready to blow off some steam. Or C, in bed by 8

p.m. you're coming down with a cold because you haven't been able to sleep all week. If you answered mostly A's, you are likely cool, calm, and collected. You probably have the right superhero mentality going on. So sure, take a day off, but call it a vacation and go somewhere fun. Everyone deserves a break from work, but you're not risking burnout just yet. If you answered mostly Bs, you need to keep a close eye on yourself. You're good at checking your levels and taking care of yourself when you need to. But remember, if you're so immersed with your job and other people that your needs get ignored, you should realize that they don't say put your oxygen mask on first before helping others

on the plane just to fill time before takeoff. You cannot be of service or help anyone else if you are crashing and burning yourself. If you answered mostly C's, it's time to take a mental health day. You meet a lot of the signs that it's time to pump the brakes and give yourself some time to recalibrate. If you can't perk up, if you're feeling anxious, if you're feeling tired but can't sleep, if you're running yourself to the ground and stress is just making you sick, spending a day off the grid could unwind some of that tension. A mental health check is not something that shows up on our calendars, and if it does, it's likely the first thing to get canceled when your schedule gets chaotic. But here's the thing. Life will always have some level

of chaos. Life is going to be a game of chaos whack-a-mole. And caring for yourself is the best way to manage it and help ward off any signs of burnout. Here's one last study I want to leave you with. Researchers in Iceland have tested implementing shorter work weeks, more like 35 hours instead of the standard 40. This study overwhelmingly showed that shorter work weeks improved productivity and lessened feelings of burnout. Now, the reason I wrote an entire book about this is because I wanted to look at burnout from a scientific lens. I wanted to look at the data. Shocking, right? I wanted to look at the numbers. I wanted to look at the research. I

didn't want woo-woo stuff. But the science is there. Taking time for yourself works. So just do it. For today's tip, you can take straight to the bank. Come up with a strategy for taking a mental health day. If you work in shifts, ask someone to cover you for a day. And if you're going to need to make up time later, like that Icelandic study shows us, you'll likely come back from your mental health day more productive, not less. Money Rehab is a production of iHeartMedia. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Our producers are Morgan Lavoie and Catherine Law. Money Rehab is edited and engineered by Brandon Dickert with help from Josh Fisher. Executive producers are Mangesh Hatikader and Will Pearson. Huge thanks to the OG Money Rehab supervising producer, Michelle Lanz,

for her pre-production and development work. And as always, thanks to you for finally investing in yourself so that you can get it together and get it all. money