The School of Greatness - 685 How to manage anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm

Episode Date: August 27, 2018

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, and hard work.”- Colin Powell Have you ever felt that you didn’t have enough time in the day? I know I have. To make our dreams a reality, it takes consistency over years. It doesn’t happen magically because we think about it. But when that consistency piles up into anxiety, burnout and overwhelm - we have to manage it so that it doesn’t rob us from our joy and happiness. I want to give you a solution to set yourself up so you don’t collapse from exhaustion. Believe it or not, there’s a lot of little tricks you can to to really help that won’t side track your day. For example, make your bed in the mornings. You spend about one third of your life in bed. Taking an extra couple of minute to make your bed will subconsciously show that you respect yourself. It also gives your mind a moment to think of something else, like a forced meditation that can allow your mind a moment to reset let go of any other distractions in your life. In this episode of The School Of Greatness, I talk about a number of key lessons I’ve learned over the years to manage anxiety, burnout and overwhelm. It’s important to enjoy the ride and appreciate the challenge- otherwise, what is it all for? Find out how you can be a more present, joyful and kind person on Episode 685. In This Episode You Will Learn: The four phases to manage anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm (8:32) How to reconnect to your “why” (9:25) Daily anchors to keep you grounded (12:05) Ways to build momentum early in your day to set you up for success (13:39) How to celebrate your wins and live in gratitude (22:14) The importance of unplugging (23:37) The key to ending your day in a way that will manage stress (26:01)

This is episode number 685 on how to manage anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. A dream doesn't become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work.

Colin Powell. I love this quote because in order for our dreams to manifest and come to reality, to take an idea in our mind and make it possible in the physical world, it takes a lot of sweat, determination, and hard work. It doesn't just happen magically because you think about it. It takes consistency over years. It takes consistency over years. But when that consistency over years piles up into anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm, how do we manage it all so that it doesn't kill us from our dreams, so it doesn't rob us from our joy and our happiness? I'm going to be talking about a number of key lessons that I've learned over the years and more specifically how I've applied them recently with a number of major things happening

in my life to make sure I don't have anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm. Big thank you again to our sponsors. Now, let's dive into this. Now, where do I begin, guys? It's all about the dreams we have and what we want to manifest in the world. And if we're looking to get a raise, if we're looking to earn more money on the side, if we're starting a new relationship, if we're traveling a lot, and we've got a lot of projects and workload on our table,

or if a lot of things start to manifest at the same time, it can feel extremely overwhelming. You can feel a lot of anxiety. You can feel overworked like you don't have enough time in the day to get it all done. Have you ever felt that where you didn't have enough time in the day and each day you felt behind and behind and emails packing up and work packing up and all this stress and overwhelm? Well, I want to give you a solution on how to eliminate that in your life and set yourself up for when the big moments happen in life

that you're set up so you don't stress and burn out. Now, here's the thing. Currently in this moment, I am in the middle of launching a talk show, Inspiring Life with Lewis Howes, right? It's in the middle of its launch. It's doing amazing. Feedback's incredible, but it's a lot more work than I actually expected. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I mean, I've been 24-7, three, four days a week

promoting it, making sure the message is getting out there, getting my team involved and replying to all the comments, sharing it on all the big pages, using my partnerships, my relationships, getting creative with contests, doing lives, doing whatever I can to show up to make sure the show is a success. I've got a documentary that I just finished filming that we're in the editing phase. We're looking to sell that. I've got my podcast, which I'm doing three, four, five, sometimes six interviews a week to release them out three times a week. It's a lot of energy back and forth, research, interviewing, scheduling, coming up with a

copy, doing the marketing, creating everything with my team to make sure it gets sent out there. I've got a new book that I'm already starting to work on and thinking about that I could potentially have come out around the same time as a documentary that could be a companion. have come out around the same time as a documentary that could be a companion. I've got a bunch of big keynote speeches coming up where people are paying 50 grand plus to have me come speak. So I'm spending more time diving into preparing, to researching, to breaking down my speeches and reverse engineering them to make sure that I have the best possible keynote that I can have. I'm working with coaches. I'm

flying around the country and meeting with people, spending a couple days training on it. I'm doing team building, growth, managing team, going over lots of different sponsorships and opportunities that are coming my way. We're creating new video production where I'm doing more video interviews and creating more viral videos. We're doing so many different projects that are exciting. I'm doing a monthly mastermind where every month I meet with my seven-figure earning entrepreneurs in the Greatness Mastermind. I'm coaching them. I'm doing monthly trainings with my inner circle. We have 2,500 plus entrepreneurs around the world who are learning monthly from me there. We've got so much going on.

How do I get it all done without feeling like it's going to suffer, without feeling like I'm stressed out and don't have time for myself? That's not including the hundreds of messages on Instagram, DM, on social media, on Twitter, on Facebook, and hundreds of emails daily, plus dozens and dozens of text conversations that I get on my phone every single day that are back and forth, plus tens, 20 phone calls a day from people, from entertainment lawyers, from executives, from brand partners, from sponsors, from just friends and family. How do I manage it all and how do you manage it all? And you might have an even bigger workload. You might have kids. You might have other

responsibilities. You might have three jobs. Whatever it is you have, I understand that there are seasons of our life that can be more overwhelming than others. And at this season of my life, there just happens to be a lot going on. And I want to break this down and be very clear that these are all things that I've dreamed about. These are all things that I care deeply about. And for whatever reason, the timing has lined up to where it's all happening at the same time, which is great, but it also has its challenges. And I've learned before through burnout and overwhelm and anxiety, some simple strategies and techniques and tools that you can put into practice so that whether you have more on your

plate than I do or less, but you feel just as overwhelmed, you can manage this and navigate it without being exhausted, without having to drink 10 cups of coffee a day, without having to constantly have sugar to try to feel like you have energy, without hurting your health, and without hurting your relationships. So the first thing is this, and I want you to take notes if you're not driving. I want you to take notes if you're not driving. I want you to take mental notes, but if you're sitting down or you're doing something, start taking notes on your phone and take a screenshot and send it to me on Instagram of the point that you appreciate the most that adds the most value to your life because I want this

to be very valuable for you. And the first point is to reconnect to your why. Now, reconnecting to your why is key because if you feel stressed, anxious, and overwhelmed or burned out, you've got to ask yourself, why am I doing this in the first place? Why am I chasing all these projects? Or why am I working in this place? Or why am I taking this on if all it's going to do is stress me out? If these are your dreams, you're going to have to work hard. You're going to have to be consistent, but it shouldn't stress you out to the point of overwhelm. So ask yourself this, why am I doing what I'm doing? What is my vision and my mission, and what is this all for? If you can't answer that and have

a good answer to why am I doing this, what's the vision and mission for my life for why I'm doing this, and what's it all for? If it's for superficial things, then you're going to burn out. If there's a deeper impact because it's going to help me get out of a dark place, because it's going to support my family, because it's going to impact other people, because I'm going to find more joy by doing the things that I love, whatever it is, it's got to be something more meaningful than because it's going to make me a lot of money, because it's going to make me look good with other people, because I'm going to get some accomplishment and that's going to fill me up. That is going to create

overwhelm pressure. You don't need the pressure. And in fact, stress is only going to hurt you if it's that inner stress of negativity. Pressure and buildup of moments of pressure is okay, but the stress around it is not okay. You got to ask yourself this as well. Is it still making me happy and part of my long term legacy? Is it still making me happy and a part of my long term legacy? If this is not bringing you joy or it's not building something for a bigger legacy for you, then you've got to ask yourself, why am I doing this? And what can I cut out of my life that I don't need to do? Or is it all just busy work to fit in and feel productive?

If that's the case, you're going to be running on a hamster wheel over and over, my friend, and you're going to never get off. And you're going to be tired and dead. It's time to ask yourself these questions and reconnect to your why. That is phase one. Now, phase two. This is powerful. You've got to create three to five daily anchors that keep you grounded in your life. Now, what are these anchors? Here's some examples. A wake-up time and a sleep time that is non-negotiable. Non-negotiable wake-up and sleep times. This may sound silly, but I'm telling you, when you know what time you're waking up and you know what time you're going to bed at the latest, then you fit the rest of the time in the day accordingly and

you can schedule and plan out your day. If you just say to yourself, well, I just have to stay up and finish this, you're not going to be as productive, you're not going to get your sleep, you're not going to be healthy, it's going to affect you long-term, and you'll never get out of that rat race mentality. So create a wake-up time and sleep time for yourself. I wake up no later than 6.30. It's usually 6 or 5.45, and that's the first thing. It's creating a deadline to wake up by and also a time that I won't go to bed later than. I try to go to bed by 11.

10.30 is great, but my non-negotiable time is midnight, right? And that's what we try to focus on. At least I get a minimum of six and a half hours. Ideally, I want seven and a half to eight. But if I get six and a half, I know at least I'm not setting myself for burnout. It's when you start getting five and four and a half consistently, when you're already overstressed, your body just can't keep it up for long. Number two, a daily workout. I cannot emphasize the power of taking care of yourself first thing in the morning.

I like to do it first thing in the morning because if I work out and I do a couple other things in the first couple hours of my day, even if I don't do anything else productive that day, at least I know I took care of my life. I took care of the responsibility that I have to myself to try to extend my life and stay healthy so that I don't have to try to extend my life and stay healthy so that I don't have to fix my life later. Now, I can't control certain things that might happen to my health in the future or if I got injured or something like that, but at least the peace of mind, knowing that I did my step and my duty that day to my well-being. It's a way of saying in a weird way that I love myself. I love myself enough to

take care of myself. I love myself enough to work out, to push my body, to expand my muscles, to expand my lungs and my breathing capacity, to flush out any toxic energy or any bad cells, to expand my capacity for mental growth. And I care enough about myself to give myself that time. A daily workout, I like to do it first thing in the morning. Number three, anchor. Make your bed. Again, another thing that you can do that says, I care. I am good enough.

I'm good enough to spend one minute of my life to create a clean space to where I spend a third of my life. Think about it, guys. You spend a third of your life in bed. If you don't have one minute to make that bed, then you're saying you don't respect yourself and you don't respect your sleep. So why should you deserve to get good sleep if you don't respect it? should you deserve to get good sleep if you don't respect it? It adds other benefits to building confidence, to seeing a task completed early in the morning. There is research done, the Navy SEALs done, the military do this for building productivity throughout the day.

If you want to build momentum, start with an early wake up, a workout, and making your bed. Another anchor that you can add in if you want to. Again, choose three to five. You don't have to do all these. I'm just going to give examples. The next one, number fourth one, is meditate. Meditate or prayer or quiet reflection time. And you may be saying to yourself, well, Lewis, I'm already overwhelmed, overworked, and dealing

with anxiety and burnout. I don't have time to meditate. I don't have time to work out. I don't have time to make my bed. I'm telling you, if you don't make the time, it's going to burn you out more. This is what's worked for me, especially over the last couple of years, so that I haven't burned out, so that I can actually feel at peace when there's pressure. So I can actually feel at peace with myself knowing I've done everything I can today. It's time to sleep and have energy to go hard the next day. Because again, your dreams don't happen without working hard. Number five, clean eating. Yeah, I'll be honest about this one. This is not my favorite one because I love my sweets. I love candy. I mean, I can munch. My friends who know

me know that I'm like the biggest muncher there is on all things sugary, sweet cakes, brownies, cupcakes. Oh my gosh. Sprinkles, cupcakes. I could devour like six of them. A box of Krispy Kreme donuts, forget about it. It's mine. I own them. Get in my belly, right? That's how I feel every time I see a bucket of gelato. I just want to swim in it and swallow gelato and just enjoy my life and be happy, right? That's what I feel like. But I know that doesn't extend my life. There's two things that can extend my life. Plant-based, a majority of eating plant-based whole foods, and working out. Those two things have been proven to extend your lifespan, right? And there's lots of other things that you can do, but it's just like, be mindful of portion control. Again, I say this to myself the most because I could have multiple meals over and over again and not be full. Be mindful of eating whole foods and just eliminating less negative stuff. Add more positive stuff to your plate and just have a

little bit less of the negative stuff, right? Still enjoy your life. You can eat sugar here and there and have a piece of chocolate here and there, some ice cream. But just be mindful. I'm not trying to tell you to have the most strict diet because it's not accessible for everyone. But I go through a lot of phases where I focus on what's the right choice? What's the best choice in this moment?

And I'm just creating that structure for myself. So that's clean eating. I'm telling you, having an anchor of that will be powerful because you'll be grateful that you took care of yourself. You won't regret it. You know those times where you have a bucket of ice cream or 17 brownies and you go, why in the heck did I do that an hour later? Or maybe some of you 10 minutes later, but why the heck did I do that? And you feel kind of guilty and shameful, and then you just want to eat more because you feel bad and you want to make it feel better. That is not a good cycle. So break that cycle and make the right choices. Number six, a daily anchor is walking outside. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or stressed,

it's usually because I'm like on the computer or on my phone too long just staring at a screen. I've got to move the body, get in nature, and leave your phone at home. I'm telling you, leave your phone at home. Go walk, 10-minute, 20-minute walk, a couple times a day. Get outside. Allow yourself to just clear your mind for a moment. You're going nonstop hard all day on so many projects. Clear your mind, clear your body, give yourself 10, 20 minute breaks throughout the day. Number seven, this isn't simple, but it's like, I feel like so many people forget this. Get sunshine. Joy and happiness comes from sitting in the sun for 10 minutes. You just start to feel better. Your body's getting recharged. It's like a battery. Your skin enjoys the vitamin D. Your body starts to sweat a little bit. It's moving. It's thanking you. It's like soaking up energy. You need the energy when you're exhausted or having anxiety. The sunshine, 10, 20 minutes a day. Again, put sunscreen on,

sunshine 10, 20 minutes a day. Again, put sunscreen on, but be in the sun. It's going to feel better and recharge you. Number eight, connect with a friend. Human connection has been studied for years. It's the things we crave the most. It's the thing that gives us meaning and purpose in our lives when we talk to people and be around people and physical touch and hugging people. Go hug a few people a day, friends, family, loved ones, and connect. Have conversations. Don't just stress. Talk about other things. Number nine, do something you love every day. Again, this can be 10, 20, 30 minutes. Do something you love. Do something that fills you up. Play, you know, play games, play board games, play cards, play basketball, sports, dance, sing, play music.

Do something fun. This is about enjoying your life as well. And these are just some of the anchors. There's lots of other anchors that you can think about. And I'd love for you to send me an anchor. Send me a message on Instagram, DM. Even though I get hundreds a day, I try to reply to everyone,

and tell me what your anchor is. I would love to hear that. So that is phase two, create daily anchors, and those are some of mine. Some of those I do more than others, but those are 10 or 11 anchors that you can do that will really support you guys. It's going to help so much when you do some of these anchors. Now, imagine if you have zero anchors. If you just wake up, get on your phone,

start working, don't take care of yourself, and go in the rat race and go on that little hamster wheel. There's no anchor to ground you and you will burn out. You will be exhausted and you'll constantly say, I'm overworked. I'm overwhelmed. I have too much stress. There's too much pressure. Ah, well, why are you taking care of yourself?

Do you even have one anchor? If you don't, then it's going to happen more and more, and you're not going to be able to get off that kind of hamster wheel. So phase three, reflect and celebrate daily and weekly. Now, every night, even if I had the horrible day or stressed out or too much happening, I reflect on three things I'm grateful for and I celebrate those things. And I'll tell you what, there are some nights where I don't want to say what those things are because I didn't have a good day and I just feel so tired. I just want to sleep. But when I focus on gratitude at night and I take 30 seconds to say,

you know what? Gosh, I feel so stressed and overwhelmed. But God, I'm so grateful for that workout this morning because it gave me energy. God, I'm so grateful I got on the phone with my mom and got to reconnect. I'm just so grateful for eating good food. I have the ability to eat food when so many people in the world don't. And we have perspective of our life. It anchors us again before we go to sleep. And by going to sleep anchored, we are able to actually pass out better, have a better night's rest, wake up more refreshed. So I do this nightly. And then every Friday or Saturday or whatever you want to call the end of your week, do something with no phone outside or something you love where you aren't tied to checking email or social media. I'm telling you, this is a game changer.

We are too addicted to our phones and too addicted to social media, and it's starting to kill us. It's starting to kill us emotionally, spiritually, sexually, everything. So do something every Friday or Saturday where you don't take your phone with you. You go outside or you do something you love, and you celebrate the week.

I'm telling you, when you learn to appreciate and acknowledge and celebrate yourself, you realize that, yes, I am working hard. I am busting my butt. I have a lot of great things happening right now. And I also get to appreciate the journey. It's not all about the end result and the destination. I get to appreciate the daily journey, the weekly journey, et cetera. And by focusing your attention on appreciation and celebration, it's not saying like, oh, I've done all the work and now I can just stop and stop being consistent and working hard. No, you're still going to bust your butt. You're still working hard. No, you're still going to bust your butt. You're still going to work hard. You're still going to execute because that's what dreams

require if you want them to happen. But you're also going to enjoy and appreciate who you are, how hard you've worked, what you've manifested and created in your life. You've come so far in your life. I want you to know that. You have come so far in your life to get to where you're at right now. You get to acknowledge it. You get to celebrate yourself. You get to take some appreciation and love yourself. Because if you don't, what's the point of this life? Just to run yourself into the ground until you die and then you're in the ground? And then what? You don't get to celebrate it? No. Enjoy the ride. Appreciate the challenge. Appreciate the good things that are happening. Appreciate that you are overwhelmed. At least you have

something to be overwhelmed about. Most people are struggling and don't have a job and don't have opportunities. You have opportunities. So start appreciating and start enjoying it and create a structure to manage it. And that takes me to the fourth phase, talk about it and let it out. Now, some people never talk about how stressed and overwhelmed they are, and it just builds up more and more inside of them. So find someone you trust to talk about it once a week or once a day or whenever you need to, because holding it in never helps. Sharing your feelings and expressions always allows it to pass through and feel a better sense of connection with someone else about it, right? I don't think you should be constantly putting all

this negativity on one person. That's not what I'm saying. But talking about it, talking through challenges, allowing to get feedback and support will support you. Understand that things come and go in seasons of your life. Being grateful for all you have in your life, that will allow for things to run more smoothly. As so many people, again, would love to be in your position. So be grateful for the position you're in and manage it accordingly. Now, these are just four different phases. Reconnect to your why. Create three to five daily anchors. The more anchors, the better. Reflect and celebrate daily or nightly and weekly. And make sure you talk about it and let it out. If you're feeling it, talk about it. But don't talk about it to create a weight or burden on

someone else. Talk about it in a way that's healthy and respectful as well. But you just constantly yapping at someone about how overworked I am because Lewis said, well, talk about it. Lewis said, talk about how overworked I am. That's not a good thing. I'm not saying to be frantically stressing someone else out because you're not helping them when you stress someone else out. But create a structure and an environment where you say, hey, I just want to talk for five minutes to kind of let this out. Or hire a therapist, hire a professional, a coach, where it's not a burden. It's their job.

That's fine too. But don't just put all your stress on your partner and expect them to lift you up constantly. How are you lifting them up? How are you supporting them? Or are you always the burden in the relationship? Are you always the taker, the energy sucker? Is that who you are? And is that what you want to be remembered for? Hi, I am remembered for the person that always sucked the energy out of the room. No, that's a horrible legacy. Instead, be the person that always sucked the energy out of the room. No, that's a horrible legacy. Instead,

be the person that was chasing their dreams, lifting others up, coming from joy and passion, living an inspiring life, doing meaningful work that they appreciated, was always kind to others even when they were stressed. Be that person. That's an inspiring person to be remembered. That's the person that everyone wants to be around. That's the person that people want to help out even if they're feeling anxious, burnout, and overwhelmed. If you enjoyed this, share with a friend. I think so many people are feeling this overwhelm in their life right now. And I hope these four phases of managing anxiety, burnout, and overwhelm were helpful for you.

Again, if this is helpful, lewishouse.com slash 685. You can tag me on Instagram, at lewishouse. You know, add me there. Add me on Twitter. Follow the new talk show, Inspiring Life with Lewis Howes. We're trying to get that shared out in a big, big way. I'd love your support there. If you like the page, follow the page and share the most recent episode. Know that you matter. You're an important human being in this world. You are loved. You are accepted. And I believe in you.

I appreciate you guys so very much. It's always a pleasure to be able to share solo rounds. You guys continue to ask for more and more of these. So I appreciate you reaching out and wanting to hear more from me because I love to interview people and learn from the greatest in the world. But I feel like there's

so much I've learned that I've applied that I never share. And every time I do a solo round, I realize, man, I just feel like this stuff is second nature. I just feel like everyone understands this, but I realize a lot of people can even just use one little takeaway and it could add value to your life. So again, if this adds value, share it on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, tag me, lewishowes.com slash 685.

And let me know what you think. Again, as Colin Powell said, a dream doesn't become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work. That doesn't mean it needs to be anxious, overwhelming, and facing burnout. It's two different distinctions. Which way of being are you going to show up and live? Which way of being are you going to show up and live?

Don't let anxiety and overwhelm ruin your life and define you. Use these four phases and share with me another phase that might work for you on how to eliminate this in your life. Know that I love you. Know that you are loved. I believe in you and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.