Everyone is burning out.
Welcome to issue #006 of Unsubscribe. Each week, I send two essays that help you step off the default path to build a life you love, supported by work you enjoy. If you want support in your entrepreneurial journey, join our network of 900+ entrepreneurs. You’ll instantly access our group chat, weekly live Q&As, monthly workshops, and exclusive networking events.
Everyone is burning out.
Look around at your family, friends, and coworkers. Maybe you have a once-happy neighbor who used to wave, but now just seems pissed off at the world.
And maybe you’re burning out, too.
Everyone seems to be wired on stimulants, yet simultaneously exhausted and running on empty. Trapped in an endless cycle of long to-do lists, beeping notifications, and unwanted obligations.
To accept this as normal is a catastrophe. But we have. We believe this constant state of exhaustion is the price of modern life. Like it’s some badge of honor to be constantly drained to empty.
"I'm so busy," we say, to show our worth to other people.
A push notification breaks news of another crisis. Scroll, scroll, scroll for that next dopamine hit. A world on fire. Politics that divide us into teams. Culture war. You’re wrong. They’re wrong. Everyone’s wrong. It’s all a lie. Scandal. Misinformation. We’re all doomed!
And here you are, just trying to build a business, be present for your kids, call your parents, and stay sane.
How is this life?
The truth is, burnout isn't inevitable. It's not some natural condition that should happen to all of us multiple times in our careers and lives. It's a sign that something is deeply broken in how we're living.
People think they're failing because they can't keep up. They blame themselves for not having enough energy, willpower, or "grit."
But this isn’t a personal failure. This is a massive system design flaw.
You weren't built to be "on" 24/7. Your brain wasn't designed to process thousands of inputs daily. Your body wasn't made to sit for 10 hours straight while your cortisol levels pound through the roof.
Your HumanOS crashes when it’s constantly pushed past its limits. Not because it's weak or broken, but because it's working exactly as intended.
Want to become the biggest rebel in today's world? Ignore most things. Say no. Turn off your phone. Protect your time, energy, and mental health like the valuable things they are.
You don’t fix burnout with a weekend off or some meditation app. It's fixed by completely correcting your relationship with work, technology, and sleep.
Start looking at your life through a different lens:
What if success means having energy left at the end of the day for your family?
What if productivity were measured by the important work you got done, not hours?
What if rest was rewarded as much as you reward yourself for working?
The people who accomplish the biggest things aren't the ones who never stop. They're the ones who stop often, recharge, and protect their capacity to stay sane and think clearly.
Burnout isn't normal.
Feeling alive is.
If you enjoyed this read, the best compliment I could receive would be if you shared it with one person or restacked it.
Join our Inner Circle private network of 900+ entrepreneurs who have access to the following upcoming events and previous workshops from 6 and 7-figure entrepreneurs, CEOs, multiple New York Times Bestselling Authors, creators, makers, and more. You’ll also gain access to live weekly Q&As and invitations to members-only networking events worldwide.
Every morning I go for a walk by the water and I don't look at my phone.
I enjoy the sense of spaciousness from gazing at the ocean as I walk and I get some of my best ideas then.
I also get a good 6000 odd steps which sets me up for my minimum 10,000 steps daily goal.
To me this is wealth. And I'm grateful.
Two thoughts I had after reading this:
Abraham Lincoln famously stated, "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend six sharpening the axe."
The second thought was from a podcast with Tim Ferriss interviewing Derek Sivers where Derek is timing himself riding a bike as fast as he can multiple times in a row and then decides one time to take the same path leisurely and is shocked to find out the slow, easy method was only 5 minutes longer than the crazy paced ride where he did not even enjoy the scenery or the ride.
In my 40 years of working I have seen many people who zoomed past me in title and salary who I thought were not capable leaders. Several years later, they are out of the job they had coveted so much, some are now "retired" (permanently unemployed) or working in humbling jobs to eke out a living.
Slow, steady, methodical with a plan beats the grind, burnout, and stress most every time and in the rare case it doesn't, the person who takes life at their own pace will enjoy the ride much more than the person racing for a goal that keeps moving further away.