How to Set Boundaries and Avoid Burnout

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If you’re a high achiever with big goals, dreams and ambitions, or if you have a big heart for helping others, chances are you’ve felt completely burnt out at one point in your life. 

Maybe you’ve found yourself feeling unmotivated in the morning or exhausted throughout the day.

Maybe you’ve started to realize your work follows you home and you haven’t been able to truly relax and enjoy your family time since 1805.

Or maybe that little voice in your head is telling you (loudly) that you need a break.

Sometimes we need to make adjustments and set boundaries in order to avoid getting burnt out. Whether you’re an entrepreneur who’s working 24/7 or a mom wh’s overcommitted herself to too many things, this episode is for you.

We’re gonna go over practical ways you can start setting boundaries today so you can pursue your dream or build your career while still prioritizing the things and the people who matter the most.

She knows all about burnout

Today’s podcast guest Melissa Lin is a previously successful chemical engineer turned multiple six-figure business owner, business coach, and podcast host.

When Melissa started her career as a chemical engineer, she quickly noticed that her 9-5 job was turning into more of a 5-5 job. She was working long hours and weekends and felt plain ‘ole miserable. 

She had a long list of things she wanted to do – like travel, make a larger impact in the world, and start a charity. But that list seemed way out of reach when she was already overworked and burnt out. 

So she transitioned into working as an online health and fitness coach, which later led her to business coaching. 

Finally, she was able to do what she loved, work less, enjoy time with the people she cared about the most, and even work on that dream list – without all the messy stress and burnout. 

But in order to get to that place, she had to work on creating boundaries in her life so she could prioritize the things that mattered the most.

When Hustle Leads to Burnout

Before we dive right in to the practical ways you can start setting boundaries in your life (and trust me, you’ll wanna take notes on that), I wanna quick take a sec to talk about hustle.

In today’s “go, go, go” world, it’s easy to be constantly moving – always trying to do more, be more, and work more. And we seem to either hear the message that hustle is the only way to success OR we hear that hustle is always bad.

But here’s the tea, friend.

I believe there’s a balance. Hustle isn’t always bad, but it’s also not the only way (or even the best way) to success. 

There are seasons and times that are gonna require a little more grit and grind, and are gonna be busier. There’s also gonna be seasons that are meant to be slower and more restful. 

But even in the busier seasons, it’s important to set boundaries so our work doesn’t take over the most important things in our life (ya know, like our relationships and families). 

Friend, I don’t want you to sacrifice what matters most at the altar of “success” (the next achievement, that job you want, a revenue goal, etc.).

When we’re all about the hustle, we can forget that our business or career are just the VEHICLE for a life that’s purposeful and full of people we love.

A business or a job can help us get to a lifestyle that allows for that, but at the end of the day, the business or job isn’t our end goal.

So many people hustle in their 9-5’s or in building their own business, but never enjoy life until they’re retired.

As Melissa said during our conversation, “You don’t have to hustle like crazy to create your business. You CAN enjoy it as you create it.”

Read that again. 👀

You can enjoy your life even as you’re building it. But it takes boundaries

Practical Ways to Set Boundaries and Avoid Burnout

Melissa shared a ton of great ways to start creating boundaries in your life (so you can say goodbye to burnout):

• SOCIAL MEDIA
  • Instead of constantly checking your IG account or your emails (and not interacting with the person next to you at the dinner table), turn off all your notifications. Be intentional about when you log in to social media and what you do when you check it. Have scheduled times when you’ll check notifications, so you can forget about it the rest of the time (and focus on that date night).
  • Consider deleting social media apps on the weekend and try to pre-schedule things so you don’t need to be on social media for work during the weekends.

• CLIENTS
  • Wherever you’re communicating with clients (email, Slack, Voxer, etc.), turn off those notifications! Let your clients or your co-workers know when your “hours” are and when, and how frequently, you’ll check your communication so they know what to expect (and you don’t feel obligated to respond right away).

• FRIENDS AND FAMILY
  • Encourage friends and family to schedule time with you so you have it on your calendar to call or visit. That way, you can make sure they’re a priority and you don’t have anything else that will be taking away from your time.

• SEPARATING WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE
  • Melissa has everything business-related on her laptop and iPad, and her phone is only for personal use. That way she can have separation between her work life and personal life.
  • If you find yourself in work apps like Asana or Slack all the time on the weekends, delete those apps from your phone. Set work hours and have those hours in your contract. Let your clients or team members know what your boundaries are.
  • Matt and I like to have weekly “sabbaths” where we unplug all our electronics for a 24 hr period. Yes, it sounds scary. No, you won’t die. And yes, you’ll really enjoy it (trust me). Consider having one day a week where you’re completely unplugged and your tech is turned off. If you need to, get a landline so you can be reached in case of emergencies. But enjoy your time away from technology and be intentional with it!

• WORK SCHEDULE
  • Create systems for your business so things are streamlined and efficient.
  • Use an app or program like Asana to help you stay organized with your to-do’s so you don’t have to think or worry about them when you’re with your family.
  • Batch your work. Try to record all of your podcast episodes in one sitting, or write content over the course of a couple days. 
  • If you do private coaching calls, schedule them on a few days each month so you can free up the rest of your time to focus on other tasks (and have time off).
  • Focus your days on a specific task. Maybe one day is for admin work, one is for coaching calls and another day is for creating content. That way you’re able to focus and batch your work instead of jumping around all the time.
  • Consider adding team members to help you out in your business. Maybe you’ll start with hiring a virtual assistant for a few hours a week to take a little bit of the workload off of you.

Slow Down, Set Boundaries and Ditch Burnout

If you’re finding that you’re no longer waking up excited for the day because you feel burnt out and overworked, remember to slow down.

It’s okay to do less when it means you can ultimately do more. Ask yourself if there’s anything that you need to let go of, that’s not serving you in the long-term. 

Sometimes slowing down can feel like you’re moving backwards. But it’s really more like a slingshot. You pull back so you can be pushed forward even farther. 

Ready to reclaim your time, ditch burnout, and set boundaries so you can enjoy what matters most?

Get those earbuds out and tune in to learn:

• The top signs that you’re experiencing burnout
• When hustle is good and when it’s bad
• Practical boundaries to set to avoid burnout
• How to prioritize what matters most in your life
• Why slowing down doesn’t mean going backwards

Want to learn more about Melissa Lin? Visit her website at the melissalin.com.

And let us know in the comments: How have you set boundaries in your life?