This week I want us to pause for a moment to think about the rest of the year, trade-offs, and burn out.

I was off last week, enjoying our summer shutdown.  During this time, I made a few decisions about things that would be non-negotiable for the week.  For example, I decided that I would get 7k-10k steps in every day.  Nothing was going to get in the way of this.  Maybe I would trade off sleeping in, so I could wake up and walk first thing.  Maybe I’d trade off sitting on the coach relaxing for walking.  I was intentional about my decision, and I was intentional about making trade-offs to reach that goal.

Then, work started up again.  We are basically 1 week into the back half of the year.  Over the past few days I’ve heard people say things like, “We’re already back to the races,” “Back on the treadmill,” “It’s already so busy.”  Do you feel this way?  I know I do.  All of a sudden, achieving those goals became more complicated, because a lot more was on my plate.

Let’s connect some dots.  In my time away, I was able and willing to do things for the house, my family, and myself.  This filled my cup and made me a better human.  As we start up the second half of the year, I can already see that there is more work than I’ll ever be able to do.  If I try to do it all, I know I’ll burn myself out.  When I burn myself out, I won’t be good for my family, myself, or my work colleagues. 

I’m realizing that if I’m not intentional about my goals and the trade-offs I’m willing to make I won’t be successful.  If I’m not intentional, I might spend too much time on X project and not enough on Y, when Y is what really counts.  If I’m not intentional, I might trade-off my health or my time with my family for getting lost in the daily grind. 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry