A mindset for success or burnout

The deep beliefs we hold about what we’re doing and why, may not be as noble or effective as we think. 

After all, why do we work longer hours? 

Why aspire for higher standards?


Here’s a quick check of 9 mindsets (this article says ‘lies’) we may believe, unconsciously, that don’t serve us well. 

1. If you stop what you’re doing you’ll be letting everyone down

2. If you don’t do it it won’t get done

3. You have to work long hours or you won’t get ahead in your career

4. If you sacrifice now you benefit later

5. It’s only costing you some ‘time’

6. You don’t have time to do what you enjoy

7. You have to isolate yourself to get the work done

8. You can do it all on your own

9. You have to be perfect all the time.


Ticked any of them? 

What if you reversed, flipped or edited them, all 9 mindsets? 

1. If you stop what you’re doing it gives others a chance to step in. 

2. If you don’t do it maybe it won’t even matter. 

3. You can work shorter hours and still get ahead in your career. 

4. If you sacrifice now, you may make things worse in the future. 

... keep going. You edit the rest and see how it challenges beliefs about work. 

Are you slicing too thickly

At the bakery today they asked me if I wanted the loaf of bread sliced for sandwiches (thinner) or toast (thicker) ... OR a new thickness, ‘cafe style’. 

It’s big, chunky, super thick slices!

We may think in a maximising super-sizing more-is-better way, that thicker is indeed better. 

But when it comes to work, almost none of us are slicing thinly enough. 

We carve off huge thick slices of work... chunky, lumpy cafe-style slices. 

It’s why our to do lists are overwhelming, our minds are full and we end up distracting ourselves, losing focus and giving up. It becomes too hard and unachievable. 

Big chunks of work take us sooooooo long to work through and complete, we lose our way, lose momentum and motivation. 

So, set the slicer to ’thinner’. 

Slice off thinner pieces of work. That is, smaller steps and more easily achievable tasks. 

It’s not a competition for who can take on the biggest or who can eat the most work all at once. 

You won’t miss out. In fact you’ll get more done, sooner. 

Thinner slices of work are better. 

Hard work is too hard on us

Burnout, overwork and the drive to ‘do more’ can be a never ending and dangerous loop. 

There are clever and ingenious solutions - or hacks - available to us, if only we’d take them up. 

A hack is a smart short cut, a streamlined process or focused advice to make things easier. 

So, if you knew of a better and easier way, would you take it? 

Some people like to see others do it first ... to see if ‘it works’. 

That’s what the diffusion of innovation curve is all about. There are always some trailblazers and early adopters who take a risk and trust their ability to cope with the new. 

And then come the early and late majority ... once the idea has been ‘proven’. By that time though, the trailblazers are often on to something newer, and easier. 

There’s another hack someone has uncovered or discovered!

Rather than waiting until more people have tried it and your risk is lower, jump in a little earlier. 

Play on the easier side of the curve for awhile.

You can wait to see how something turns out for others ... or run your own experiment, play your own game and live your own experience. 

It could be easier at the other end of the curve. 

What is the vital work?

The Pareto Principle suggests that 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. 

‘The vital few’ - as the 20% part is often referred to - is worth finding. 

It’s worth finding in our efforts, our ideas, decisions, choices, actions and behaviours. 

So what would be your ‘vital work’?

What’s the stuff that’s really truly worth doing? Worth doing because it delivers such a return, you’d be crazy not to do it. 

But wait ... we can spend plenty of time dong anything BUT ‘the vital work’!

We dance around the edges, pffft about with busy work, rework things that are already done and stall and delay ... rather than hit the vital work with focus. 

If you can spend even a few minutes at your next meeting, in the team workshop or at the quarterly planning session focusing on the vital work, you’ll be spending time wisely. 

And a daily - or hourly - check of our to do list can also help reveal whether we are working on the vital, valuable work. 

Now ... we just need to identify WHY it’s valuable, why it’s vital. 

It probably delivers great impacts, results and outcomes. 

A hefty 80% of them!

The struggle of decision making

In the times of uncertainty we’ve been experiencing, it can feel too hard or overwhelming to make decisions. 

There are so many options, scenarios and what ifs that are possible

Try this 1-2-3 mantra I use with mentoring clients:


1. Find the path
A path helps give us more certainty of where we’re heading - even if we don’t know all the details or what’s ahead yet. It’s a direction marker. 

It may be a new path for you, or a path another has taken. 


2. Make a decision. 
What are you going to do? 

Our attention, energy and motivation is stolen by unmade decisions. To reduce overwhelm and pressure and move out of inertia, we can make decisions now we have a path. 

There’s less to fear about this because many decisions can be adjusted later (or reversed) if they’re not right for you. 

But make a decision. Making no decision on a path when a decision is needed saps our time, energy and attention. 


3. Take action. 
We can’t think our way through decisions. Action is the best way to work out if what you’ve decided and where you’re going is a good fit. 


You can step out along a safer, less uncertain path:

1. Find the path. 
2. Make decisions. 
3. Take action.