👋🏻 Welcome, Leaders; this is Refresh. Rethink. Your weekly newsletter with insights and ideas to reinvent yourself as a next-generation leader.

🛌 Did you have a good rest last night?

I'm writing this newsletter in a coffee shop close to the center of Vilnius, Lithuania. That's where I have lived for five years now.

⚡️ Changing workplaces often, energizes me. And energy is what keeps us going, right?

That thought inspired me to write a short story about what I experienced early in my leadership journey.

It was January 2007. In the far distance, I heard something ringing. It sounded like my doorbell. Hang on; It couldn't be the doorbell; who would get to my door this early? I turned around and let my head sink deep into the pillow again.

But the ringing didn't stop, and it eventually woke me up. Weirdly enough, I noticed that it was light outside when I stumbled towards the front door. Getting to the door, I heard the voice of my friend, Leon! Leon! What is he doing here today?

What I realized then made me shiver. 😱

You see, I went to bed on Friday evening, and when my friend rang the doorbell, it was late Sunday morning. I slept all through Saturday without realizing it. as if I lived in a distorted time-space continuum from a parallel world.

How could that be? How could I be so tired to sleep more than 30 hours?

Opening the door, my friend said I looked terrible and felt like a wreckage.

That weekend was the start of a 6-month long burnout. I pushed my engine too hard for years,, neglected the smoke and sputter, and now my engine was broken.

I to-tal-ly collapsed.😯

The first burnout I experienced was hard as hell. While writing this, I still get shivers over my back. And you know what was the most challenging part? Rebuilding self-confidence and self-esteem after the burnout was gone.

Although I did have another hard burnout about 7 years back, that period changed me positively and taught me one crucial lesson about leadership.

Being capable of self-leadership is just as important as leading others. I would even argue that it all starts with leading oneself first!

☝️ Before I give you 10 of my burnout leadership lessons, I want to share the leader of the week.

Leader of the week.

Neuroleadership coach: Ed Ley.

Ed, a network friend, inspires me daily with his content on what he calls: "Neuroleadership" I love that term! According to Ed, we prevent burnout by controlling our inner state, and I couldn’t agree more!

Here’s what Ed says about that:

Ed writes about 4 critical states for leaders in one of his latest LinkedIn Post.

I greatly recommend following Ed on Linkedin if you want to lead yourself better. His insights have helped me a ton!

 

Now for my 10 personal leadership lessons on Burnout:

🟣 1) Leading myself first gives me the right to lead others

🟣 2) Being vulnerable about my state to others is leadership too

🟣 3) Emotional intelligence is a must to develop for both self and other

🟣 4) Resilience is not at all about pushing through; it's about knowing when to let go

🟣 5) Letting go of control is one of the most underrated skills

🟣 6) Our energy comes in waves; plan work around energy

🟣 7) My team's sentiment is a reflection of my inner state

🟣 8) Preventing burnout in team members is part of my responsibility

🟣 9) Making time for thinking is very much part of work too

🟣 10) It is OK not to be OK

These lessons have helped me a ton to stay away from burnout.

Burnout is a serious issue that can have far-reaching consequences for individuals and organizations. You can create a healthy and high-performing work environment by taking steps to prevent burnout.

By prioritizing the well-being of yourself and your team, you create a culture of success that allows everyone to thrive.

Have you ever got burnout? What was your experience?
Let me know by replying, and I’ll write back for sure!

Happy holidays, see you next week!

Leon

Book an exploration call when you’re ready to learn how I’ve helped 20+ agency founders n the past 3 years improve their leadership and become resilient as an organization.

I usually give away a ton of value During those calls; you should take advantage of that. 😉

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