The Years That Made My Career but Nearly Killed Me.

You can see it in my eyes.

The bags under them could have carried my weekly shop.

I gave every single ounce of life to that job, to that club and the players I worked with.

I frequently wrestle with what I would change about the 3.5 years I spent working in pro-rugby.

I see my habits, traits and mentality in 90% of my clients. 

The traits that nearly killed me.

In 2016, I fell asleep behind the wheel on the M621 motorway.

I woke to horns blaring past me, one foot flat on the accelerator, the other flat on the brake (which is actually very awkward to do). 

There was not a scratch on me, and some light scratches on the car. A miracle.

I scared the life out of myself and the outcome could very easily have been different. 

Long story short. 

That was the bang 💥of my burn out experience that I talk so frequently about.

These are the traits that lead to that me burning out. The traits I see in 90% of my high performance clients-corporate mostly...

👉Putting work before my well-being, relationships and life out of work
👉More and better. Always seeking betterment in every aspect of life
👉Poor prioritisation of time, energy and tasks
👉Double down mentality when things are tough at work (time and energy taken from everywhere else to achieve this)
👉Non-existent/poor quality recovery
👉Placing everyone else's well-being before my own. In this order club-players-partner-friends & family-me
👉"I've just got to..." do xyz work task was my catchphrase 
👉Zero professional boundaries. Available 100% of the time

My list goes on and on.

I know a lot of us are on the path to burning out, but trust me it is easier to avoid it than it is to recover from it.

3 years it took me to finally feel right again, to understand what had happened, and what had got me there. 

Don't do what I did. 

Make small and easy to implement changes now to avoid bangs 💥.