Burnt Out to Badass - Eléa Faucheron

You know, one thing that I've noticed is instead of, you know, how are you doing? It's like people saying, Well, maybe I'm fine or I'm great or whatever, it's kind of like I'm busy, I'm really busy. It's like you said, sort of insinuates and also sort of gets us caught up in this competition of like, well, look how much I can do. And you know, we're really realizing that it's uh it's it's a short-term strategy. You could do that for a short, short period of time, but you won't be able to sustain it.

Hey Fitness fans, welcome back to the Future of Fitness Podcast Interview Series. This is your host, Eric Malzone. We are on episode number 110. I talked to Elia Foucheron. So she has a company called Burnout to Badass. And this episode is brought to you by stress, anxiety. All those things that if you are in the fitness profession, wellness profession, um health profession, it's probably a good chance just due to the nature of what we do as industries. You're entrepreneurial, which means you're putting yourself out there every day. Probably serving up some failure uh every once in a while. Does it sound familiar? Right? Um, causing stress, um, got to put food on the table. Uh maybe you got high overhead, uh, all these things, right? It can be stressful. Let's just be honest. And this is a very open conversation we had about stress, um, how to deal with it, um, her journey, my journey, um, people we know, clients we've had, how it affects um not only our mindset, right, uh being stressed and anxious, uh, but also how it affects us physically. You know, it's it's a really interesting field, right? Because stress is just now really truly um starting to get understood, you know, between cortisol, um, all the other physiology that that goes into being in a state of chronic stress and what it does to you. And I can tell you from first hand, I shared the story in here. Um, it really messed me up pretty good a couple times. And uh yeah, so I think most people resonate with this, especially if you're an entrepreneur within the space, um, or just a busy person with a stressful job and a lot of demands. And, you know, unfortunately, the current state of things um in our society, uh societies, uh, that's more normal than it is abnormal. So uh yeah, before we get into interviewed, I want to mention a um review by Brooke Craven. So thank you for reviewing the show, Brooke. Uh she says, Eric, host of the Future of Fitness Podcast, highlights all aspects of the fitness industry and more in this Can't Miss podcast. The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens. Thank you, Brooke. So do me a favor, be like Brooke. Go to wherever you are subscribing to this. Um, if you haven't actually subscribed, number one, subscribe, right? Go to iTunes, go to YouTube, go to Stitcher, wherever it is, Castbox. Um, subscribe to our channel, leave us a nice review, just like Brooks. And if I see it come through on iTunes, I will absolutely read it on air and give you a little nod. Uh, and thank you. So without further ado, let's get into it. Uh, episode number 110 with Elia Foucheron and uh great episode brought to you by Stress. All right, and we're live. Elia, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Yeah, you have a uh a really great story. You have a really um impactful movement that that you're creating and helping people. And I think it's something that, you know, like we were talking about, like all the best conversations happen before we record, of course. Um that's just the nature. But you know, how entrepreneurial um the fitness profession is by nature, and how often burnout, stress, anxiety, um, people are probably already gripping, they're like, that's me, burnout, stress, anxiety. I I know all those things. Um, but burnout is actually something that's actually kind of hard to notice because it's so insidious, right? Kind of way into your life. Um before we get into all that good stuff, give us, you know, a quick bio, give us your little bit of your story.

Yeah, so a little bit about me. I uh grew up in the mountains and I was a super crazy outdoor tomboy type kid. I always wanted to live at the beach, so I said, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna go live at the beach. And I fell in love with a sport called kiteboarding. And I also fell in love with a man who had just started a shop around kiteboarding, and we actually ended up going into business together and running this business for over a decade. And we were, you know, passionate, we were doing what we love, we were getting people outside, we were kind of doing this healthy lifestyle, healthy business. And next thing I knew, which actually it I would say my burnout took about five years to really culminate into this kind of grandiose experience.

Yeah.

But uh, you know, we we slowly started to burn out, and that's when I really realized how insidious that it was and shifting my focus from what had transpired in my old business and partnership in that entrepreneurial experience into how I can turn this into a springboard for success. And that's when I got really fascinated. Actually, I've always been fascinated with self-help. I mean, even since college, and I considered becoming a life coach then at that point, but I didn't. So after this burnout experience, I decided I was like, I'm going full in. Like, I want to know about this, I want to know, I want to understand it, I want to be able to help other people with it. And so I just dove into a life coaching certification program, and then I started my newest company, Move Think Smile, really focused on helping business owners and professionals, you know, like we were talking about, conquer anxiety and fatigue that's caused by burnout, and really help them get more, you know, freedom, energy, and cash flow. And you know, what's crazy is that was the whole reason we started our entrepreneurial business. You know, that was kind of the whole reason we wanted to work for ourselves was to have more freedom and feel like we had more control over our cash flow and you know, to have, you know, we were so energized by our passion. And uh so for me, there was a lot of shame in this idea that I had burned out. And and I think that that's something that's that's really key as we move on that we'll talk about.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And you you're uh quite involved in OCR as well, right?

Yes, yes. Yeah, I got super involved in OCR actually after um we closed our, or basically had to close our our old business, and yeah, I became just fascinated with OCR. It was so incredible to just be back out in nature, and all I needed was a pair of tennis shoes and some crappy clothes, which was great. With kite boarding, I needed like the wind to line up. I needed all sorts of expensive gear and equipment. And um, you know, I still do kiteboarding, but I also love having another sport that requires almost zero gear. And if the weather is bad, it's almost even better.

Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah, and for people who don't know, OCR is obstacle course racing, which is you know, Spartan. What are some of the other big ones?

Yeah, Spartan, um, the uh rugged maniac, the um, oh gosh, why am I blanking out on um on all the different ones? But yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, there's a bunch, and there's one I'm blanking on too because I did it uh a few times, just a 5k. And you know it's interesting about the OCR, and I don't want to talk about too long, but you know, I I always talk about this thing because I was, you know, CrossFit for so long. And you know, all the joke is like, well, how do you know if someone does CrossFit? Well, they won't shut the hell up about it, right? And uh and it was just true for so long, and it actually made business great because it was this this loyal tribe, and you know, people talk about it so much, and all of your marketing was done for you. And uh I remember being on a plane traveling somewhere around like 2014, and CrossFit was just the the popularity was starting to uh decrease a little bit, or the media war was, you know, everyone's like it was dangerous. It's it's not dangerous people.

Wow, it's not, yeah.

Okay, it's pretty perfectly safe, it's still one of the best methodologies out there. But I was like, you know, starting to decline. Then I got on a plane and I sat next to um these three people who were all going to the same Spartan race, right? And they were just they for a two-hour flight, they didn't talk, they didn't stop talking about it. I was like, oh my god, this is like the new CrossFit. Like it's the new tribe feeling, you know, about it.

Um Yeah, it really, I mean, it's really swooped a lot of people up. Um, I even applied and I was on the first season of the NBC Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge, and they brought American Ninja Warriors in. I mean, this this whole entire um obstacle course race thing has definitely blown up. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Do you think it's because in people's lives nowadays, um, maybe things are a little bit too easy? You know, we we our jobs aren't really physically straining. Um, our lives aren't really putting us, you know, our natural lives aren't putting us at risk of danger. So maybe we have to kind of put ourselves in situations where things are a little bit risky.

Yeah, you know, I see kind of the two opposites of people. I see people exactly what you're talking about that is that are in OCR and are attracted to it. And then I also see people that are just really they're struggling with something big in their life and being out there in the mud and trying to conquer these obstacles, it like gives them an opportunity to get that stuff out, um, to really battle against themselves. And so, you know, I always say it's like people are they are attracted to these. I think there's just like there's a lot of grit and a lot of uh kind of turmoil or conflict going on inside that they're like, man, this is my outlet, like this is how I let it out. This is you know how I get it, get it moved.

So yeah, yeah, it's an interesting thing. And I think people saw the same thing in CrossFit. It's like I always knew, you know, when I first started, I'm like, if I went to a CrossFit class, I'm like, this is by far gonna be the hardest thing I'm gonna do all day. You know, if I can get through this uh as soon as I get home or you know, back to my office, whatever it was, everything else is gonna be a piece of cake. And yeah, I think the same, same goes for that. So you know, with your your particular burnout story, give us some details. Like how did how did you start to know, notice these things? What were some of the signs for you? Give us give us some insights on that.

Yeah, so some of the things I I started noticing in the beginning, of course, was just some of the usual stuff, which was okay, I'm not I'm feeling disconnected from my passion. Um, I'm feeling um, you know, things get to me easier. Um, I'm feeling tired, more tired. My my outlook isn't as positive as it used to be. Um, everything feels like it's beginning to be more and more of a struggle. Um and uh and then as it began to progress, it started to manifest itself physically. So I started experiencing things like um nausea, dizziness, um, of course, insomnia, which is a big one. My appetite went all over the place. I was either, you know, not hungry at all and losing a bunch of weight, or all of a sudden I was like starving, like I hadn't, you know, eaten in weeks. And so just a lot of strange stuff started happening. I didn't feel quite like myself. My strength felt like it was waning. And as I describe in some in some other scenarios, eventually what felt like was happening to me was that my nervous system literally blew a fuse. So I started experiencing a lot of typical anxiety symptoms, so racing heart, sweating, thirsty, having to pee all the time. Um, and then I started getting shaky. I started experiencing um really uh a lot of like trembling in my hands, which I really had no clue that I was experiencing anxiety. Like I wouldn't have said, I wouldn't have said that at first. So I originally thought like I just had the flu. Like when I started getting really shaky and weak, I was like, Yeah, I must just have some weird flu or bacteria or something weirds going on, right?

Yeah.

So I'd go to the doctors and they would say, Well, everything's fine, you know, nothing's wrong. And and um, you know, after doctor after doctor and blood test after blood test, you know, everything came back fine. And I kept thinking, I've got like MS or I have Parkinson or I have, you know, some major disease. And they're like, fine, you're fine. And that's when finally, you know, it's kind of like this aha moment when one of the doctors kind of looked at me and said, you know, how are your stress levels? And at that moment, for whatever reason, that question broke the wall that I had put up that was, I'm I'm handling all my stress just fine. And I just broke down in her office, told her, you know, my business was a mess. We had uh brought on some business partners and that that was falling apart. And now we were in the middle of a lawsuit, and I was just a wreck. And she's like, Oh, well, your body is manifesting stress. And, you know, again, that's when it hit me. It's like I had been living at a high level of stress for so long that I just I didn't really think what I was experiencing was that stressful because I was used to that high level of stress. And again, a lot of it was really just internal. It was the way I was thinking about, you know, everything in my business, it was what I was thinking about myself. It was, you know, all of these things combined. And I think that there is a very important thing that people who, you know, have their own business or work in their passion, especially like with fitness professionals, it's really easy for us to be really fit with our bodies and what we eat and all this other stuff. But sometimes we're not the best at really maintaining our mental muscles and keeping those in check every day and really realizing that we are, you know, we just because we work out and eat healthy, that doesn't mean that you can offset that if your stress levels are too high.

Yeah.

Uh so I think it's kind of like I think a friend of mine had said something like, you know, she's in uh weight loss and she's like, Yeah, you know, I was trying to out-train my bad diet. Yeah, you know, she's and and for me, it's like, yeah, I was trying to out-train my stress levels. And there's a point when all the exercise and kale in the world is not going to fix you because you've got to make a lifestyle change and change the amount of stress that you're experiencing, or again, like I said, really address what's happening um mentally. And that's something that I think is difficult for people to kind of jump into.

Well, it's it's it's a tough thing because you know, the the science on stress is really just getting going, right? How does, you know, how what what is truly going on and how incredibly powerful our mind is over the, you know, we we always want to, especially in, you know, in fitness, we want to say, like, you know, oh, I can fix it if I just sleep more, um, work out more regularly, and you know, eat a little bit cleaner. Like, you know, that doesn't solve all the problems. And I can tell you, like, you know, through my journey of stress and anxiety and burnout and um, you know, it manifested in my gut, right? So there's a short period of time in a very short year. That was me too. Yeah. And that's where a lot of people, you know, a lot of people are searching for answers. Like, well, maybe I'm allergic to this type of food. Maybe I'm maybe I'm lactose, maybe I'm um, you know, gluten, maybe it's gluten. You know, maybe it's actually none of those things. Your mind is exhausted, you know, and your stress levels. I mean, I always, you know, I always describe stress as like you only have everyone has a stress bucket, right? Um, everyone's bucket is a different size, probably a different shape, whatever it is. But all these different stresses go in there, whether it be, you know, um environmental stresses, it could be um, you know, stress from outside from work, relationships, things like that, um, workouts, right? Training can be very stressful. As you know, you've you've turned at a very high level. So you start throwing all these things in, eventually your bucket's gonna overflow, and who knows what's gonna happen then.

Yeah.

That's that's the thing, and people need to be very aware of that. And uh, you know, sometimes in fitness professionals, you're gonna hate hearing this, but sometimes you have to stop working out for a while or figure out something that's less strenuous. And this comes from a CrossFitter, okay? Yeah, yeah.

You're totally spot on with that because you know, I realized as I was getting sicker and sicker and more run down, I kept trying to power through these intense workouts because I thought, well, I just have to like like punish this out of myself or whatever it is, you know. And it and I realized it was like, okay, my workouts are now depleting me. Like the only thing that was recharging me was yoga or even yen yoga, where you're basically just laying there for five minutes, right? And for me, that was so difficult because I wanted to power out a workout, you know. I wanted to, I didn't want to sit there and do yoga. Um, you know, and I appreciate yoga and I loved it, but I didn't want to be forced to have to do it. And my body was basically forcing me, like, nope, sorry, like this is what you get, and you need to be able to sit here and be with this. And um, and I think you're totally right about the buckets and about, you know, I had a lot of stomach issues as well. And what's fascinating is I noticed that when my stress levels decreased, I could eat all kinds of things and be okay. But when my stress levels were really high, it was like my stomach didn't like gluten, it didn't like cheese, it didn't like, you know, this, it didn't like that. Like it wanted me to just have broth, right? Or something like that. So you know, again, really noticing that. And um it reminds me of the kind of old adage of the frog and the boiling water. Do you remember that one?

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A frog in a pot of boiling water, he'll jump right out. But if you stick him in water and slowly boil him, he'll never jump out because he doesn't he doesn't realize that the water is slowly getting hotter. And this is the real challenge that we have with burnout is for most people, they don't think that they're burning out. It's not until you hit some major physical or you know mental wall that you are able to say, holy crap, something's wrong. Um, and that's you know, unfortunately, that's kind of where we are at this point because we're still learning our own boundaries and learning, you know, how far we can push things. And environmental factors and genetics play a huge role.

Yeah.

So some people genetically, it's been proven that they can handle more amounts of stress than other people. And so I think that's really important too. And that that was something that I learned in my journey was, you know, what my genes were telling me and and what I was really capable of being able to handle at that point, because stress will be like a hot button on any gene that you have, whether that's you know, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, whatever it is, stress will just amplify all of those things.

Yeah. Yeah, it's it's it's really interesting. And I think it's a big level of advancement as a fitness professional and coach is when you start to understand about the stress. Um, but how it affects your clients, having the awareness of looking at it. Because, you know, um, you know, you can a lot of clients will come in to your, and this is something that we saw, you know, in CrossFit as we started to realize and stop a lot of people haven't realized it yet, right? But you you throw in a high volume, high intensity, low carb right situation, you throw all those factors in, you're looking at a perfect and then you throw a stressful job on top of it. You're throwing for the looking the perfect formula for adrenal fatigue, burnout, all these things, right? And what happens is a lot of times your clients, and this is why I started noticing after a while, is a lot of clients will come in, they're they're in this stage of burnout, but they come and they get their workout, they get this jack of adrenaline, jack of cortisol, and they feel great. Oh yeah. So they're great for a couple hours, maybe, and then they go back and they just right. And I think it's something that people really, and I'm so glad we're having this conversation because I think it's something that trainers really need to start becoming aware of. Like, okay, are you it's easy, it's easy to make somebody so tired that they're rolling on the ground after a workout, right? And a lot of your clients may think they want that, right?

Yeah, yeah.

But it's the harder thing to do for people is to be like, you know what? You know, today we're just gonna walk around the block and we're gonna talk about life. Right? Are you really making a change? Yeah, you are. But it's it's a hard thing to have the confidence to do. And uh, you know, now you've seen it from first hand in your life, right? So now you know how to start to see these things, and now you're out helping people, um, which is amazing. And you've so tell us about some of the things that like go into your that you've gone into your book. Tell us about your book.

Well, really, the book is was designed to be a workbook, so to really help people have the opportunity to start reflecting on how they can get out of the place that they found them. Because most people wake up and they're like, How did I get here? You know there's this moment where you're just like, what in the world? And then you realize you've got a fairly long path to get out. And you know, success is again at this point becomes determined at how you're gonna look at that path. You know, is it gonna be an a path of opportunity to make the changes that you need, or is it gonna be something that you Are you going to mourn and be upset about the entire way? And I think that that's a big place where I see people, you know, whether they kind of get the success or not. But really, the I would say the biggest summation of what I talk about in the book is being able to notice what gives you energy, what fuels you, and what takes energy away. And being able to get really clear on what, I mean, you hear this all the time, it sounds kind of trite, but being clear on your priorities and really what needs to be your focus for that year or that month. Because I mean, now more than ever, we have so many possibilities to get off track. We have so many ways to be involved with things that we love, right? I mean, I'm one of those people that I look at like almost every hobby and I'm like, I want to do that, I want to do that. That sounds cool, right?

So I do that too.

I can't do every like I would burn myself out just trying to do all the hobbies I want to do. So it's it's constantly having to check in with your why and what it is that you really want to be creating. Because, you know, like I say, if you spread yourself too thin, you become easy to break. You crack easily. And that's something that I see a lot with the people that are drawn to my work, is they tend to spread themselves way too thin. They they either want to help everyone and please everyone, or they have a ton of different passions, or they're um extremely passionate about the work that they do, and they're just unable to unplug, they're unable to get those boundaries. And so eventually what ends up happening because they're never really recharging, is now they're operating on an energetic debt. And in that sense, that's what I describe a lot as when you start seeing adrenal fatigue or you start seeing physical symptoms, that's when you're actually you're borrowing from energy you don't have. And so your body is starting to manifest physical symptoms, and typically people will start to do things like drink more coffee or eat more sugar or you know, those things to just kind of force themselves past that hump.

And um, it's really interesting you said something that hit home too, is that you know, if if people come to the awareness, maybe they you know they get your book, they start going through the work, they start, you know, they're like, oh wow, right? Like I've how did I end up here? You know, it's the boiling frog, that insidious, you know, thing that happens a little bit every day. Um the fact is like once you you get to that point to get out of it, the healing takes a long time. You know, yeah, I think you know, yeah, it definitely takes a little while.

And and I think this is where I really try to promote and help people get back to having fun. Because I think when you when you burn out, you've sort of gotten so serious about your life, or you've gotten so intense about the things that you need to do and what must be done that you forget to just have fun for the sake of having fun, or you're not laughing enough. And so I really try to infuse a lot of focus on having fun again because it really gets your energy um you know moving in a great way, it's changing your physiology, you know, all that kind of stuff. So I think for sure people have to understand it is a process, but the really cool thing is that if you're burning out, that means you're really not enjoying your life probably as much as you thought you were, right? So this is actually a great thing because now you're gonna recreate something that you can really feel great about again. And I always tell people, you know, I had someone say this to me when I was really upset and thinking, like, oh, I had all this judgment on myself, like, oh, if I'm burnt out, that means like I don't like my business or my clients or I'm not a good business owner. And I had all these ideas about what that meant. And this one said to me, you know, in the nursing field that I was in, they used to say, in order to burn out, you have to have a burning passion. And it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was like, oh my God, like I I'm not a terrible person. Like I'm not like a useless, you know, I'm not like incapable. Like, if anything, I'm just overzealous. And I've actually realized that is a huge thing that I see with people that are burning out. And this is why I think it's also important in the fitness industry because you get, you know, fitness instructors that are really passionate about the people that they're trying to help and help them lose weight. And they give, give, give, they give all this energy. They really want to see this transformation happen. And it is that passion that can sometimes, you know, really get squashed out if you if you don't keep yourself in check.

Yeah. Uh, that's such a good point. It's really interesting. I've never thought about it that way, but it's true. You know, in order just like just to have the sheer energy to push that far into this this debt area of energy debt as you describe it. Yeah.

You you gotta be uh extremely focused and you know driven and passionate and Yeah, all those words, right?

All those words that we are probably people listen to my podcast here all the time. Um yeah, it's it's a re it's it's very true. So you know, okay, I'm I'm someone who's found myself in burnout. Maybe I've read your book, I've gone through the worksheets. Um What do I do next? What what's what do what do I do?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the the big takeaway from the book is this strategy that I I am drilling into your brain almost on every page, which is to move boldly, think different, and smile more. So basically I'm trying to set people up for becoming an obstacle crusher, becoming someone who can notice when they're getting off track or notice when they're, you know, draining that energy bank, and they know exactly what to do to get back on track. So my goal is not necessarily, you know, like you'll be cured forever and you'll never ever experience anything. I know that, you know, for some people they may burn out a couple times before they really get their life clicking how it needs to be. So my big hope for people is that when they get knocked off the horse, they get back on that much faster. They become more resourceful, more driven, more capable, probably shouldn't say driven, but more capable to really be able to keep themselves in that healthy space. And so for me, the move boldly piece is really about changing your um your state and your physiology. So working out is definitely one of those key things, but it's really about asking yourself, what's the boldest action I could take right now? And for me, when I was burning out, it was actually to do yin yoga and to say no to a hardcore workout. Now, that might not sound bold to some people, but for people that are really driven and like those hard pushing workouts, to do yin yoga is tough. To make yourself sit there and slow down is tough. Um, the next thing I would look at is okay, if I'm struggling with something now, how can I think about this differently? What what what thoughts am I having right now that are totally making me feel unmotivated? And which thinking or which beliefs would actually get me to my goal, get me to where I want to be. So I'm always checking on my thoughts. And then the third piece is smile more, and that's really to always remind myself that I've got to do things that are just fun, ridiculous, no point, absolutely zero point or you know, need for productivity, which actually then makes me more productive in the long run if I do those things. And all three of those things will switch your psychology and your um your uh physical state as well. And so it's again, it's like, how can we just immediately start switching the energy? Because I'm a firm believer in the building of momentum, and you can build momentum, you know, towards burnouts, or you can build momentum towards you know, having your your energy, your mental faculties, your health, your happiness, all that kind of stuff.

Yeah, yeah. I love the fact you brought up yin yoga because that was um I I I had a uh a good friend, Heather Tittens, um, out in Santa Barbara, California, who's you know, just uh you know pretty famous in the world, two things uh for two things women surfing. She was a pioneer of women's surfing, and she was also very well known in the yogi world. Um and I had the pleasure of you know her coming into my life at one point and you know, she helped me through a lot of these very stressful situations that I was going through as well, and part of it was Ian yoga. And I can tell you, uh, if you're an active person, um if you're athletic, uh if you do all these things, you try sitting in a pose for five minutes and just sitting with your thoughts and the mood and just the stretch or whatever sensations you're feeling, that is really hard. Like you like you have challenging. I tell you right now, it's just as challenging as any other workout I've done.

And exactly.

You have nothing to do but to sit with your thoughts and because you're in the room, you're in, you're in the room 90 minutes, maybe. Yeah.

And uh it's so true, and it's so perfect. It's like I tell people sometimes when I say, you know, what's the biggest, you know, what's the bold move you can make right now? And I'm like, this is not about like the bold move of you have to like change totally change your life and your career. A bold move might be, I'm giving myself a 10 minute like nap this ash. I'm just gonna go lay down for 10 minutes. That's the that's the most badass crazy thing I could do right now because every fiber of my being says keep pushing.

What is what the God, what is that? What is that that it's that drive that we have as humans, something innately, you know. Um, like, you know, I wake up fairly early every morning. Um, some days I skip in and I just sleep in if I feel really tired. And uh, but there's like this guilt, like, oh my god, and there's no reason for me to be up that early. Nothing's happening except for me just doing my morning routine, right? And yeah, my wife's like, why do you wake up so early? I'm like, I don't know, I feel like I should.

Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of what I like to call shoulding on yourself that happens. That when I say that to myself, it kind of makes me laugh and and check, check what it is that I that I'm thinking. Um yeah, and that's what I noticed too, you know, with burnout, a lot of it, there's a lot of confidence and self-worth wrapped up in burnout. Um, you know, kind of trying to prove ourselves, prove our value, wearing our work as a badge of honor. Um, you know, that kind of personality um and that kind of drive, it's it can get you into trouble. It's tough. You know, it's really understanding I don't have to prove myself to the point of sickness.

Yeah.

Right. I don't have to prove that I love my family by working 80 hours a week. You know, that's not there's a there's a uh really strange thing that happens with that. It's like, well, look how hard I work and how much I I do for you know my family. This is how committed I am. And yet, you know, it ends up biting them, um, biting them in the long run by missing out on a lot of things. And um, you know, as most people would say, you know, we we know you're worthy, like we just want you, we want to spend time with you. You know, you don't have to prove with all of these outside things.

It's really it's an interesting thing in the world of entrepreneurship, right? Yes. Um, you know, you uh it's a paradox for sure. Yeah, it's messed up. And I'm really excited because I'm starting to see the the things are you know, people like you are getting the message out there. Um but sleep is like this thing I'm really fascinated with because so many people I okay, I get up between 5 30 and 6, right? Almost every morning because I like the calmness of that first 45 minutes, right? Yeah, it's peaceful. I do my stretches, I do a little bit of meditation, I read a book, um and then I I carry on with my day. So I feel like I've already done something for myself. But I know a lot of people who it's like some kind of dwarfed competition. Like, what time do you get up? 4 30. Oh, I get up at 4.

Yeah.

Like some people I know, like, well, I get up at 2.30. I'm like, well, then you're not even going to sleep. Yeah. That's just that's just ridiculous. And you know, the first question I always ask people is, well, how productive are you, really? Right? What time are you going to bed? Okay, if you're going to bed at 7, that makes sense. Right. I I just don't.

Yeah, we are definitely, I mean, Ariana Huffington talks about this all the time. You know, she's got a book out on this. She's kind of become this sleep, um, what does she call herself? Um, a sleep specialist. But, you know, she really talks about this culture of burnout. And it's really true. I mean, we get we get sucked into it, I think, without even realizing it. So, you know, one thing that I've noticed is instead of, you know, how are you doing? It's like people saying, well, maybe I'm fine or I'm great or whatever. It's kind of like, oh, I'm busy, I'm really busy, right? And then immediately what tends to happen is this thing of like, well, I went to New York last week and then I had a mold taken off my back and I redid my house and I took my kids to, you know, gym and gymnastics and soccer, and then I did this with my wife, and all in one week, right? And you're sitting there thinking, God, what did I do this week, right? Or whatever it is, it's sort of like it's like you said, sort of insinuates and also sort of gets us caught up in this competition of like, well, look how much I can do. And you know, we're really realizing that it it's it's a short-term strategy. You could do that for a short, short period of time, but you won't be able to sustain it. Yeah, it's only a matter of time.

Fo FOCU. Have you heard that?

FOCU, no, that's great.

So there's FOMO, there's FOMO, fear of fear of missing out, and then there's FOCU, uh, fear of keeping up. Yeah, uh, yeah, Brad Curns is on the show uh recently and he brought that one up. I laughed my butt off. Yeah. Talk about fun.

Yeah. Right?

Like when it's it's become this thing over time where and I think it's especially in American society. Well, I'm sure it's in you know Japanese culture or cultures like that. Um but who's having fun as adults anymore? Who's just doing ridiculous things? When I I had a at my gym, we had a class, um, well, all the classes, we always, you know, towards the end of my my ownership days, I I always wanted people to start with a game. And people were so reluctant to play the game. Like we play a game called uh Pizza Delivery Guy, right? Where you had to take an ammat, you had to walk around and hold it up, someone knocked it off, you had to do 10 squats, right? And by the end of the, you know, the first five minutes, everyone's everyone's laughing like little kids. You know, you see this transition over a five period. Yeah. Like, I don't want to, this is childish, right? And then next thing you know, they're laughing like little kids. Everybody's having a great time, the energy's different. And you're like, God, why don't we have more of that? You know, what is going on? Yeah, yeah.

It is definitely something that is missing, and I'm constantly trying to keep, you know, cultivated and nurtured within me. And I, you know, I think again, we get so caught up in the minutiae, you know, so caught up in all the things that we have to do. And I know for a lot of the people that I talk to, you know, they're just like there is a sense of control in the minutiae. So it's like, if I just control everything in my world and keep everything just perfect, like a woman I was talking to was like, well, I can't take my girls to the park on Saturdays because we have to clean the house, and that's the only day we can clean the house. And if we don't clean the house, all these things are gonna happen, right? And again, it's sort of turned into this thing where we have put everything above fun, and it's like, okay, let's let's let's check this idea about the house, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Um, you know, is it really going to give you that sense of peace and calm, or is this more about just, you know, again, people are in such a busy blur that they just feel like they they have to try to hold their world together with this tightness, right? Because if anything were to release that tightness, that everything would come crashing down. And um, I think you know, that's one thing that plays a part. And two, it is, you know, again, it just our our drive and our sense for productivity, it just seems like the opposite thing of what we should be doing. But of course, like many things, the more fun you have, the more you bring that into your life, oftentimes the more productive you are. Of course, I'm sure you know there's tons of studies on productivity that you're really only productive for actually a very short period of time. And then if you just keep pushing after that, you're actually making things worse.

Yeah, no, totally. You know, there is um, I think if there's something that I benefited benefited from from learning early on in my professional career. So, you know, 10 years of sales and marketing before I got into to any kind of business or entrepreneurship. There was a difference between efficiency and efficacy. And I talk about this often with people that I work with, is that you know, efficiency is, you know, I always put in the terms of of sales, you know, efficiency is like how many how many cold calls did you make in an hour? Right. I'm like, well, I did 30. Right. Well, efficacy is how many of those actually moved forward. Right. What if you took that same amount of time and instead of just going ripping right into your cold calls over 60 minutes? What if you took 40 minutes researching two or three people really well, finding out who they know, what they're into, all these things, and making that time so valuable and effective that you don't need to do all the other stuff.

Yeah, yeah.

Right? What if we invested in our relationships like that? What if we invested in everything um in that manner? It's like, well, let's let's look at the time that you're using and how do you make that time more valuable? Besides more hustle.

Yes, yes, I know, all the hustle. I I feel like in a lot of ways, busy has become it's almost kind of like the new junk food because it feels like good and it kind of feels like you're getting a lot of stuff done, and it's kind of like there's sort of that instant gratification to it that's just like, yeah, that's good. You know.

Yeah, yeah, well because it's accomplishment. I mean, you look at your, you know, I look at my task list for the day, right? Yeah, like that's in the other page. But you know, if I if I get through my day and I have them all scratched out, I'm like, oh, I won.

Yeah, exactly.

If I didn't, then I'm stressed out. I was like, oh, that's just shit I have to do tomorrow.

Yeah.

And uh, you know, but I don't know as that, you know, and then I look back, I'm like, what actually served me?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Like what pushed it forward? And more than, you know, sadly to say, most of it probably didn't.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I mean, I think that's true. I think there are definitely some things that don't push us forward. And and I love the idea of of you know, kind of picking your make three main things that you like, you know, those are the things that are going to get done. But I also always have to remind myself that, you know, even with the minutiae and stuff that I that I have to do, I always have to remind myself that I get to do it. And then adding some sort of why to that minutiae. Otherwise, I will quickly go down this trail of this is the stupidest crap I have to do today. It's a waste of my time. You know, I'll kind of go down this thing which doesn't, then I'm resisting the activity the entire way, which is then causing me to be more fatigued than if I just, you know, embraced it and moved forward anyway. So again, there's always this like this balance of either deciding what you're not gonna put your energy into, or if it's something you have to do, shifting your energy around it so at least you're not fighting it the whole way. Yeah, right. You're not paddling upstream with it the whole way, going, God, I can't believe I have to do this.

Yeah, yeah. Oh man, I mean, I could talk about this all the time because it's it's uh it's really important. And I just don't think people talk about it enough. You know, it's this um this shield of motto.

Yeah. And I think, I mean, now more than ever, we're able, we are openly talking about, you know, mental, um, you know, mental illness. And I feel like when I say that word, there's almost like a cringe, but I mean, anxiety, depression, a lot of the stuff that comes with burnout is really defined as you know, a mental illness. And I feel like so many people just really hate that idea. They they really cringe at it. There's a lot of shame. And the scary thing is the stats on depression and hospitalization, I mean, are through the charts. They're saying by like 2020 that depression is going to be one of the biggest, you know, highest causes for hospitalization and people not being able to work because of what it does to you physically. And I think it's so much more acceptable to say, you know, maybe you're at a party and it's like, oh, I hurt my, broke my leg, or I sprained my wrist, or I did something in my CrossFit workout, and now I'm kind of limping around and I'm taking whatever I need for it, or maybe I have diabetes and I'm taking that medication for it. And what I find fascinating is it's so much harder to have the conversation about the mental piece, about what you're thinking, or the struggles that you're having mentally, or if you feel like that you have to take medicine because of what whatever reason. And you know, these are conversations that I'm having daily with people, and you know, it's it's such an important conversation because unless we talk about it, we can't really start to um unpeel it and unpack it and kind of separate the judgments from the truths and you know what's really needed at this point and what isn't. And um, you know, for me it's really all about being married to the results of getting people to feeling good, not necessarily the modality. Because I find a lot of people will have you know judgments about getting better in one form or another. And I'm like, you gotta just drop that and go with really getting better. Back in touch with yourself and what makes you feel good, right? Or what you need to do to get back there. And for some people that requires some support with medication and for other people it doesn't. But the big thing is really just allowing yourself to do whatever is necessary to help yourself. And that's where I find a lot of people kind of kick and scream. Like they don't, you know, they don't want to do certain things that might help them to move forward, whether that's the yin yoga or whether that's, you know, seeking help with the depression and anxiety, um, because they don't want to feel like that that's them. Um I remember when I was at the doctor's too, and the doctor said, Well, I think, you know, you might be a little depressed. And as soon as they said that, I started crying and I'm like, what? Me, depressed? And you know, I'm probably thinking, like, oh, he's probably thinking he's not too far off the mark. Um, but it was funny because for me, the idea that I was depressed actually made me super upset. So it was again this this construct of having a judgment about who depressed people are, and I didn't think I was one of those people. Um, and so that in itself made me realize that I had a lot of judgment around it. Um even though I was thinking I'm so like open and I, you know, this and that. When it came to myself, I was my harshest critic.

Yeah, yeah. And I think uh you're not alone.

Yeah.

Is that right? Um where do people find you?

Yeah, so the eight-week course, well, you can find me at moveThingsmile.com. So super easy. Move ThinksMile. And uh the eight-week course is really focused on you know getting people out of burnout and living what I like to call a badass life, which is really, you know, getting back in a lot of ways, for a lot of people, it's getting back to their old selves. They've burnt out, they don't recognize themselves anymore. They're like, who is this person? I don't like the things I used to like, I don't even know who I am. So it's really about helping them find themselves again, a new version, a better version, and uh, you know, having someone there all along the way. And uh, we have you know, self-paced work that they do, we have uh trainings that they do, and of course they get private coaching with me as well. But uh our entire program is based on those three on the three concepts of mood, move boldly, think different, and smile more. So we have a lot of fun um as we do this as much as we can because again, we really want to infuse people um with that that fun piece to help get them moving.

Right on, right on. Well, Ellie, thank you for for tackling this whole thing, right? Head on. I think it's really important. I think it's a huge blind spot for so many people who are maybe not reaching the levels of success that they want and they don't know why. So they just keep pushing and they keep barreling forward the same way that they always have, but that that is leading towards a crash. And uh yeah, so you're doing great work and uh appreciate Colonel all of your stories. It's it's been awesome.

Yeah, thank you. Thanks so much.

Hey FitnessFans, don't leave yet. It's your host, Eric Malzone, and I have a quick favor to ask. Actually, three favors. So, number one, if you're a fan of our show, I ask you to do something that takes under three minutes. Go to iTunes, please, and subscribe to our show. Please, please, please. It means so much to us. It's so important. And then give us a favorable review. We would really, really appreciate it. And uh, I can tell you how much it means and helps us out. So I know it takes two minutes of your day, and uh it means a lot to us. So please do that. Number two, go to our YouTube channel or Fitness Marketing Alliance, and uh please subscribe to our YouTube channel there. Number three, if you like this episode or any of the episodes that we've released, share it on social. That's huge, that's a big deal for us, and when we put a lot of work into these episodes, uh trying to give you great actionable content uh for the fitness industry. So that would mean a lot. And that's it. So we have some big plans coming up for this show. I'll be talking about that in the next couple episodes. But thank you so much for listening. It means so much. And uh, if you have any questions, please reach out to me. I love to hear from everybody. Eric, E R I C at Fitness MarketingAliance.com.