Contrarian opinion: taking time off during a burnout is useless

Last week I felt a huge burnout.

Probably the biggest one in a year.

And I was very close to letting go, shutting down the laptop and going on holidays.

Luckily I didn't.

Most people tend to need "breaks" every once in a while.

Weekends completely off the grid.

1 or 2 week trips.

An entire month off per year.

At the same time, most people on the day to day tend to say out loud:

"I just need a break".

Or "I can't wait for the weekend".

It is one thing to feel tired or stressed.

And a different world to be going through a burnout.

The challenge is being able to differentiate the two.

Sometimes people want the weekend so bad because they think they're tired and they need to rest.

When in reality they're completely burned out and they actually need to reset instead of rest.

The same happens in reverse.

I've seen lots of people convinced they were burned out.

When in reality they're pushing themselves so hard they don't give their brain and body enough time to recover.

They sleep bad. They eat bad. And this quickly compounds.

But resetting usually isn't about taking a 6 month sabbatical.

It's about taking a full stop.

And strategizing.

It's like taking a break but without breaking momentum.

It's like taking a break from the high intensity training to do yoga or recovery training.

Last week I went exactly through this.

I've been going through some hard stuff on the business.

I basically lost 40% of my revenue overnight (will share more later).

This opened up a bunch of doors.

Closing new deals. Upselling existing clients. Re-allocating the team. And so on.

But these were all actionable steps.

The thing that burned me out was:

• Doing all this
• Being tired from the entire year of work (last holidays were 10 months ago)
• Feeling uncertain about the next 3-4 months for my business
• Feeling like I lost all the progress made in the past months

All this combined burned me out.

One of my coaches advised me really strongly:

Don't take a break. Don't take time off. Don't stop.

Keep the momentum.

Simply take a day off from working in the business.

And work ON it.

One full day of laser focus.

Headphones on.

Music that keeps you inspired and focused.

Slack. WhatsApp. Email. Social media. All turned off.

Empty calendar.

Open an empty doc or note.

And start writing.

Start journaling.

Reflect on the past.

Think about the future.

Ask yourself the right questions.

Create actionable steps.

You'll know what to work on throughout the entire day if you stick to it and stay focused.

Journaling will do its thing if you're honest during the self-conversation.

If you need a framework, you can do things like the Shortcut-o-matic or a Lightning Decision Jam (look up for them).

But a big 6-8 hour journaling session should do it.

Beware with the action items, they'll probably make your todo list huge.

But don't get scared about that.

Prioritize them.

And set up 3-4 hours per day, every morning, to work on those tasks.

If working IN the business won't let you do it, set up 3-4 mornings, and use the weekends if necessary.

Just remember:

Sometimes you need to rest and recover.

Other times you need to stop and pivot, while keeping momentum.

Feel free to answer:

Have you ever felt something like this? How do you deal with burnouts?

Thanks for reading and until next week,

Juan

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