366: Consistency Over Crisis: How to Build Sustainable Work Rhythms Without Burnout

366: Consistency Over Crisis: How to Build Sustainable Work Rhythms Without Burnout

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[00:00:00] If you're feeling trapped or overwhelmed by your workload, it makes sense in the context of what is happening right now in the US the cost of living continues to rise. Job losses and funding cuts are happening across so many industries. The job market is uncertain, and at times that can feel completely discouraging.

So many people I know are staying in roles that they would have left under different circumstances because right now the importance is maintaining whatever seeming stability that they have. You wanna be able to pay rent, you wanna be able to afford groceries, you wanna keep a roof over your head, and at the same time, the reasons that you want to leave keep coming up.

You might be dealing with a micromanaging supervisor who won't leave you alone. You might be holding a workload that just [00:01:00] keeps overflowing without any adjustments. Maybe you're doing the work of multiple roles combined into one, and so you find yourself in this position where urgency kicks in, where you're pushing through, where you're fighting exhaustion, you're working late nights, you're trying to get everything done, and then for a moment you might experience a sense of relief, but then the cycle starts back up again.

And this pattern is requiring constant output. It leaves no room for rest and recovery, and you're likely dealing with this with energy that's already stretched thin. So what do you do? And what do you do when you're someone who's also navigating? Other things like fluctuating energy, caregiving responsibilities, chronic illnesses, or neurodivergence.

Today I am going to invite you to [00:02:00] step out of this cycle; the cycle that requires urgency and overwork and always being in crisis mode. And instead we're gonna talk about how to build work rhythms that support your life, your capacity, and your long term wellbeing.

Welcome to the award-winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast. The place where first generation BIPOC students and professionals can listen in on inclusive grad school stories and gain practical tools for sustainable success. This is Dra Yvette Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, author, and speaker.

I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you thrive in grad school and [00:03:00] beyond.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring podcast. This is your host, Doctora Yvette. Today's episode is all about how to build sustainable work rhythms without burnout. I'm gonna be walking you through why crisis-driven productivity cycles happen in the first place. What consistency can look like when you're accounting for what's happening in your life and circumstances. And I'm also gonna share four strategies that you can apply today to build a more sustainable set of work rhythms.

Let's get into why crisis cycles happen. So before I talk about the strategies, I think it's important to recognize what might be showing up for you. Sometimes crisis cycles happen because you're dealing with executive functioning challenges. Maybe the work that [00:04:00] you are doing demands a lot of planning, a lot of prioritizing, and you're struggling with that. You might be struggling with task initiation. You might be just dealing with a foggier brain or less energy. Maybe you're dealing with chronic stress, and that's also impacting your ability to focus.

You might also be someone who is first gen, in your field or in your industry, and that means that the hidden curriculum is also impacting you. You don't know what you don't know, and because you don't know, people are assuming you know how to do your job and you may not feel comfortable asking for help.

So you keep taking on more and more and more until you burn out. Another thing that comes up is what do you do when you are also a caregiver? Maybe you're part of the standards generation, you've got children or dependents, and then you've also got elders that are [00:05:00] relying on you. You have so many additional responsibilities that require your time, your energy, your attention, and all of this further compounds the crisis cycle. So you might be dealing with work crises, but then you add to that these other challenges and that makes a lot of things that much harder to manage. And so how do we break this cycle?

Well, first I want you to redefine consistency. That is the first strategy. A lot of times when people think about consistency, they think about doing the same amount of work all of the time, they're thinking about consistent output.

Nope, I don't want you to think about it that way. I want you to instead think about it as reflecting a consistent and ongoing relationship with your work. [00:06:00] Rather than a fixed level of output. So again, it's more about the process and your relationship to that instead of focusing just on a tangible outcome.

So we're not measuring consistency by how much you're producing every day, and instead, we're measuring consistency by touch points. What do I mean by a touch point? I mean any meaningful interaction with the work that keeps the work top of mind. What does this look like? Maybe you are having a higher energy, higher capacity day, so you're actually able to complete a major task.

That's great. Maybe you are dealing with more moderate energy that day, or moderate capacity, so you're able to outline the next steps or respond to a set of feedback that you received. But maybe this day you're [00:07:00] dealing with lower energy and your capacity is pretty depleted. What can you do?

That might mean rereading something. That might mean organizing your notes or your task list. That might mean writing down the next step for yourself so that the next time you get back to it, you know exactly what to do. What if you have very, very, very limited time and energy? If that's the case, maybe you send yourself a voice note with an idea. Maybe you just think through and journal your next steps. Or maybe you just open up the document briefly, and set a 10 minute timer, and do what you can with those 10 minutes. This is all about touch points and maintaining that relationship with the work. It is not about I need to produce the same amount of output every single time.

The second strategy is one that I've shared time and time again, so if you're a long [00:08:00] time listener, you're going to recognize this one. This is a strategy of setting minimum and maximum goals. And the reframe here is that, once again, a lot of times people pressure themselves to set very lofty, ambitious, and often unrealistic goals. And what can happen when you do that is that you start to grow accustomed to not reaching your goals, which feels really discouraging and makes you feel like you are failing at the work, when in reality you're probably making progress and not giving yourself the credit for the progress that you're making.

And so I want you to recognize, that progress can exist within a range and your progress will expand or contract based on your capacity. Nevertheless, you can still make progress. And so the minimum goal is you setting a goal of what you can [00:09:00] do in a low capacity day or week. So what's the minimum you can get done to move the needle forward even when life happens?

The maximum goal is about what you can do in a high energy or high capacity day. What's the most that you can do this day or this week in an ideal scenario without burning yourself out? And so what can this look like if you are working on a writing project? Maybe it means your minimum goal is, I'm gonna revise one paragraph or I'm gonna outline a section.

Your maximum goal is I'm gonna draft multiple pages. If it's admin work, minimum might be, I'm gonna respond to two emails. Maximum might be, let me just clear out my inbox for the week. For a long-term project maybe it's your minimum goal is I'm gonna identify the next step. I just need to know what I need to do next.

Your maximum goal might [00:10:00] be, I am going to complete a full milestone, not just a baby task, but like a measurable, substantial milestone. This is all about making progress within a range instead of always assuming that you can produce the same quantity of work each time.

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Group coaching creates something really meaningful and that instead of focusing only on your individual challenges, you get to [00:11:00] draw on shared experiences, resource sharing and collective accountability. Participants learn from one another through lateral and multimodal learning, while receiving guidance and structure from me as your coach. Inside this space, your identities and values are welcomed as sources of strength and wisdom.

Together we create a brave container for both personal and professional growth. Our work centers on sustainable productivity, executive functioning, and defining success in ways that align with your values and long-term vision. The next enrollment deadline is April 7th, and the cohort begins at the end of April.

If you're looking for a space, where you can move forward on your goals with community, structure and compassionate support, I invite you to join us. Go to gradschoolfemtoring.com/group-coaching [00:12:00] to read the details and apply. Again, that's gradschoolfemtoring.com/group-coaching to learn more.

The third strategy is about energy aware planning. I'm a big fan of this one, and for this, I'm also going to reference my former episode on the ABC method of time management, because that expands on this concept, but really the reframe here is to get you to think about energy as a resource that is ever changing, and it'll shift throughout the day. It'll shift throughout the week, throughout the month, throughout the seasons, and even throughout years. And so your planning needs to account for reflecting and recognizing those patterns. How do you do this?

You wanna align your tasks with any [00:13:00] noticeable energy rhythms that you have. Once you notice where you start to gain energy, where you start to lose energy, you wanna match those higher focus tasks with your higher energy periods. That could be periods in the day, that could be periods in the week, month, year, and you wanna match the lower energy tasks with the lower demand tasks. So that means that if you start to lose energy in the evenings, or maybe you're like me and you don't have a lot of energy in the mornings, you try to align those lower demand tasks with those timeframes.

Let me give you an example. So let's say your best energy is in the morning. That is not true for me, but I know that's true for a lot of people, then you use that time for the deep work. That's problem solving, major projects, writing, et cetera. If [00:14:00] you notice your energy dipping in the afternoon again, that's not true for me, but for some people after lunch, they start to lose energy, then you might use that time to send some emails or prep for some meetings or do some sort of lighter task. The key here is to slow down, reflect, recognize what your energy rhythms are, you might need to track this to notice it, and then to plan accordingly.

Okay, now I'm gonna transition to the last strategy, and this is all about structured flexibility. I know that sounds like a contradiction, just saying it out loud, but what I mean by structured flexibility is structure that supports consistency while allowing for adjustments. You can give yourself a sense of direction without having to be overly rigid.[00:15:00]

You do this by setting up systems that guide your work while keeping those systems adaptable. And again, when you do it in practice, it can mean focusing on priorities rather than focusing on sticking to a rigid schedule to a T. We don't want perfectionism here. We want you to be aware of your priorities, and so what this can look like is setting your daily list of priorities.

Maybe it's one, two, or maybe even three meaningful tasks for the day, and as long as you get those tests done, then that's progress. Then if you do have a rolling list of tasks, which you do, most of us have some way that we manage tasks. That might be a notebook, that might be a task management tool that might be your planner. You wanna keep that separate from your priority list. So you've got your daily priorities, one to three things, and then you've got your rolling list of tasks, [00:16:00] and you wanna give yourself permission to carry over certain tasks from one day to the next, or from one week to the next. While still giving yourself credit for the progress that you're making, because you're consistently focusing on getting the priorities done.

And yes, this means that your planning will look more flexible, and that instead of having very specific, lofty tasks that you include on your calendar, you wanna just focus on the priorities, and you can include that in your calendar if you want, or you can just include a set of a type of task that's listed on your calendar, and then you go back to your task list to check which ones are my priorities for the day, okay, that's what I'm doing in this time block.

As long as you release the pressure of doing everything perfectly, and sticking to your schedule, like it has to be done exactly the way it [00:17:00] is, treat your schedule like a template and focus on your daily priorities.

And you know what? Just for the heck of it, I said I was gonna share four strategies, but I just thought of a fifth one. I am going to add accountability, not just any accountability, gentle and compassionate accountability as another one. Why? Because I recently facilitated a compassionate accountability retreat, and it was a really amazing experience to be in community with other folks, and it made me recognize that so many people when they think about accountability, they think about consequences. They think about punishment, they think about shame, and I want you to let go of that. I want you to think about accountability as supportive, as relational, as grounded in community and encouragement. So the strategy is to [00:18:00] develop forms of accountability that match your current needs and your current capacity. This might look like joining a coworking group or a writing group. This might look like weekly or biweekly check-ins with a colleague or a friend. It wasn't a surprise that a lot of the members of my group coaching program also decided to join the retreat because they know that it works, that having these touch points with other people can help. It can also look like sharing goals in any other type of group setting or reflecting on your progress with someone else at the end of the week. So I want you to remember that accountability can be relational, it can be encouraging, it can be done in community, and that you can keep doing your work, but you don't always have to do it in isolation, and that's gonna shift your rhythm to make it more [00:19:00] sustainable.

Alright, those are the strategies. Let me just repeat them one more time: the first one was redefining consistency. The second one was setting minimum and maximum goals. The third one is to pursue energy aware planning. The fourth one is to build in structured flexibility, and the bonus one is to include gentle and compassionate forms of accountability.

I'm gonna leave you with a few reflection questions, because I want you to keep thinking about this and keep working through it on your own. As you begin to apply these strategies, I want you to think about where are you currently relying on urgency to get things done, 'cause we want you to shift away from that.

What would it look like to stay connected to your work through smaller touch points? Remember I mentioned the touch points earlier. We want you to [00:20:00] focus on touch points as opposed to trying to do , all at once. Another question is, what is one minimum and maximum goal you can set for the week?

You can also ask yourself, how can you adjust your systems to reflect your current capacity? And then the last question is, what kind of accountability? What kind of container would feel supportive to me?

All right. That's it for this episode. I hope it helps you to think through what your current work rhythm feels like right now, and to envision what it can look like moving forward with the goal of doing work more sustainably, because we don't want y'all to burn out. We want y'all to do work that matters and to do it well. And by well I mean feeling well, being well, not just focusing on doing a good job. Okay. That's it for [00:21:00] today. Thanks again for listening, and as always, I'll talk to you all next time.

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