Like many of you, I was enamored by the hustle culture. As a VP of People and multi-time HR executive, I've led many teams and companies through burnout. I've also gone through it myself. Turns out, a lot of us have. Studies show that at least one in four employees globally have experienced burnout. Burnout sucks. If you know, you know.
But you know what's worse? It's dimming your light and your ambition. You see, your ambition is a very special gift. It's that fire in you that keeps you aspiring for more and pushes you to your fullest potential. I believe, with the right tools, you can nurture your ambition and avoid burnout.
This all starts with learning to set and maintain your boundaries within work, life and your relationships. Now boundaries kind of have a bad reputation, right? Some people think of them as an excuse to work less. Others as a reason to say no to everybody and everything. And some even believe they minimize your dreams. But boundaries are actually what empower you to do more and do it better. Boundaries give your ambition a sense of rhythm and pace so you can create what I call sustainable ambition.
So what's the secret sauce? How do we effectively set boundaries? Well, it starts with this hard truth: you can't do everything and avoid burnout.
I'll paint the picture for you. It's four weeks away from that big deadline. You have mouths to feed, a home to maintain, workouts to attend. And then boom, the inconvenient thing happens. Your child is sick. You're rushing to the vet. Or the worst. You receive bad news that rocks you. You're now sitting there in this predicament of trying to figure out: How am I going to do it all? Well, guess what? You're not.
(Laughter)
Before you can even begin to tackle your goals, you have to make peace with the reality that you can't do and be everything, especially in these moments of the unknown. Pushing yourself to the point of unsustainability is an extremely toxic cycle. And unsustainability and unrealistic expectations are exactly where burnout starts.
So let's talk about how you can create a system to support your ambitions and your boundaries. First, you have to get crystal clear on your non-negotiables. It's up to you to decide what tasks and what habits are essential for you when you hit those high-pressure moments. A non-negotiable could be something like meditating 10 minutes a day, getting to your kid’s baseball game or prioritizing that workout. As it does, life be lifing, and it'll throw you another curve ball. And when it does, I want you to ask yourself: How am I going to prioritize my non-negotiable? What is the trade-off?
A trade-off is typically something like rescheduling a social activity, canceling your golf lesson. This one's a little controversial, but maybe you're not watching Sunday Night Football. I know, I know, it's football season. At the end of the day, we can't control all the things that are happening around us, but we can control how we react. So it's up to us to accept these trade-off moments, adapt and move forward.
The second step is becoming aware of what I call your time bank. Now when you're frugal with your time, you have more time for your ambitions and your non-negotiables. And when you're frivolous with your time, you're running on that hamster wheel from one thing to another to another to another. So just like you would ponder a big purchase, the next time somebody requests your time or a commitment from you, I want you to ask yourself, is this time worth spending? Is this feasible? I like to ask myself: Is future me going to be mad at current me if I say yes to this? It's important to talk to future you. And does this align with what future me wants? As you would be selective with a big purchase, learn to be selective with your time commitments. This is how you learn to protect your time.
The final step to sustaining your ambition is my favorite. Clearly communicating your boundaries. Now nobody likes to say no. It's extremely uncomfortable. We know this. I'm going to give you a few examples of how you can do this. The first could sound something like, "I'd love to help with that, but I only have 30 minutes today. Is that enough time to get us started?" Or it could be, "Thank you so much for the invite, but I already have plans." Or maybe it's, "Mrs. Manager, this project sounds so exciting, but I'm already at capacity. I'm happy to help with this, but I will need to shift and reprioritize my deadlines."
Now when we first start to say no, it will be extremely uncomfortable, kind of cringe, you're probably going to feel guilty. This is natural. When this happens, I want you to remember: your work, your life and your relationships will never set boundaries for you. It's up to you to create them. After all, only you know your limits, your potential and your needs. Starting to leverage clear communication as a resource and a tool will contribute to a higher-performing and more sustainable version of you.
So to bring us full circle, the hustle culture that we've been entrenched in for too long is being taken over by a generation of workers that are prioritizing work-life balance. The Gen Zs have completely run away from the hustle culture, yet the millennials are still stuck in it. It's two sides of a spectrum. But what if the sweet spot is actually in the middle? This means we hustle when we need to, because goals do require hard work. And we prioritize balance and boundaries when we need to because we must rest, recharge and reconnect with others.
A life with boundaries is a sustainable one. Give yourself the permission to have the time to crush your goals, the space for rest and the energy to continue to dream big. It's time we let our ambitions light us up and not burn us out.
Thank you.
(Applause)
