Ep. 1 - Burnout Isn’t Fight Club: We Should Talk About It - with Andy Janning

inspHERation

Today we’re discussing how you can beat burnout with one of Amanda’s mentors, Andy Janning. He is a veteran of the credit union industry who now uses storytelling to help organizations understand and overcome burnout.

We also talk about how his upcoming book, Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life, will help you be a hero in the lives of others, inspire a community, and create a lasting legacy.

What will you discover in this episode?

• What burnout is and how it can manifest in your life.
• The risks and long-term effects of burnout on you, your family, and your business.
• What you can do to start a conversation about culture and burnout in your business.
• How women can be more powerful and more effective leaders.
• Why credit unions’ greatest enemy is apathy.
• Andy’s upcoming book, Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men: A Love Story for Real Life, and how it will help you become the hero of your own journey.
• Our thoughts on Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown.

Welcome to InspHERation Nation!

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Before we can understand how to avoid or come back from burnout, we need to understand what burnout is and how it manifests in our lives.

The 3 Elements of Burnout

• Depersonalization - You stop seeing other people as people; you stop seeing them as unique individuals with unique needs who you care about and love. Instead, you see them as lumpy individuals who stand in your way and are not here to serve you.
• Emotional Exhaustion - You feel emotionally dead. You don’t necessarily feel overwhelming sadness, although that can be part of it. It’s characterized by an overwhelming numbness.
• Lack of Personal Achievement - This is probably the most powerful element of burnout. It is the sense that the work that you do doesn’t matter. You start thinking that no one would miss you or care if you weren’t there.

If we accept and understand that burnout is essentially a lack of fuel then we can shift our mindset.

We shouldn’t be trying to avoid burnout – we should be learning how to keep our tanks full.

Unfortunately, too many of us treat burnout like Tyler Durden treats Fight Club: we don’t talk about it.

We need to start this conversation in the credit union industry. Of any industry, we should have the responsibility, drive, and right to talk about the things that threaten cooperation, collaboration, and community. If we’re not brave enough to have these conversations then we might as well just become a bank.

Our competition is not banks, regulatory relief, apps, or anything else. Our single biggest competition is apathy.

Burnout dies when someone speaks into your life and fills your tank. If, as a community, we support each other and fill each others’ tanks then we will all have enough to pour a little into somebody else’s.

We need to establish a culture in our organizations that makes us want to tell someone the difference they make, how they’re doing well, and where they’re falling down.

Go forward and be fabulous, InspHERation Nation!

Resources:

• Learn more about Andy: Website | Heroes, Villains, and Drunk Old Men
• Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans