What goes together like the last dregs of summer and poolside reading? Fall back-to-business rush + burnout.
It's that time of year where everyone is looking forward, closing out summer mentally and putting the pedal to the metal before we hit the holidays.
Which also means, me and my 1:1 clients are revisiting burnout basics.
Evaluating where we are in the 12 stages of burnout before diving into fall.
Because this season reminds me of a pattern I've seen with numerous entrepreneurs and repeated for a long time in my own journey: dancing around Stage 5 of burnout.
It's that tricky space where you're changing your values to accommodate work demands, but you still feel mostly fine.
You're productive.
You're getting things done.
You're hitting your goals.
But you're also one stressful month away from sliding right back into the deep end.
And the problem isn't needing:
🥅 Better goals
💪 More willpower
☀️ A different morning routine
Most advice tells you that to prevent burnout you need to fix yourself and the way to do that is changing your habits, upgrading your mindset, and/or building better discipline.
And I won't sugarcoat it, those things are part of it.
But you don't need to be fixed.
You need to understand how you need to work toward these things.
Because what if the problem isn't you? What if it's that you've been trying to force yourself into systems designed for someone else?
This is where Same You, Better Systems comes in.
Instead of asking "How do I fix myself to be more productive?" you ask "How do I build systems that work with how I'm actually wired?"
When you build systems around who you actually are, you stop fighting yourself every day.
You stop needing willpower to maintain basic boundaries.
You stop feeling like you're failing when your brain works differently than productivity gurus expect.
Like last year when I shared that focus playlist research about the 154 BPM theory... That's a perfect example of finding ways to work with your brain instead of against it.
Instead of forcing yourself to focus through sheer willpower, you create an environment that makes focus easier.
That's Same You, Better Systems in action.
🔘 ADHD brain that gets distracted?
👉 Same brain. Better systems might be body doubling or music or breaking big projects into tiny pieces.
🔘 A tendency to people-please until you're resentful?
👉 Same tendency. Better systems might be scripts for saying no or calendar blocks that force and hold boundaries.
🔘 Those perfectionist patterns that make you overthink every decision?
👉 Same pattern. Better systems might be time-boxed decision making or "good enough" criteria.
The goal isn't to "fix" these patterns.
It's to design with them in mind.
Because when you stop fighting your patterns and start designing around them, change becomes sustainable instead of exhausting.
Try This: The Pattern Recognition Exercise
This week, pay attention to two things:
One daily rhythm you fight against - Maybe you're not a morning person but you keep trying to do your hardest work at 7am. Or you crash every day at 3pm but push through instead of planning around it.
One daily rhythm you could lean into - Maybe you get a burst of cleaning energy after dinner, or you think most clearly during your commute, or you're naturally more social on certain days.
The goal is to notice them, not judge them.
Because once you see the patterns, you can design systems that work with them instead of constantly swimming upstream. 🫶
Currently Obsessed
For my kettle-having-folks. If you have hard water and use a kettle regularly, this is a random annual reminder to throw a few tablespoons of white vinegar with full kettle of water and let it run/heat like normal to get rid of limescale build up. Mine took two rounds to get it all. I wish I had taken a before photo because daaaaaammmmmmnnnnnn.
Chocolate Indulgence. Lately one of my favorite things is finding pleasure and indulgence in the little everyday things. My current favorite is eating my protein chocolate fudge mousse off a spatula for premium indulgent vibes. 🤤✨ (no salmonella-risk included)
Birthday Cake. While none of my original plans worked out, I ended up making this adorable lemon cake with lemon buttercream, and while my piping skills were 10 yrs rusty, the taste made up for it. 😍 It was a good reminder that: (1) sometimes things don't go according to plan, (2) it's okay to be sad about it, and (3) you might just enjoy where you end up even better. I wound up making this cake (half recipe in (two 4in pans) but swapped for GF flour with this buttercream (full recipe) but swapped milk for lemon juice. AAAA+
P.S.
Want first dibs on something? II'm putting together a 30-day Same You, Better Systems challenge for September - daily prompts you can complete in 30 minutes or less that walk through energy pattern basics. By the end, you'll have foundational systems for who you already are, so you can tackle fall goals sustainably. If you're curious, you can join the waitlist here to be the first to know. If you'd be open to answering a few questions to help shape it, just reply to this email! 🫶
Ready to dive in deeper? Snag an Energy Alignment Intensive session. In 90-minutes we'll map your natural daily energy cycle, review your calendar together to make alignments, and dig into wherever you're feeling most stuck. It's like getting a mini personalized energy blueprint plus clarity on your next right step. Book your intensive here.
