Avoid Burnout, & Work Well - w. Juan Alvarado

Feeling the heat of burnout as your calendar flips to another year? You're far from alone, and this enlightening conversation with Juan Alvarado, a Gallup-certified strengths coach and military veteran, is here to offer you a fresh perspective on how to manage and mitigate the stresses of work life.

With Juan's deep well of knowledge, we tackle the burnout beast, emphasizing the critical role of intentional self-care and the surprising ways that investing in rest and recovery can leave us more revitalized than we ever imagined. We navigate the delicate balance between professional and personal life, emphasizing the often overlooked impact our work-centric mindset has on our families and our own well-being.

Juan Alvarado and I dissect the essence of workplace well-being, drawing a clear line between the superficial perks of wellness and the all-encompassing nature of true well-being. We put a magnifying glass on the importance of recognition and the power of simply asking your team members how they're holding up, a gesture that can do wonders for morale and personal fulfillment. A deep dive into financial stability and career satisfaction reveals how these elements are inextricably linked, and why hollow gestures of appreciation can't replace genuine, heartfelt acknowledgment in the eyes of employees.

Wrapping up our series, we step into the realm of purpose-driven leadership and its profound influence on the spiritual well-being of both individuals and teams. As we uncover the transformative power of connection to a larger goal, we share insights on crafting a journey plan for staff that aligns their contributions with the broader organizational vision. Juan imparts his wisdom on leading with intention, and we explore the impact that leveraging individual strengths can have on preventing burnout and promoting a culture where well-being is at the forefront.

Tune in to reframe your approach to leadership and discover just how impactful an environment that prioritizes the person behind the position can be.

Find more about Juan at:

Juan Alvarado | juan@weraizethebar.com
Website | https://weraizethebar.com/
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/rtb-juan
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/r

------------
Order your copy of Jon's book at RedefineYourServantLeadership.com, and don't forget to utilize the additional resources, or purchase access to the Workbook and Coaching Videos.

Send your Leadership and Business questions to Jon at podcast@leadwell.com.

For more information visit https://leadwell.com

The Leadwell Podcast gives mission-driven leaders principled and practical advice to do just that, lead well.

In each episode, your host Jon Kidwell, interviews leaders with great stories, to share strategies that help leaders navigate complex, confusing, and often down-right challenging leadership, personal growth, business, and workplace culture situations.

Jon is a nonprofit executive turned coach, speaker, author, and CEO of a leadership development company. In working with nonprofits and businesses, big and small, he realized the unique challenges leaders face when they are committed to keeping the mission and people the top priority. Those leaders’ commitment to their principles and the people they lead, plus seeing the need for more leaders who strive to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons, is what inspired Jon to start a leadership development company dedicated to the success of mission-driven leaders and their organiza...

Transcript

Combatting Burnout Through Active Well-Being

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to the Leadwell podcast, the podcast where we interview mission-driven leaders who are doing it well and we ask them what they're doing and how they're doing so that you can lead your business and your people well. A recent study showed that over half of the workforce is feeling burnt out and they are ready to quit, and for leaders, that percentage is even higher. That's why today's episode is so important. Juan Alvarado is a United States Army veteran who has trained tens of thousands of people in some of the most high-stakes situations that there are. He is a Gallup-certified strengths coach and he works with schools and school administrators to increase team efficiency, strengthen their communication and develop happier and more appreciated employees. No-transcript coming on this one. I can't wait to dive in with it today, with you. How are you my?

Speaker 2 5:22

friend, I'm doing well and blessed. Thank you so much for having me today.

Speaker 1 5:26

That is awesome. So you and I have gone back and forth on this idea of being well and burnout, and how do we as leaders kind of show that we care about this? How do we help people to make sure that we do those things? And I honestly want to know what brought it up. For you, kind of this idea of well-being is important and we got to keep people from being burnt out at work.

Speaker 2 5:51

Yeah, so it all started with just being engulfed in Gallup Strengths and being involved with the Gallup organization and them doing so much research on well-being, and how do we continue to move forward in this space? And you know it goes to. I think one of the stats that they had was it was crazy, I think it was 97% of people experienced burnout, and then it was like 93% of people experienced it this year and when they did, when they had did the assessment or the test, I think at that time last year it was, I think we were like four months about this time, about four months into the year, and it's like how did you experience burnout already when the year just started? But your bodies don't know January 1st compared to December 31st, right, your body just knows days and knows what it's currently going through, and so there's no reset, right? That'd be awesome, that'd be great If December 31st and then January 1st, you're like oh, oh, forget everything you know, unload everything, and then you're a brand new person.

Speaker 2 6:57

But that's just, that's not reality. And so just understanding people, right, understanding how do I love others so much so that they can become better and just care about their wellbeing, and that's the whole sense of it. Right Is making sure that their being is well.

Speaker 1 7:18

Yeah, and I mean that Gallup survey basically said that all of us are feeling it right and maybe there's the one unicorn that is not so nine out of 10 of us. What are you seeing in people Like what does this look like actually being burnt out? What does it look like with folks when you are out and around talking to people, and how is it impacting the places of work where we all are?

Speaker 2 7:44

Yeah, I just finished hanging out with a buddy of mine named Jeremy Anderson and watching him do a keynote, and he said something that was astounding. He had said you know, we give our work our best, and then, when we come home, we give our family the rest, and that's horrible, right? How are we going to give an organization who maybe cares about us, maybe doesn't, and then go back to the people who love us the most? Right, I think we can argue that that our family loves us more than the people who we you know we work for, and then we, they get. They get everything else.

Speaker 2 8:19

Um, and so what that looks like is, um, like I teach on complacency, right, how how to, how to combat complacency and how to be intentional, and so how to be an intentional leader, how to be an intentional father, how do we lead intentionally? But the next piece, or the underlying part of that is how do we intentionally care for ourselves, how do we lead ourselves? And so I think complacency sets in just that way. I think complacency sets in just that way, and I'm going to do all that I can for my organization, the people who cut me a check because I get paid, and this is what I do, this is my job, this is my work. But then we don't see the same thing in the payment of love and appreciation, or even that in rest, when we come back to the four walls that we live in and our family and those in those loved ones. And so what that looks like is giving your work your best, and then your family your rest, and and then we think that you know, plopping on the couch or sleeping is is the best for us, right, and rest is the best recovery.

Speaker 2 9:24

And sometimes it's not Like I'm sure that there's people listening to this have had an eight hour rest, asleep eight hours, and you're groggy, specifically now with the time change. Right, like you still slept your eight hours on Monday, but you're like, oh my gosh, eight hours of rest doesn't mean rest. But what is the difference in when you've gone to the gym, when you don't want to, right, I don't want to work out, I don't want to get on the treadmill? And then you do your 3045 minute, let's say an hour, workout, and you're like I feel really good. How come you feel really good after a strenuous workout more than your eight hours of rest, a strenuous workout more than your eight hours of rest.

Speaker 2 10:08

It's just the intentionality of let me work out the things that I need to like decompress, let me let me push. Let me like in weightlifting, let me let me push. But it's not necessarily the push, it's the, it's the um, the negative, if you will coming down slow and then being able to push it again. It's those repetitions and it's like how do I get all of this maybe built up anger, frustration, just out? How do I push it out and then gain this good feeling at the end?

Speaker 2 10:35

And you know our mind right, we have these endorphins, we have thisification piece in our brain and it gives us dopamine. Right, we get those dopamine hits. And if you ask your mind, make me feel better, it's going to tell you go outside and go for a walk, right, get that vitamin D. It's like it's work. So it's combating the quote unquote laziness, if you will, to say I just don't want to rest. Sometimes your rest is an actual quote, unquote work, working out like going outside, working on your relationships. You know doing those things and I think we have rest wrong. Now, don't get me wrong. Sleep is great, getting massages is great, but there's just a different way that you can rest.

Speaker 1 11:27

So what I think I hear you saying is that there's an activeness in this rest and recovery process that, in fact, checking out isn't going to give me the things that I need to combat burnout, isn't going to give me the things that I need to combat burnout. To be able to combat burnout, I have to actively engage in rest and recovery so that I can be at my best.

Speaker 2 11:55

Is that what I'm hearing you say there's a little bit of a flip going on there. Yeah for sure. Gallup just did a poll and I wanted to pull that up. I'm actually going to be doing a training in Pennsylvania next week on on wellbeing and, uh, one of the things that Gallup shows is you're not, you don't necessarily um, combat, uh burnout with what you think you would normally. You normally would, I would have to pull, pull that up and maybe I can give that, give that to you, um, after this. But um, but I mean, just think of, like when you were to go to go get a massage, like, yeah, you're laying on the table but your muscles are getting pushed and pressed or hot stones or cupping. It's extracting, like there's an active piece. You got hit the nail on the head there's an active piece to your well-being and there's an intentional piece at that and we can go over that in a second. But yeah, it.

Speaker 1 12:43

It's so intuitive and yet it's counterintuitive, right Like I mean, you and I, we both have kiddos, we've talked about that before and, like I get home, I've I've done well and worked hard and there's this pull to just veg right.

Speaker 1 13:01

And like prepare myself to do nothing but veg and then, like you said, you go through the entire thing. You get the next day coming, you wake up and you feel like trash right, just just junk. And yet those days where I hit home just as hard as I hit work, and then I'm so tired that by the time my head hits the pillow and I wake up and I get right back up and really start actively moving through my day again. For some reason it's almost like that car is not in neutral, it stayed in drive, but I feel better than when I tried to actually park it and just let it be. Is any of that making sense? And tell me about some of that intuitiveness and then some of those intentionality pieces Like what do we do in those, so that we can kind of work it out ourselves to make sure that we are doing well and not getting burnt out?

Speaker 2 13:58

I did this just the other day. I wanted to come home and plop on the couch and I did, and my son was excited that baseball season is coming back. We're big basketball people, my boys play basketball, but we're really, at heart, baseball fans and Dodgers had a spring training game just the other day and I just wanted to sit down. I wanted to throw the game on and for me, my recovery, my peace, is watching baseball. There's just something about it. It's almost like for some people it's golf, right, but for me it's baseball. To be able to watch that, my son was on the couch and I said come here, even though every dad's dream probably is to watch sports, maybe have a drink in your hand, kick your feet up and just relax and probably nod off in between innings. No, that never happens. Yeah, but my whole thing was like my piece comes in building relationships, right In deep, meaningful relationships. So then my son came by me and I threw his arm around. I would challenge you with kiddos, when you just want to rest, sit with one of your kids, put your arm around them, have that physical touch and then basically like my arms around them and I'm watching, like watch, look at this pitch. Three, two pitch runners should be running right. There's two out. They should be going across. But this guy has walked two or three people Can't find the strike zone, watch the ball go like bottom left, and sure enough, bottom left. And he's like dad. How did you know that? I'm still resting? But the communication, the questions that are coming in, like it's feeding me.

Speaker 2 15:28

Is it quote, unquote work? Yeah, it's work. I didn't have to bring them over, I didn't have to put my arm around them, but it's the intentionality piece of I know that when you are hurt or you're struggling, even for a man, you're sometimes just that hug from your spouse or from your kids. There's something there. It does something to again the dopamine hit of a physical touch of consoling. And we can do that when we're happy. We can do that when we're mad. We can do that a whole. We might not feel like we need it, but like you don't need half the stuff that you think that you need. Right, you don't need that donut, you don't need that what you need.

Speaker 2 16:08

There's a difference between what you want and what you need, and this is what I do, even in leadership. I ask organizations what do you feel that you want and they're like, oh well, we need our staff to do X, y and Z. And I'm like, okay, I'll give you what you want, but then this is what you need. And intentionally think about what we want versus what we need. It's two different things, like with our kids.

Speaker 2 16:28

I asked my son the other day when it comes to track so they're in track season now what do you want? He's like I just need to get a faster start off the blocks. I need a faster start and I need a good middle, because his kick is really well. And I was like, okay, that's what you want, that's what you think that you want, but what you need is a stronger mindset. I'll give you what you want. But then, as his father, I know what we're going to work on. I think that even happens in the workplace or in well-being. I just want to rest, that's what you want, but what you need is vitamin D. What you need is to go outside what you need.

Speaker 1 17:09

So there's two different pieces Get what you want, but also be honest with yourself and what you actually need. Yeah, that's huge, and I heard it that burnout isn't just like we get tired of doing the work, that there's an emotional switch where we've gone from being fatigued to actually carrying a lot of emotion around this, and all of what you were just talking about was really some of those needs that we have, like deep seat, right, physical, emotional, mental which is why, when I was feeling lethargic, out of my order, I decided to go for a run after breakfast, which I never do. I always run in the morning, right. That didn't happen that day and I just knew like I need that thing to kind of combat all of what's going on. It was a physical thing.

Speaker 1 17:54

There's this emotional piece that all of a sudden starts to reframe. You talked about it in terms of relationship, so we're talking to the individuals. Now let's think about it A leader's thinking. I got to do this for me and I'm responsible to my team so that they can also do this. How do I practically live it out myself but also kind of work it into what's expected or that I'm giving what my team needs whenever they're there working?

5 Essentials to Workplace Well-Being

Speaker 2 18:28

Yeah, great question. I think a lot of staff the reason why they feel burnt out at work. And we'll there's. So there's five essentials to well-being. Let me go here first.

Speaker 2 18:41

There's a difference between well-being and wellness. Wellness is in one area. So you have organizations like oh, we're bringing in somebody to help with wellness, and I'm not no knock on those people, but usually it's like breathe in and take a deep breath and breathe out, and it's like cool, but rachel in accounting is still on getting on my nerves and doesn't, still hasn't missed a deadline and stuff. So breathing is not going to help me. But there's a, a wellness piece. Wellness is one area, wellbeing is the whole being right, and so I add a piece. Gallup talks about five essentials to wellbeing. I think that there's a sixth one and we can get into the sixth one.

Speaker 2 19:17

But when it comes to work, people want to be recognized and acknowledged, seen and heard right, and a lot of times people feel like I'm doing all this work, but am I even getting the kudos, the high five, the pat on the back, the acknowledgement that I'm doing? I just met with somebody today and they're saying my boss asked me why do you need this training? Cause they're going to bring me into to do a training with them Gallup, strengths, finders, training and they're like, why do you even need this? And the two bosses are the two people that I've talked to like my boss doesn't even know the extent of what I do and so burnout sometimes it's like, do you, do you even know what I, what I do and how hard it is? And so the acknowledgement piece, the recognition piece, is a big one, the first, the first one, the first two kind of linked together. It's career wellbeing and financial wellbeing.

Speaker 2 20:08

And I tell leaders and this is what I was, what I was alluding to in that, in that beginning piece, was I tell leaders just to slow down, slow down, and instead of asking the generic question of hey, how's it going, or how are you doing, the difference in slowing that, comment down hey, john, real quick, today, before you get started, I want to know how are you doing? Yeah, you're not the manager, you're not the CEO, you are John, how are you doing? And just slowing that down, I make the joke to tell that. I tell leaders it's not a Joey from friends thing hey, how you doing? Right, you'll get fired for that, don't do that.

Speaker 2 20:49

But when we just slow it down and think about the person and this is where it comes into the career well-being piece is, gallup says you know your well-being in your career when you love what you do. You have all the equipment needed to do your job. And one of those other things is like you have a best friend at work. I have a podcast with a piece on that, on that about having a best friend at work. Like it could help you but it can also hurt you. Like be careful with that with that piece. But and what we want to do is you want to rank yourself one being horrible, four being the best.

Speaker 2 21:30

Where are you in career well-being? The next piece on that for financial is I get paid or I feel like I'm getting paid, what I feel that is fair for what I do. And when you look at those two pieces and the other part of financial well-being is I don't have to worry about bills. If I need to, we can go out to eat. I don't have to like swipe and cross my fingers and be like, oh my gosh, is it going to clear, right? I don't have to move money around. We can get up and do whatever we need Bills are paid, we're happy. Right when I caution organizations is, you have two things that people say I don't get paid enough for this, so they're complaining more about the work or the lack of recognition or acknowledgement.

Speaker 1 22:15

The other piece is Hold on Before we go there. What I think I just heard you say which was powerful is what is our initial response to that? And it is I don't get paid enough for this, and I heard like that's the word that popped. And it is I don't get paid enough for this, and I heard like that's the word that popped. For me is pay, and so that's where I go to. And what I think I heard you say is I'm not always not always sometimes right If that actual financial wellbeing is not there, but I'm not always actually hitting what they're asking for.

Speaker 1 22:44

You're saying it's on the second part of that, I don't get paid enough for this. And what they're asking for You're saying it's on the second part of that, I don't get paid enough for this. And what they're asking for is recognize what I do. Pause and see me. Pay might be a part of it, but it might actually just be that I'm annoyed that all you want to do is throw money at me or that you don't actually pay attention to what I do. Is that some of what's going on?

Speaker 2 23:03

there, absolutely, and I think the language that I like to use on that piece because people will ask that same question I love that you asked that and see, that is this is where you get the phrase buy-in. Buy-in is still valuable. Buy-in is not necessarily let me just throw some money at you. I think a lot of things in the workplace is where we get it wrong. Where we do pizza right, I'm going to buy everybody pizza Cool, that's cool. But don't think that and hang your hat on. This is how I'm going to make everybody happy.

Speaker 2 23:36

Starbucks cards right. I hate getting Starbucks cards, and here's the reason why I'm not a big coffee person. And even then, I'm the kind of person that likes coffee with my sugar, right, like the sweeter the better. But I'm not going to line up at Starbucks, I'm not. So my wife gets all the Starbucks cards that I used to get in the workplace Like, hey, good job, and that was the other piece, good job. What the heck does that even mean? And so when we talk about recognition, I talk about TSI timely, specific and individualized right, don't? Don't wait until the Christmas party, right? Don't wait until their evaluation at the end of the year or in two weeks when it's coming up, so I'll just talk to them then. Don't do it now. Specific in don't just say, good job, what, what was it, hey, when we, you know, were pushed out of the office, you couldn't do X and you couldn't do Y. The way you responded to that and helped everybody else through that hectic situation. I loved that. It showed your leadership. You were able to connect with that staff that I couldn't. Thank you so much for that specific right. And then individualized If you are going to kick out pizza or you're going to kick out Starbucks cards or whatever, find out if the person would rather have a Jamba Juice card or a Subway card. If you're going to do that. Here's the other thing is I tell, like HR professionals when they bring onboarding, ask what do you want? What's your favorite drink, what's your favorite candy bar and even then, what is your actual drink. And some people have some complicated Starbucks orders. But if I was to show up with the specific Starbucks, let's just say they need to sponsor this episode because I've used it like five times already. But if I bring you your specific drink, two pumps of this and no whip and upside down and all this other crazy stuff that people have how do I know you how much like, how connected is that? And so be individualized with that. And then the other piece of individualization is do you like public praise or do you like private praise? So if I can do that, then I'm happy at work. I'll add another layer to that.

Speaker 2 25:45

When I was at the nonprofit that I worked for, we poured into people with their gallup strengths. Uh, if they were going to school, we were giving them time for, you know, finals, and if there's babysitting and covid and all this other stuff, we were helping them through. A lot of people left their art, the employment, to go get paid like a dollar or two more an hour. Six months later they came back and said I'll take the dollar, two dollar an hour pay cut because you guys treated me so much better than where I'm getting treated like, are you guys hiring, so going back, bringing it full circle, buy-in can be such much, can be more valuable than the actual dollar. Like, do you have buy-in for me and my family or my specifics? But yeah, when you go and say I don't get paid enough for this, sometimes it's just the acknowledgement piece.

Speaker 2 26:39

The financial part is, if bills are piling up, then you start to say can I get a promotion? Oh shoot, john's been in this position for three years. He ain't going anywhere. Let me go look somewhere else. And so then they're actively looking online for a new job. Because the problem is not necessarily the career, the problem is the pay and basically the bills. And so those first two things. So grade yourself on a one to four. So the financial well-being piece is I get paid enough, I don't have to worry about bills or anything like that. Mark yourself one through four. The other pieces are physical well being, social well being and community well being. Social well being is do I go out, do I have friends outside of work? And a lot of people will go out with work people, but they don't even end up talking about work.

Speaker 1 27:34

You mean we need friends in work and we need friends outside of work, where? We don't talk about work. It's amazing.

Speaker 2 27:41

Absolutely. And it's funny because people would be. And here's the piece If you really look, when you said, uh, the intentional piece, and I want listeners to understand what you did and the the part of getting the phrase of I don't get paid enough, like you hear the word pay when you look at, uh, like don't talk about work or having a best friend at work, or it it's relationships, right. And here's the other thing, like like go figure, you need to, you need to have friends outside of work. Like don't talk about work. It's like you have to disconnect. Uh, and I think the practical thing that you can even do with leaders, um, about what we can do for our staff stop emailing, texting and calling your staff outside of work hours, right.

Speaker 1 28:26

I understand this is a huge, huge one, right, I mean, and because I felt the pain of this. We have something we'd say at Leadwell we work hard and we rest well, right, and then, we have some boundaries in and around those type of things.

Speaker 1 28:41

But even to the extent that I think we need another layer, because we have a weekend layer and we have a kind of dinnertime layer. But I'm even sitting here considering, you know, after X time per day, unless it's an actual emergency, just donezo, right? Same thing for in the morning, same thing for on the weekends, because wherever we allow those boundaries to press to, we will take up all of that space, right? I always think about it in terms of water.

Speaker 1 29:13

If you and I just sit here at this table, boom, just dump water on there, it's going everywhere. If I just say, well, I can get working anywhere, anywhere, however I want to, whenever I want to, it's going to go everywhere, right? And yet, if we put a glass there and we dump that water in there, well, it's refreshing, it can cool us, we can drink it, we can get hydrated and it, it, it works for us, right? And and I I hear that inside of what you are saying about there has to be a disconnect, otherwise I'm I'm not even going to be complacent, I'm just I'm going to be bitter, honestly, uh and, and that's going to show up in in how I work, because I never feel like I'm off, so you're never going to get me in an on setting and there's a way to.

Speaker 2 29:59

I don't want to say fake it, because what? Uh? There's a way to go around this, because there's going to be people that says I have to get work done, I have to, especially as a leader, like there's not enough hours in the day. But here's the deal If you want your staff to disconnect which is okay, but then you, as a leader, continue to send emails at one in the morning, like there's a thing called a timestamp, like hello, like in your email it'll say when you sent it. So then you're going to have people that say wait a minute, if I'm supposed to follow your lead and you don't want me to do, you really want me to lead.

Speaker 2 30:32

It's almost like the stereotypical situation of a husband and wife or like boyfriend and girlfriend is like no, go ahead, go out with your buddies, go out. Are you mad? No, I'm not mad, go ahead and go. It's like how? So? I don't want to say again fake it, but you can time your emails If you were one of those people who cannot disconnect and that's where you get most of your work done, cause some people are morning people, some people are eating people. Send a, put a timer on that, or schedule the email to go out at eight in the morning and then send it out. So what now that you're working at one or two in the morning as the boss, if that's what you want to do and that's where you find cool? But don't put that on your staff either. So put a schedule in there, yeah that's great, the schedule is great.

Speaker 1 31:15

I always think about I don't know about you, juan, but I have work that I need to do that really doesn't involve anybody else. And then there are those things that we have to ping back and forth and maybe we got to work on it together. Maybe we have to work on it one after the other, but it involves communication and I can do some of those things at times when others are available and I can do the work that only I can do at times when I'm available and I might be on and trying to get some of that work done.

Speaker 2 31:43

Yeah, absolutely. I would also caution you and ask you you are available to do it because it doesn't involve anybody else at work, but does it involve, uh, in a, in a sideway, uh, somebody at home? So if you're at home and you're doing that work and outside of your door they're waiting for dad to show up, is it really costing you more than what you think? It is Right, yeah, so great, great reminder.

Importance of Community in Well-Being

Speaker 1 32:11

So you have taken us through career and financial, social. Uh, we talked about physical and uh, and then there was that one more, plus the wand special, so I can't remember the fifth one, and then the wand special. So what do we still have as we're considering well-being?

Speaker 2 32:26

Community, well-being Community well-being.

Speaker 2 32:29

Yeah. So then do you know? The simple one is like do you know your neighbors, right? So if you live in a home, do you know three or four neighbors in front, two or three to your left and right? If you're an apartment building or a duplex complex, whatever, do you know the people above you, below you and across and left and right from you? Or is it just high Like I can tell you? Here's the crazy part is me being transparent. Jesse, next door, great guy, has his family living with him. I know that he's going through medical stuff I don't want to say his stuff out here in the world, but he's going through some stuff. And then a neighbor, jose, across the street. I know him. What he does he brings us fruit and all kinds of stuff. It's great.

Speaker 2 33:09

My other neighbors I know of them. I don't know them, and so it's like the friendly nod or down or up, depending on where you're from, and the hand wave, but I don't have meaningful conversations with them. The other two I do. Hey, how's your mom and dad? Hey, how are the kids? Hey, how's the vacation? How's this? And so it does something to us. It's a relationship piece again, right? So do you know the people that you live around. And then the second layer to that is are you doing something in your community? So, are you volunteering? So, like for me, at church, I help out with the high school youth. My wife, on Sunday mornings, helps out with the nursery. She just loves having the little babies in her hands, and so I'm like get your fix, we're done, but get your fix over there. It's a great solution.

Speaker 1 33:56

Sounds wonderful.

Speaker 2 33:57

But yeah, right, but it's, it's what am I doing for my community. So I mean, it could be, you know, serving or cleaning up the neighborhood, or you know however you see fit, but do you do this in the community that you live in? So what we do is when we get all of those and we rank ourselves one through four, one being horrible for being the best. And here's the key If you are a three or lower in two or in in two categories, you are getting yourself on the fence of burnout. Three or more, You're. You're on the other side of the fence. You're going to be experiencing burnout. So if you're less, so, if you're less than a three, so two or one, or you know, in three or more areas, you, if you're less so, if you're less than a three, so two or one or you know in three or more areas you're you're experiencing burnout.

Speaker 1 34:45

So that's huge, because I'm sitting here thinking like I don't know that. I would have immediately looked and thought, oh, I'm missing the mark. If there's only two that are three or below like that, I'm on the fence. So what I think I heard you say is anyone that's listening should go through and those five areas just write it down on a piece of paper, score yourself one to four, how you doing in financial, career, physical, relational and community wellbeing and then, as you look back over it, if you are at three or below in more than two categories, that should send up the signs that this is something that I should start paying attention to so that I don't keep going down the path of getting to a place where I feel burnt out. Is that what that?

Speaker 2 35:34

is Absolutely, and a lot of these play into each other, right, so I can join like social. I can join, like, for me, a men's group at church or a softball community league, right, so I can get my social in there, maybe, maybe in that running around, you know the baseball diamond, softball diamond or whatever I'm getting physical done as well, and so it it'll trigger one another getting physical done as well, and so it it it'll trigger one another. Same thing with community and, excuse me, um, career and financial. Uh, but you know, you hang out with, you have a guy's night, you hang out and they're like hey, uh, I need to start working out. Hey, I'm going to the same gym, you want to work out together, and so now we're it, it just fits Right, um, and so big levers get more than one thing done at a time.

Speaker 2 36:18

I love it, and they play off of each other.

Speaker 1 36:20

So yeah, very cool. And so what's this six one? This is like the secret six one that we can't leave before we hear this one, what is, what is the other component, that that you say plays into our wellbeing?

Speaker 2 36:33

I'm a big believer is that, um, we're in a world bigger than ourselves and we always need to find purpose and everything that we do there's purpose. I go to work for my family, I make money for my family, or I go to the gym for my physical health, so that I can hang out with my kids, or, one day, grandkids, things like that. There's always something bigger than us, and I tell leaders that you should have a journey plan for your staff. We're going from a to B as an organization, and this is where you stand in a journey plan for your staff. We're going from A to B as an organization, and this is where you stand in our journey and this is what you bring to the table. So everybody wants something bigger than themselves.

Speaker 2 37:08

I'm a man of faith and I think the sixth thing is a spiritual well-being.

Speaker 2 37:13

Now, for those people who are listening that don't believe in faith or God, then it could be the universe or crystals or whatever is bigger than you and your field, but for me, for me and my story and my family, it's having a personal relationship with Christ, and so for that, there's times where it's like, there's times where I feel like I can't talk to anybody, but I can pray.

Speaker 2 37:36

There's times where I just feel like I need to stay in silence, but you know, I feel like God is saying, like lean in on me and just worship. And so for me it's, there's something out there that's bigger than me and it's a belief system right. So everyone has their belief system. So lean in, leaning in on your belief system and having this, this spiritual side of things, has changed my life completely and to me, I think that that's one that fits into every single piece. That sixth one could be in your career, it can be in financial, it can be in physical, it can be in a community or in social, and I think that's a huge, pivotal piece for people. Are you living in purpose, on purpose, for something that's bigger than you?

Speaker 1 38:18

That is awesome, juan. Thank you so much for guiding us through that Everybody. What we're going to do is we're going to put some of the resources that Juan talked about in the show notes. So if you are a leader and you're sitting there thinking, how do I engage my team, how can I get over some of this complacency? How do I keep them from burning out? I want my people to be well so that we can do work well and live well. If that is what you are thinking, go through that assessment with your team, sit down and actually go through it and then talk through it. Work these ideas in and take Juan's advice to engage your folks, to keep them from being burnt out, to retain them at work out, to retain them at work, engage timely, engage with specifics and make it special to them. And when you do, you're going to be able to create an entire organization where everybody can be well. Juan, before you go, I have to ask you what does it mean to you to lead well?

Speaker 2 39:19

I think, take it all the way back to intentionality. I have a saying that says we have to fill our gaps with intention because if we don't, they're going to place us in tension. So if we want to lead well, just be just. Again, what is? Who do I need to be for this other person walking into? You know that room or space. So how do I be the man that I need to be for this other person walking into? You know that room or space. So how do I be the man that I need to be or the father that I need to be? Right Keyword father to my son? How do I be the husband to my wife? How do I be the leader or mentor to the staff that's hurting? So how do I lead with intentionality? When you can lead with intentionality, you'll lead well.

Speaker 1 40:02

Juan Alvarado, to lead well, we need to lead with intention so that we do not lead in tension. Where can people connect with you and all the work that you do on?

Speaker 2 40:07

Yeah, so we raise the bar, raised with the Z, we raise the barcom, and then, uh, raise the bar CEO on uh Instagram and then, uh, it's hyphenated or smaller RTB-Juan, so for raise the bar RTB-Juan on LinkedIn.

Speaker 1 40:23

Awesome and I follow Juan all over social. He puts up wonderful videos and he does great keynotes, as I follow him, as he goes all the way around the country. So y'all need to connect with him and have him come speak to your organization and bring some of this focus on strengths, burnout and well-being to where you work. Juan, thank you so much for being here. It's been an absolute pleasure. My friend, thank you, appreciate you. Everybody else thank you for being here. Lead on and God bless my friends, be well.