How to Achieve MORE by Doing LESS!

If you’re constantly exhausted, overwhelmed, and running on fumes, you don’t have a time problem—you have a priority problem.

In this episode of The Growth Drivers Podcast, we’re breaking down the real reason high achievers burn out (and why most of them don’t even realize they’re doing it to themselves).

We’ll share:

• The mindset shift that changed everything for us
• How to cut the noise and focus on what actually moves the needle
• The Weekly War framework we use to stay in control—not just react
• Why burnout isn’t a flex, and how to build a business that thrives without running yourself into the ground

If you feel like you’re constantly on the edge of burnout, this episode is for you.

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Transcript

Mike Novak: 

[0:33] All right, today we're talking about burnout. 

Understanding Burnout 

Mike Novak: 

[0:37] How burnout is a choice and how to operate at peak performance without crashing. This is a good topic because I think that we've all experienced burnout at some stage in life, some stage in business. And I think a lot of times when you're in that phase of burnout, you lack the perspective to see how did I get here and how did I get out? 

Rachael Novak: 

[0:55] And I think that it's almost a little controversial to say that burnout is a choice, but it is. 

Mike Novak: 

[1:01] Yeah, it's an opt-in for sure. 

Rachael Novak: 

[1:02] For sure it is. Yeah. I'm excited to dive into that a little bit deeper. 

Mike Novak: 

[1:06] Yeah. So we've got some things to share with you guys today. Like we've both obviously like hit burnout in different parts of our life, many, many different times. And, you know, as I was thinking about this topic, it gave me a lot of time to kind of just reflect back on like, what, what put me into a stage of burnout and every single time it's self-inflicted to be perfectly clear. 

The Choice of Burnout 

Mike Novak: 

[1:25] That's why I said it's a choice. You know what I mean? Like we are opting into that, whether we do it consciously or unconscious and so i want to kind of talk about like how do we get into phase where we're actually burned out like what got us here because if you know what gets you

there you can avoid doing that shit and then just never get to burnout because no one no one's raising their hand saying hey i want to get more burned out i'd like to experience some burnout for here it's something that just kind of like it's kind of like a volcano erupting where you're like oh my god i'm burnt out i'm fried i don't want to talk to anyone and now i've got, And that whole idea here is, how do we avoid that? Yeah, exactly. 

Rachael Novak: 

[2:02] Well, and like you said, you know, burnout kind of being similar to a volcano where there's not much to see. Like, it looks the same, it looks the same, it's going along, it's handling, you're managing, you're handling the things you need to handle, but then all of a sudden one day you're like, I have handled it. Fucking limit and I am burnt out. 

Mike Novak: 

[2:19] Right? 

Rachael Novak: 

[2:19] That's exactly what you will get. So, I mean, I think first things first in regards to what gets you to a point of burnout, a lack of prioritization in your day to day, a lack of proactivity in the tasks that you're trying to accomplish or the things that you're in your areas of responsibility, right? So I know that for a fact, even at the end of a day or the end of a week, if I have spent more of my time being reactive to things coming up, to managing, to putting out fires, to handling things reactively all week, by the end of the week, I'm exhausted, right? Which is one of the first signs, of course, of burnout. So if we know that that happens after a day or a week, by continually not having prioritization, utilizing prioritization, having really consistent priorities that you're managing, that's an easy, easy slide right into burnout. 

Prioritization and Boundaries 

Mike Novak: 

[3:13] Yeah, for sure. I think the reactive part is where you end up really quickly losing control of time. And when you lose control of time, you lose control of productivity, lose control of productivity, you end up working a lot more to make up that gap. And then burnout becomes kind of the inevitable outcome if you kind of just reverse engineer that. So let's break down those two things, prioritization and boundaries, because they're two very, very different things. They, they obviously work hand in hand, the part and parcel in this conversation, but how do we identify priorities and what we want to commit to it? Like for a lot of us that are busy, you know, we're getting 15, 20 different things we could do every day, right? Like every single day I come to office, I'm like, I could do this, I could do this, I could do this. So how do I choose what is actually important, right? How do I establish these priorities? I think a lot of people struggle with that because they look at everything just from one kind of equal parallel. Like these are all just things that need to happen. Right. And so if I can change that perspective from these are things that need to happen to like what actually needs to get done to bring alignment with my vision and my goals, that's where things start to get interesting.

Rachael Novak: 

[4:16] Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, I think number one, it's when people don't take the time to do their weekly planning. 

Weekly Planning Techniques 

Rachael Novak: 

[4:24] Like obviously with the Warrior Way system, we utilize our weekly wars. We utilize our monthly missions. So we have the framework and the structure to sit down, to look at the week coming up, look at the dates, look at what important things are coming up, what priorities do I need to put in place, what four things per each domain do I need to focus on this week. And then when I go to attack each day, I already have kind of a built-in to-do list to accomplish those things. And as things come up, it's my job to utilize the filter of my focus with that weekly war, with those priorities throughout that week. And I have to use that as a filter and say, is this coming at me right now? Does this fit within the scope of this priority? Does this fit within the scope of urgent and important in this particular domain that I need to focus on? Or is this something that I can schedule for next week? Is this something that I can put off for a different time and I don't need to handle it right at the second, even though that may feel really easy? 

Rachael Novak: 

[5:23] Getting the discipline each day to utilize that urgent, important quadrant filter where this is urgent and important and it has to happen right now. That's important to the mission. That's important to what I'm focusing on. Or is this important, but it's not urgent, right? It's something that I can absolutely have done within the next month. So I don't need it to be on my plate today, but I am going to put out my schedule for next week on that particular day so that I know that it's going to get done and that way it's not swimming around in my brain. So I think number one is the weekly planning and the mission-oriented structure that you utilize to make sure that you have a mission going into your week. 

Mike Novak: 

[6:00] Yeah, for sure. Like prioritization is about getting, you have to have complete clarity on where you want to go, first of all, right? Like until you have, until you have that, you don't have any idea what your priorities are because you haven't identified the target, right? So let's identify what the target is on a relative amount of time, which could be a year. And then let's reverse engineer what needs to happen this month. And then this week, like you said, and then from there can allocate how to build out our calendar. What you said, the reactor versus product, I think is very accurate. And one of the tools that you and I both do is we build these weekly wars on the weekend. So that come Monday, we already know what's going to happen for our week, right? Like we're not waiting to peel in here at Monday morning at 9 a.m. To determine how our week is going to look. We're taking, you know, kind of a look back on what happened this last week. And then we're setting targets for the next week before the week even starts. The biggest mistake I think people can make and what puts them in a reactive state is that lack of planning time on the weekend. you know,

Setting Boundaries Effectively 

Mike Novak: 

[6:52] so they're really setting up their week for success. So the weekly planning absolutely helps with that. What about the boundaries part? 

Rachael Novak: 

[6:56] Yeah. I mean, so boundaries is going to be really similar to, you know, making sure that if you are mission focused each week, like you have your plan, you've put together kind of each daily mission in regards to what do you need to accomplish by the end of this week to accomplish what you need to for this month, for this quarter, for this year, then it's your responsibility to uphold the boundaries and the integrity of the tasks that you're doing, right? Because like you said, business owners, real estate agents, anybody who works for themselves or is in any sort of managerial or leadership position constantly has things being thrown at them. And if every time something's thrown at you, you're then, you adopt it and you inherit it as now your problem. And all of a sudden other people's emergencies become your urgency, you've got a big problem. So you have to have the discipline to put up those boundaries and say, that is not my monkey. This is not my circus it is i this is my mission over here i can handle i can here's a time next week that i'm happy to to help address this or whatever but i think it's up to you to maintain kind of those boundaries around your time and around the tasks that you're responsible for. 

Mike Novak: 

[8:04] Yeah and how do you do that without being an asshole yeah. 

Rachael Novak: 

[8:06] Especially with them like. 

Mike Novak: 

[8:07] A team you know what i mean. 

Rachael Novak: 

[8:08] Yeah i mean number one it's setting expectations right so like for us in the beginning of the week we're able to kind of connect with each of our teammates in the operation side and the sales side and kind of say like, this is the focus. This is where we're going. This is kind of the theme for this week. But there's going to be times that as an owner, as a leader, as an operator, that people think we're mean. Like that's just the reality of it, right? I talked before I did a podcast a long time ago about how you have to be okay not being liked. And there's a way, of course, to say, hey, I completely recognize that that's a really important thing. Let's gauge the urgency of this together if it's not something that needs to be handled right now and it's not something that, I can inherit and help you with, then we're going to put this off. I understand it's important. Let's put this off and schedule a different time to talk about it. So I think making sure that you're tactful, of course, in your response or your approach to setting that and maintaining those boundaries is important, 

The Importance of Focus

Rachael Novak: 

[9:02] but the right people around you will also understand your responses and reactions to those things too. 

Mike Novak: 

[9:09] A lot of leaders, I'm sure you've heard this before, they brag about how they have an open door policy. Like, hey, at any time, come in here, I'm here to talk to you. And it's like such a mistake that I see them make, right? Because they never actually get anything done they end up caught up in like the most like low hanging fruit of the whole business like it's just like it's like nothing shit you know what i mean like it's just it's noise most of the time in fact a lot of time it's drama right it's tasks and things like that where people want your approval on something that they really know what to. 

Rachael Novak: 

[9:39] Do yeah well and i think there's two different concepts when it comes to like the open door policy because you know we are believers in, you know, people in our organization, we want them to come to us with things like that's important to have that open dialogue and open communication. But it's the medium with which we accept that open door policy that makes a difference, right? So say, say there is an issue with something and it would be easy for that person to walk right into our office and interrupt whatever way is that we're in the middle of working on and finishing up and completing to sit down for 10 minutes and talk about this, like that would be very easy for them. Very distracting for us, right? Takes us completely out of our lane, completely out of what we're trying to accomplish. So instead, create a culture where people have Marco Polo, have a, you know, send a text message and say, hey, Mike, the expectation is if you want to chat with me, no problem. Send me a Marco Polo and I'm going to respond when I have time to whatever issue it has. Nine times out of 10, when you're able to move that medium to something that is on your timeline to respond to, they've already solved the issue. It's no longer an issue. 

Mike Novak: 

[10:41] Yeah, I mean, a lot of it's getting people to take ownership for their positions within your team where they don't feel like they need your approval for. 

Rachael Novak: 

[10:46] Everything 100 i mean and a. 

Mike Novak: 

[10:48] Lot of it telling them to make a decision exactly. 

Rachael Novak: 

[10:49] Like you said it's empowering your people to make that right decision and then backing them up when they make it right like not reprimanding that they made the wrong decision but hey this is how i would have done that no problem this time next time let's try it this way have a great job taking the reins. 

Mike Novak: 

[11:02] Yeah if you haven't if you're listening to this and you haven't heard of the four quadrants i would definitely go google search that at some point we should do like a podcast on that because

it's it's worthy on its own um but the other like thing that kind of came to mind is the last quadrant, the not urgent, not important. Like I call that the noise and the bullshit. Like those are the things that I think a lot of people feel obligated to spend time on that they just don't need to like responding to emails that require no response, things like that. 

Rachael Novak: 

[11:28] It is one of those things, a lot of things that fall within that quadrant, the not important, not urgent, like responding to an email that doesn't need a response, for instance, is an example of busy work and not productive work. 

Mike Novak: 

[11:40] Right. 

Rachael Novak: 

[11:41] Right. It's like, oh, it feels good to respond to an email and close a loop. But was that actually necessary? Does that move the ball down the field? Does that actually accomplish something toward the mission? No. 

Mike Novak: 

[11:51] Right. Well, that's a really important thing that you just said is that difference between busyness and productivity, right? 

Rachael Novak: 

[11:55] Oftentimes. 

Mike Novak: 

[11:56] When you see burnout happening it's because there is this non-stop sense of busyness and people are just running around that they're not actually doing it with focus right. 

Rachael Novak: 

[12:04] Exactly right yeah the. 

Mike Novak: 

[12:06] The other couple things i think we should talk about on to why people end up in the state is you know saying yes to just too many things you know and like to sprain themselves thin like really filtering that like i said i think a lot of people feel an obligation to say yes to things but i you have to 

you have to be an entire with yourself to say no right if it doesn't it doesn't align with where you're trying to go and what you're trying to do then why why the hell are you spending time on. 

Rachael Novak: 

[12:29] It 100 so like one of my one of my favorite things to kind of use as an example in the real estate industry especially is you know connecting with colleagues right like going to coffee or going to happy hour or being accepting a lunch from a lender or a title rep like like we've been able to build and maintain excellent relationships with people in this industry in in all different like ancillary industries around real estate and it's not because we go to lunch with them and it's not because we go spend two hours at happy hour i've done that a couple of times but far and away the most like

we don't ever do that we don't ever accept lunches we don't ever accept coffee dates right it's the very like maybe one a year on average right like throughout our entire eight-year career i think. 

Mike Novak: 

[13:16] Of one of my builder clients who's asked me multiple times like hey can we go get lunch together i'm like no. 

Rachael Novak: 

[13:20] Yeah no we can't i'm gonna. 

Mike Novak: 

[13:22] Sit here in my office eating my chicken and rice while you're telling me what you need to tell. 

Rachael Novak: 

[13:26] Me and. 

Mike Novak: 

[13:26] Then we'll close this meeting out in 15 minutes so i've taken two hours. 

Rachael Novak: 

[13:29] That's exactly right and that's one of the examples of like you know i think people say yes because they're trying to be relatable or they're trying to build good relationships when it's like okay like this two hour lunch and now it's cost everybody 75 dollars of drinks and service and waiting and this and that and small talk in between when we could have just sat in our office together and eaten out of containers and gotten whatever we needed done in 17 minutes right so like being trying to kind of be a lot of things say yes to a lot of things it does it align with where you're actually trying to go or does it feel good on your ego. 

Rest and Recovery 

Mike Novak: 

[14:04] Another one is the, the concept of rest and recovery. This is one that I really struggle with for years, like, like really shifting perspective and looking at these as an important tool in the toolbox of achieving really big things, right? Like a lot of us that are type A and really aggressive will push so hard and so long until the wheels just come off the wagon, you know, and then it's a shit show and it takes a lot longer to put it all back together than if you would have just taken a little pause. And so that, that's why I like our Sundays, you know, for instance, we, we kind of make those non negotiable times to really do nothing, right? Like we do our weekly planning and we lounge around, like we watch Netflix, we relax, we give our brain a break. And that like little micro reset each week is really, really important, I think, to charging into Monday with focus because you've done your plan, like we talked about, but you're also, you're refreshed, you know, you're not like fried. 

Rachael Novak: 

[14:54] A hundred percent. You know, I think, you know, for so many people in high achieving industries and for high achievers in general, it's like a badge of honor to be a hustler right to grind

grind grind it's a it's a huge gold star on on your chest to be able to say i'm a badass and i hustle and sleep four hours a night and i work 16 hours a day and do this like it's a badge of honor for whatever reason and that also is the fastest way to really not like your life to absolutely hit burnout and never want to talk to people ever again right one of the signs for us as we're getting closer and closer to like our breaks that we take right the end of the week or the end of the quarter whatever it is we're like i when i start feeling like i don't want to be around people and i start feeling like i don't want to talk to people that's when i know that burnout is getting really close right. 

Mike Novak: 

[15:41] Yeah i can definitely definitely relate to that and then the last one was kind of just the mindset perspective of asking yourself like hey is what i'm doing something i could do for years or is this something that i can only keep up for weeks or months because people can push really really hard for a short a period of time. But really, what's the point of that, right? Like the better thing to do is to figure out like what's a sustainable pace and shift that mindset to a mindset of a marathon, right? Like how am I going to run this race for years? And this race is this constant ascension and expansion of life, right? How do I do this for the rest of my life? 

Rachael Novak: 

[16:15] Yeah. I mean, I totally agree. I would counter a little bit and say that there are within that marathon, there are seasons where you have to sprint. 

Mike Novak: 

[16:26] Right? Yeah, there are definitely seasons where you're going to push harder. 

Rachael Novak: 

[16:29] Yep. And so like being able to recognize in real time and having the awareness to say, am I in a position financially where I can take it easy and really invest time into my family and my marriage? Or... Will that create more stress if I'm not focusing on the financial stability portion of my life, right? Like we were there eight and a half years ago, where it's like, no, like, yes, we want a solid marriage. Yes, we want relationships with our kids. But right now we are in a season where 

Sustainable Pace vs. Sprinting 

Rachael Novak: 

[16:57] we need to bust our asses and we need to sprint through this season. But we made sure during that season, we weren't taking lunches. We were very fiscally responsible. We definitely had a plan for where the money was going to go. We were investing very strategically so we didn't waste any of that sprint we knew it was a season we knew we had to push really hard and once we got through that it was like okay now we have savings we have capital built up in the business we have some stability in our home now we can start building in some more of that harmony and that integration with all four domains but there are seasons that you have to go through those things yeah. 

Mike Novak: 

[17:32] I look at those as kind of like breakthrough growth seasons right.

Rachael Novak: 

[17:35] Like what. 

Mike Novak: 

[17:36] Are these growth spurts and they don't happen every year for people. 

Rachael Novak: 

[17:39] Like but they. 

Mike Novak: 

[17:39] Do happen for sure like i can think of two or three in my life that have happened where i had to push like insanely hard. 

Rachael Novak: 

[17:45] Yes for. 

Mike Novak: 

[17:46] Like a year you know which is like a long period of time to go 100 but eventually it does normalize if you consciously change it like the risk that i'm talking about is that person that doesn't realize that they're actually running at an unsustainable pace and that they're going to completely fry like i've seen. 

Rachael Novak: 

[18:02] So many people. 

Mike Novak: 

[18:02] In real estate that were top producers and they don't even sell houses anymore. 

Rachael Novak: 

[18:05] Right like they're just like fuck that i don't i. 

Mike Novak: 

[18:08] Don't want to see another client again. 

Rachael Novak: 

[18:09] You know what. 

Mike Novak: 

[18:09] I mean like i've been there done that i'm never doing it again right like and that's the dangerous person like you got to really watch out for that. 

Rachael Novak: 

[18:15] Spot for sure you. 

Mike Novak: 

[18:16] Know what i mean no one wants to be that.

Rachael Novak: 

[18:18] Guy for sure well and like to that point you know if you're doing this for a year or two, and you're somehow maybe it's that you're scaling up your lifestyle or maybe it's that you're you aren't being fiscally responsible with like the money that you're generating or maybe you are spending time on not all the right things that are actually generating the revenue that you need to break through through this season right like there's a couple of different things that you could probably dissect within that sprint season that would lead you to say like okay i've busted my ass and now through this season i don't really have much to show for it other than this little thing like yeah i'm done so that yeah i totally get that it's it's, It's going into that season with kind of that strategy, with that mindset of, okay, I am doing this intentionally, and this is what I expect to get out of it, right? This is the goal of this season. So when you get to the other side, you have fruit. 

Mike Novak: 

[19:09] You define the end state. 

Intentional Growth Seasons 

Rachael Novak: 

[19:10] Exactly. Yeah. 

Mike Novak: 

[19:11] And then getting your fan level with that. 

Rachael Novak: 

[19:13] A hundred percent. That's a whole different podcast from today. 

Mike Novak: 

[19:16] All right. So these are, we just kind of covered a whole bunch of reasons how 

Proactive Strategies Against Burnout 

Mike Novak: 

[19:19] people end up into burnout. Let's talk about ways to proactively disposition yourself so this never happens to you. I mean, obviously you could just do the reverse of what we just said, but we have some, we have some tips for people. I think the first one is really figuring out and getting clear on what makes you happy. Like you need to figure out what makes you happy and makes you money. Like too often I see people that like, they look at it from the perspective of, I'm only going to do stuff that makes you money. Even if I fucking hate it, that's a dangerous place to be. And then you see the other people are like, I just want to be happy. And I've been told that if I'm happy that the money will come. Well, that's a line of bullshit. 

Rachael Novak: 

[19:49] Yeah.

Mike Novak: 

[19:50] I mean, these worlds must cross over. And you have to realize that you're not going to love everything about your job. And there's things that I don't love about my job sometimes, but 95% of it, I really do like, you know what I mean? And so how do you get to that place where you can really build a life and a week and a month that brings you joy, but also makes you the money you're after? How do you have both? 

Rachael Novak: 

[20:12] That's like, I think that's the eternal question, babe. Like it's like people are constantly striving for a feeling of their day-to-day right and I think that is the disconnect people are looking for something that makes them feel good day-to-day as opposed to understanding no like what I'm doing day-to-day I enjoy for the most part I tolerate the other part but I love the outcome I love the impact that it has, right? And when you're constantly, when you're basing things off of a feeling, when you're basing things off of how you feel every single day, you're going to set yourself up for some massive failure because newsflash, there are some days that I don't want to get out of bed because I'm exhausted or I know I've got a ton of shit to do and I have a 16-hour day literally ahead of me. Those are rough days. But by the end of that day, I feel very accomplished. I know what I've done. I know that it's moved the ball down the field. I know that I've contributed and participated financially and productively with my family and my business. So that's very satisfying. So there's a difference between knowing going into it that I'm making a difference. It's also the majority, 90%, 95%, I enjoy this. And then the other part is I'm not getting caught up in the feeling of unhappiness or dissatisfaction day to day. 

Mike Novak: 

[21:31] Yeah. And like the example that comes to mind for me is YouTube for real estate agents, right? Like so many agents have become obsessed with YouTube and they will avoid doing like all the things that actually produce income in their business to go like edit a video. 

Rachael Novak: 

[21:44] Yeah. Yeah. 

Mike Novak: 

[21:44] You could pay somebody like a hundred bucks off a fiber to do or to like research the perfect video or go shoot the perfect video. You know what I mean? They'll spend like, this is like a huge achievement for their week to get this done. When in reality, if you go look back over last year, how many houses do you sell off YouTube? If you sold like 50, awesome. Keep doing that. Keep going. That's the only person I've ever talked to in my life that's actually done that. Right. Most people are like, oh, I sold none or I sold like two. Right. So that, but it brings them so much joy, you know, they want to do it, but they're actually just kind of avoiding the hard work that's going to give them the outcome they want instead. 

Rachael Novak: 

[22:14] Well, I think back to like the weekly planning, that's why dissecting the previous week, like what did I accomplish? What, you know, where did I spend my time? Where did I waste my time is so important and looking forward to the next week. Because if, if we are getting some traction on

YouTube, say for the real estate agent, if that, that person's getting some traction on YouTube or they're sharing it and they're getting some feedback or they're getting some good leads or whatever great like go ahead and allocate to that but is there 30 other hours in the week that you could buy back by hiring an editor part-time to actually go prospect or door knock or open house or whatever else like is there are there other things that you could should be doing and it's it's that auditing of time consistently because we all have those weeks or days where like shit like i did not get done what i needed to get done because i had to field so many things or put out so many fires but what could i have done to like navigate that better what could i have avoided what did i say yes to that maybe shouldn't have had that kind of thing i. 

Mike Novak: 

[23:05] Think one of the ways that you can definitely full you can achieve that outcome of spending time what you want to do and that all it also makes you money is to build leverage around you like start adding in real estate you know you add administrative help around you to do paperwork things that don't actually make you money that are just busy work and that most agents hate doing and that keep you kind of in your sales lane you know. 

Rachael Novak: 

[23:23] What i mean so. 

Mike Novak: 

[23:23] Leverage is definitely one way to do that and if you can't afford full time staff, like you said, you can go on Upwork, you can go on Fiverr, and you can hire people part-time to do small things within your business. 

Rachael Novak: 

[23:32] Exactly. 

Mike Novak: 

[23:32] You know, you don't need a huge budget for that. 

Rachael Novak: 

[23:34] Yep, exactly. Yeah. So, I mean, let's talk about the next way. And this kind of goes along with planning. 

Building Your Perfect Week 

Rachael Novak: 

[23:41] When you are working toward being the most productive that you possibly can be and prioritizing all the things you need to during that week, building your perfect week is the most important part of that. Right? And you and I have gone back and forth so many iterations. I mean, monthly, I'm looking at my calendar. And is this still the most effective and efficient calendar and time block for me week to week? Right? had a great conversation with one of the agents on our team like a week or two ago because it they felt like it was groundhog day like they were waking up and doing the exact same thing every single day all day long and they weren't finding any like

massive traction in any area it was like just little trickles of traction and so we kind of what we talked about which you and i've talked about a lot is every single day of the week doesn't necessarily need to be look exactly the same. Like there are within your business or within whatever industry you're in, there are things that you need to do daily or multiple times a week in order to continue to move the needle and generate revenue and push the business forward. But just like we've talked about many times, having days of the week where you are more focused on one area of the business than another actually creates larger windows of opportunity for massive productivity. 

Mike Novak: 

[24:55] Yeah, we all get caught up like when we have to shift what we're doing massively. Like, let's say we're going from like making sales calls to writing emails and then we're transitioning from writing email copy, you know, like newsletter kind of stuff to making a video. And then we're going back into now buyer consult. Like that is so many shifts for your brain. Yeah. You're like pivoting, pivoting, pivoting, pivoting. And you can't batch your energy doing that, right? So like your energy shift is very different for creative work versus sales work. 

Rachael Novak: 

[25:21] Right? 

Mike Novak: 

[25:21] Or at least it was for me, right? 

Rachael Novak: 

[25:22] No, it is. 

Mike Novak: 

[25:22] I'm in two totally different mindsets. And so when you can batch those energies and that consistency each day to like, let's do a sales day on Monday. Let's do a sales day on Wednesday. Let's do a sales day on Friday. Like let's do like three or four sales days a week. And let's set another day aside to do all the other shit that you need to do. That's exactly right. You know what I mean? And really batching that energy. 

Rachael Novak: 

[25:39] Yeah. Well, especially for small business owners, right? Like small business owners or entrepreneurs or real estate agents, we do multiple things. Like we are sometimes administrative. We have to do administrative work. Then we have to write emails or create action plans or do marketing stuff. And then, of course, there's lead gen having conversations and actually making sales, right? Converting leads. So it's like if you've got, like for mine, for instance, my Mondays are a really heavy operations day. I sprinkle in some sales in the afternoon to make sure that I'm continuing revenue generating. But those are like big operations days so i'm in the financials and i'm in the reporting and i'm in you know like focusing on the the back end of things making sure the operations team is set up for success for the entire week and then tuesdays are training days for me i'm running sales meetings we're doing accountability meetings we're running conversion trainings we're doing a lot of role plays so it's more me participating in giving to the team making

sure that i'm investing and in their development right and then teaching and collaborating with them and then we get to the rest of the week so we've got content and creative days and we've got you know the the newsletter and writing days and then it's like project days where we're now we're moving the ball down the field creating new products creating new projects and actually fulfilling those things and then of course got podcast afternoons right. 

Mike Novak: 

[26:52] Yeah the time we're working in the business and working on the business and segmenting that is really important, I think. I would challenge everyone to try to figure out with complete clarity and focus, what are the three things you do in the business? You know what I mean? Like maybe 

you do sales and you do marketing and you do hiring, or maybe you do like administrative work and you do, you know, agent attraction or something. But like, what are the three things that you actually do when people have like 10 or 15 things? They're not going to do any of those things very, very well. And that means that you've just got a lack of structure. You got a lot of systems, you got a lack of people around you to keep you in your lane and doing the right things. You know, Like I've talked to a lot of other team leaders where we'll have like an administrative staff person wearing like 10 different hats. You know what I mean? Like they're the marketing person, they're the TC, they're the listing coordinator, they're the personal assistant, they're the video person. They're like doing all of these different things. There's just a lot to do. You know what I mean? So like if you can get to three things, I think that's really key. 

Rachael Novak: 

[27:43] Yeah, I love that. I think that's totally key. I also think that, you know, on that note of doing more things, adopting more things, that is the danger, so to speak, of real estate agents or people in the entrepreneurial space continually going to conferences and investing time in a lot of trainings or coaches or webinars. Or, you know, it's like, in my opinion, attending a significant amount of training, webinars, conferences, it can be detrimental to your business. Because every time you go on those, you're adopting an idea or you're, you know, something is infusing, something needs to change because it worked for that person. And a lot of times it can take you out of the lane of productivity or continual growth in your business and your trajectory. What your three things are because these new ideas are here and you're trying to implement something completely different right so i i believe in conferences i personally love going to conferences i love going and communicating or collaborating with people and making new relationships and and the motivation and inspiration that i'm able to bring back i love but i would caution you to go into it with that mindset of i'm going to take all these things with a grain of salt i'm not necessarily going to take and implement all these things but maybe one thing that can piggyback on something i'm already doing to help enhance it. 

Mike Novak: 

[29:03] Or just don't even go if you've already got a full if you've already got a full plate and you don't need more ideas like that's the thing is most people. 

The Need for Breaks

Rachael Novak: 

[29:09] Don't need more ideas they. 

Mike Novak: 

[29:10] Don't need more shit too they need more focus right and and unfortunately a lot of that becomes a noise distraction yeah couple other things just you know we talked about this earlier just kind of setting those breaks every 90 days having that live the internal we've done multiple podcasts about that. 

Rachael Novak: 

[29:24] We've. 

Mike Novak: 

[29:25] Got a vacation booked. I definitely think that that does allow you to push a little bit harder in between, you know, you're going to run your marathon, but you're going to run it a little faster clip than you would if you didn't have that finish line kind of coming up. You know what I mean? 

Rachael Novak: 

[29:37] A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, just, it's the same thing, like how we take, we take Sunday afternoons as kind of non-negotiable rest days, right? As is what we do. And it's rest from our phones and it's rest from appointments and it's rest from trainings and it's rest from, you know, we'll, we'll handle immediate, urgent, important things, but that's about it. And so just like we have that to look forward to every week, we're able to push through the other six and a half days pretty hard. And agents on our team, we really encourage people on our team, at least agents, sales agents, to take one out of office day every week. In real estate, you're going to work mostly on the weekends, especially if you're trying to build your business. That's a huge time that a lot of people aren't working. That's your opportunity to be working with them and getting them out and seeing homes. So almost every single one of the agents on our team taken out of office day every week on the same day every week so that they have that day to look forward to they can sleep in they can spend it with a. 

Mike Novak: 

[30:29] Little family. 

Rachael Novak: 

[30:29] They can recharge. 

Mike Novak: 

[30:30] They know they're going to work saturday so it's like a given the real estate exactly yeah the one like tip i would give people that i use for these breaks these 90 day breaks is the countdown app like if you go to the app store and search for that i will put my whole year's worth of trips we book all of our trips like nine to 12 months out And so each one of ours is in there with a countdown. If I ever need like a burst of motivation, like really dragging ass, I'll pull out the countdown app. I'd be like, sweet, got 16 weeks till Vietnam. I can do 16 more weeks. That's a piece of cake. You know, like I've got that light that's super valuable for me to just sit in there.

Rachael Novak: 

[31:03] And you literally will screenshot that to me and to the kids and be like. 

Mike Novak: 

[31:06] Look, guys, look, only 16 weeks. Yeah, well, to me, it just helps me compartmentalize my focus and my energy because I know that there's going to be a break eventually. Like, as long as I know something is going to allow me to break eventually and I'm not going to have to do this at this pace for forever, then I'm good. You know what I mean? That allows me, like you said earlier, just to push harder for that season. 

Rachael Novak: 

[31:27] Totally. Yeah. I mean, it's similar to like, you know, a health and fitness goal, right? We have a season that we're in right now that we're pushing really hard and we are not deviating whatsoever from the plan. And some days that's mentally very difficult. Physically, it's totally fine. Mentally, it's very, very difficult. And so knowing that, okay, this is the date that I need to get to, having that date, I can count down to that. I can manage that. After that, I get a freaking cheeseburger and pizza and ice cream. 

Awareness and Intentionality 

Mike Novak: 

[31:57] Right. Anything else that you want to share with people, you know, on ways to proactively avoid burnout? 

Rachael Novak: 

[32:04] Yeah, I think, you know, just going back to kind of the beginning of the conversation, understanding, you know, the season of life that you're in. Right. I talk a lot about that in the CEO world and I talk a lot about that with the women that I that I coach and train with. 

Rachael Novak: 

[32:17] But it's really, really important that you understand what season are you in, right? Have you built a really good business and now is the season to be able to kind of maintain it and continue it and build habits in that, sustain that business because maybe your kids are a certain age that you 

want to be spending more time with them. Or maybe it's a season where you need to focus on your marriage and really pour into that domain, right? One of our teammates recently said, these next six months, my focus is my marriage. And he's gone all in on that and really been able to make big strides. It's been a beautiful thing to watch, like this relationship loss being after so many years of being married. So what season are you in? And if it's in a season of, I'm in a good place with my marriage, and I'm in a pretty decent place with my kids and all these things, and you're wanting to build your business, you have to get into the mindset of being okay, being really uncomfortable and feeling real out of balance for a little while, right? So it's really just understanding the season that you're in. And again, utilizing kind of a culmination or a collaboration of all of these things, right? Making sure you're playing ahead, making sure you're building your perfect week and having daily focus, making sure that you have something to look forward to because in those seasons of push,

in those seasons of grinding, in those seasons of big growth, having something to look forward to 10 weeks out, 12 weeks out will help you push so much harder and accomplish whatever that you're trying to do in that time. 

Mike Novak: 

[33:36] Right, this really just comes down to awareness and intentionality, right? It's those two things, master those two things and burnout will no longer be an issue for you. 

Rachael Novak: 

[33:43] That's exactly right. So hopefully these tips help you understand that burnout is a choice. And by continuing to not have awareness on any of these things or managing these things, you are choosing to end up in the burnout circle, which is tough. 

Mike Novak: 

[33:56] We'll see you next week.