From Hustle to Sustainable Performance: A Better Way to Grow Your Business with Deidre Gestrin

Hustle can look like ambition, but it often feels like living in constant interruption: nonstop pings, endless tabs, and a brain that cannot shut off. Jenny sits down with Deirdre Gestran of Abundant Wellness Essentials to name what is really happening underneath the grind and to map a clearer path to sustainable performance. We talk about building a business that supports your life instead of consuming it, with systems that are simple, doable, and built for the long haul.

We break down the moments when hustle shifts from helpful to harmful, including “multitasking” that is really task switching, urgency thinking that turns everything into a crisis, and the subtle burnout signs that show up as irritability, exhaustion, and always thinking about work. Deirdre also explains why high achievers struggle to slow down even when they see burnout coming, especially when identity is tied to outcomes and people pleasing makes boundaries feel unsafe.

You will walk away with practical strategies for productivity and time management, like planning for clarity, batching email, managing notifications, and setting team expectations around what is urgent and what can wait. We also explore redefining success beyond revenue with a holistic lens and share what Deirdre’s burnout quiz can reveal about where you are on the burnout path.

If you want fewer fires and more focused growth, listen now, share this with a fellow entrepreneur, and subscribe so you do not miss what comes next. After you listen, leave a review and tell us: which boundary are you setting first?

If you want deeper coaching, more transparency, and the episodes that actually help you make decisions faster in your business, then subscribe to Unhinged.

Transcript

Burnout Versus Business Growth

Jenny 0:34

Are you tired of feeling like the only way to grow your business is to work harder, longer, and sacrifice everything else in the process? In this episode, I'm joined by Deirdre Jostron to talk about what sustainable performance really looks like and why hustle culture is keeping so many entrepreneurs stuck in burnout instead of growth. If you're ready to build a business that supports your life instead of consuming it, this conversation will show you a better way forward. Now, if you are someone listening and you have questions about what your business should look like, where are the cracks in your foundation, I want you to book a free discovery call with me. I'm going to link to that right in the description so that you can make sure that you get that. I want to hear what it is that you are working on and how we can make sure that we continue to help you grow.

Meet Deirdre And Her Work

Jenny 1:23

Hi, Deirdre. Welcome to the podcast. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 1:26

I'm good. Thanks for having me, Jenny. It's good to be here.

Jenny 1:29

Of course. I'm excited to have this conversation of from hustle to sustainable performance, a better way to grow your business. But before we actually do that, will you introduce yourself and your business to my audience?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Yes. So I'm Deidre Gestran. I um own Abundant Wellness Essentials, which I started about three and a half years ago. My focus is really to help kind of two paths, right? It's help professionals feel like they can stay in the calling they feel in their purpose, they feel they're called to. So they're already in that um without burning out. And then also on the organizational side, helping them retain employees and build better systems that can be sustainable long term. Excellent.

Jenny 2:17

Perfect.

Defining Sustainable Performance

Jenny 2:18

All right. So when you hear the term sustainable performance, what does it actually mean to you in the context of business?

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Sustainable performance is about, it's not just about creating the systems, right? That's an important part of business. It's the systems that feel doable. So I'm all about simple, doable, and nothing more. We overcomplicate things all the time. And so in business, if we're creating these systems that feel doable and that we can maintain, right? It's also about on the professional, the individual level, do we also have the energy to sustain what we're building? And do we have the desire to stay in it long haul? Because they go hand in hand. I don't feel like you can build systems if you don't have the desire and you don't actually have the energy, right? And so really, if you have that sustainable performance, you're respecting the humanness behind the business for that long-term success.

Jenny 3:22

I love that. The humanness behind the business. It's no, it's so true. It's the reason that most of us started our businesses, right? It's why we do what we do with these crazy up and downs, figuring out algorithms, all the marketing that goes into it. So, no, I love that. Perfect.

When Hustle Turns Harmful

Jenny 3:40

All right. So many entrepreneurs start with hustle as a default. At which what point does hustle start becoming harmful instead of helpful?

SPEAKER_00 3:52

That's a that's a great question. Um, you know, and as I pause to think about um hustle, it's when we I think there's multiple factors that can play into when it becomes harmful. And that's when either we try to do multiple things at once, right? We always talk about multitasking, but the reality is we're not multitaskers. We switch tasks all the time. And so when we're trying to do multiple things, we're gonna get overwhelmed. We're going to start getting exhausted. And so it's partly that. It's partly um the more you're trying to do is business and your schedule taking over your life versus life controlling that. Um, and and what I've seen with a lot of people is it's yes, there's a mindset factor, but the more we hustle, the more we get disconnected from what's going on in our bodies, right? And that's a big factor because if I'm so focused externally to do more because society says if you're not keeping up, you're

Early Burnout Signs And Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 4:58

failing. I'm not aware of what's going on inside. And that's where we really start to head down the wrong path because we're not recognizing what's coming up, and we have to stay connected. We have to slow that back down.

Jenny 5:12

Excellent. So, what are some of the early signs that someone is operating in an unsustainable way in their business?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

The first few things that come to mind is if you're starting to get irritated and frustrated with, and it's not just with work stuff, it's anybody coming to ask you a question. It's five more emails showing up, right? If you're feeling tired, or one of my, I think the top ones is if you you're always thinking about work. So you can't turn the brain off about work, you're headed down the wrong path. You're in that position of maybe I'm gonna head towards burnout, right? But you're not there. You're but you can't, you have to be able to turn the brain off. And the other thing would be um, I guess two things. The more we're in hustle mode, the more we respond to everything like it's urgent, it's a crisis situation, and that's where we get into trouble. And then um, one of the key signs I tell people to look for is do you have daily routines that keep you grounded? Right. So for me, it's my morning devotional time. And when I throw that out the window, I'm not in a good spot.

Jenny 6:29

Yes. No, that makes sense. That would be my working out. And I think too, part of it, I think as well, it are the boundaries that you put in place for yourself. Like you said, if you're continuing to think about work after hours, you haven't really put in that boundary to like shut it down and let it be done. Um, I think one of the things that I struggle with is, and I hear clients talk about it, is when they have younger kids, or especially now that we're going into summer and we've got kids home and it's harder to have those boundaries in place, as I literally just dealt with it five minutes before we got on to this interview. Um, and you end up getting frustrated with them, you get frustrated with the situation. But if I had to keep those boundaries in place of, okay, I'm not recording NDs when the monsters are home, it would make it much easier, right? So I think sticking to those boundaries, figuring out what works best, because otherwise you end up like frustrated. And like you said, it leads to the burnout that we end up seeing.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

It does. Boundaries absolutely get crossed. And and I often talk about it's not just boundaries with other people, because we tend to blame other people for crossing our boundaries, but we're actually the ones that do it. So it's maintaining the boundaries with ourselves. Yes. So important.

Jenny 7:48

Why do you think high achieving entrepreneurs struggle to slow down even when they know they're heading toward burnout?

Why High Achievers Cannot Slow

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Um, well, there's really a couple things that come up there, right? Is high achievers have tied their identity to their outcomes and results. So if they're not performing and they're not having high output, then their self-esteem, right, and their self-confidence will take because that's not they don't see themselves outside of that. But the other part is high achievers have this tendency to um be people pleasers, right? So they're the yes people. Um, and so looking at where that's coming from and like even with my own story, right? Because I, as a licensed counselor and I was always in management, I hit burnout three times. And that last time, after I was in my place of recovery, because I was that yes person, I was literally, and when I say Jenny, I was working 24-7, I was working 24-7. I would go home long enough to let my dog out and I was right back at work. And when I started to explore that and go, why am I always saying yes? Why did I get there? Because I know I played a part. The company I worked for played a part, I played a part. And for me, it was that people pleaser came from I had this fear of missing out or not being seen as reliable if I set that boundary. And so I think those are common issues with high achievers, right? That people pleasing because there's a fear, and then the identity is tied to the outcomes.

Jenny 9:28

Yes, I can see that in clients, and I've also seen it in friends within my personal life that I definitely tried to, yes. Oh my goodness, yes. So, how does sustainable performance change the way someone approaches productivity day

Planning For Calm Daily Productivity

Jenny 9:45

to day?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

It really helps you um be able to focus on how to prioritize your days and your months, right? So I I'm still a paper calendar girl. I have my digital calendar, but my paper one comes into play to help me prioritize so I have that clarity, right? So then when I show up to work each morning, I'm not scrambling trying to figure out what I'm going to work on that day. And I'm not overwhelmed and overloaded going, I have too much, I don't know where to start. So sustainable systems and performance helps you get that clarity for the long term, helps you have that calm approach because you know what you need to work on, right? Um, it's it's being able to believe in how you operate new. So there's there's a mindset piece there in that we believe we have to hustle. But what I learned when I started setting those boundaries, I accomplish more when I work less because I set those boundaries.

Jenny 10:56

So part of the problem that I see a lot of times is they feel like they have to continually put out fires. It's answering from what, and it goes back to like that multitasking, right? They're in the middle of placing an order or doing something admin-wise, and

Notifications Teams And Response Rules

Jenny 11:10

then they see a Teams message pop up and they feel like they have to put the fire out. How do they go about? And I think that that's the hard part for them. How do they put a boundary in place? How do they, because again, it goes back to the people pleaser. Oh my goodness, team, someone needs me. I need to go and do that. So, what do they do in that case?

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah, that's a great example because I've heard that and seen it all the time, right? And it's conversations with the team that say to define, we have to define what really is a crisis, what is urgent and what is not. And if our team is not clear, first of all, right, because we have to define that within that says, these are the categories, and this is the time frame I will respond. And then comes back to the boundaries we talked about. You have to set that boundary. So just because a team's message pops up does not mean you respond. If you're in the middle of a task and you're trying to focus, focus because I can almost guarantee 98% of the time a crisis can can sit there for 10 minutes while you finish something. Yes, right. We've we've fallen into this society and this work world of instant gratification, and that really came from all the online work um out of COVID. And people need to learn that it's okay, slow down. 10 minutes is not going to derail whatever crisis has come up.

Jenny 12:39

Yes. And I think the other piece of that that I get a lot of pushback on is well, if I don't answer it right now, I'm afraid that I'm going to forget.

unknown 12:49

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

I hear that all the time too, right? And so then what I say to that is determine with teams, determine which notifications you actually have to have the sound on. You don't have to have the sound on for everybody, and you don't have to have it open in an open window all the time. Right. So I had the same thing because um a telehealth company I had worked for, I had the Teams format. We used Google stuff, right? But it was on my phone. I would have the notifications, the sound notifications off. I would let the banner pop up on my phone so I could glance at it and make that determination in my brain that says that can wait. So I haven't opened it, right? It's opening it that takes it out of your brain. Or now you have a hundred notes on your desk and then you go, What I don't know where to start.

Jenny 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Yeah. So those are the systems of right notifications. When do you actually read stuff and open it? When do you leave it unread? And adjusting your mind to go, okay, this is how I function now. This is how I view things when I see it.

Jenny 14:03

And scheduling it into as part of your day, right? Like, couldn't you say, well, every hour I'm gonna check Teams to see if there's a new message? And if there is, I'll take care of it and do it then. But I'm not coming back in for another hour to check it. Like, because you don't know when that message is gonna pop up. But if you set boundaries, I mean, it's the way I am with my email. I check my email first thing in the morning, then I check it again right before I get on calls. I wait till about lunch, and then again, I'm waiting until my the end of the day to check it again. So it's not where it's open all the time and sending me a notification and making me stop and feel like I have to answer it right then and there.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Right. And that's absolutely it. It's scheduling it, right? Any organization I've worked for, they say the same thing. It's check your emails two to three times a day. So as a manager, yes, I would check it more because I wasn't always direct or direct with clients, but it's what are you telling again, what are you telling your team, right? Yes, plan it, schedule it, keep yourself to it. You have to hold yourself accountable. But and then you can set up systems for those urgent or crisis situations, right? So if you're checking it every hour, you're gonna catch what's urgent and deal with it. If it's a true crisis that says, I have to drop what I'm doing, then you set up another system for that. And so, for example, when I the last community health agency I worked for, we managed our own 24-hour crisis line. As a manager, I had to be what was called backup. So if our crisis worker needed support, they needed to staff the case, they would have somebody to call. And I had to tell every everyone when I was their backup person, and I said, you have to call me twice in a row, especially at night, because I don't always hear my phone. So call me at least twice before you go on to the next potential backup. Um, and that was just knowing myself, right? So again, we come back to do you know yourself and how you operate, and then set up those systems for that because there's different systems based on put them in categories.

Crisis Versus Urgent Versus Noise

Jenny 16:18

Right. Yes. Okay, so talk to me a little bit about how to categorize things to make it easier so that you're not sacrificing results when you do stop and change what you're working on.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

So I would I would define like um I'm gonna say for for 90, 90% of business owners, they will not have anything that might fall under a crisis that needs immediate attention, right? The only thing that could fall under that would be okay, let's say technology's falling apart and you have a training you're about to present live. That might be the only potential crisis I could think of. So, yes, you needed to just back up and put all your attention on fixing that, right? So business and revenue can move forward. I would probably not, as a business owner, put anything else in that. Like responding to social media messages or emails that say, hey, I want to collaborate. That's not that's not a crisis. And I would not even say that's urgent at all. Like, and so it's it's that again, it comes back to what you and you talk about this all the time, right? Your 90-day plan and your long-term focus. And so when I think about structuring my business, it's okay, these last two months have been all about updating my website, right? Getting it clearer. And yes, I keep the content, the nurturing stuff going, but outside of that, like nothing is urgent. I have to just continuously move forward. So again, crisis, if it's going to stop something from happening, urgent. I'm not sure if I would put much under the urgent category. Um yeah, I mean, if you have the right systems and you're you feel like your energy is flowing well, yes, that should not have come up.

Jenny 18:31

So one of the things for pushback that I often get from clients is that systems means that I have to stop what I'm currently doing and put those in place.

Change Two Things At A Time

Jenny 18:41

So, how can entrepreneurs grow their business without constantly adding more to their plate?

SPEAKER_00 18:50

That um is a great question. And so, really, what I think about there is it comes back to um what people chuckle all the time when I say keep it simple and what's doable, right? And so it's changing one thing at a time. So if I'm talking to clients about they're extremely burnt out, they're not functioning, they're starting to question what they're doing, they show up and they want me to hand them this elaborate plan on a platter that says, here's what you do, here's a hundred things to get out of here. And I say, I can't do that, right? I say, pick two things that you're gonna change, and we'll identify those specifically. And that is the only thing you focus on changing for two weeks. Everything else says status quo. And it's funny because I'll get pushback on that and I'll go, I promise. Give me two weeks of doing these two things and then we will change it. And really, when you do that, all of a sudden you're a month down the path and you have half of your systems changed, you're like, wait, wait a minute, I can breathe, I can do this. Yes.

Jenny 20:06

Oh my goodness, it's such a good way of putting it. And I think about like your process that we've been working through your website and really making sure that the messaging is on point, and that's exactly the way that you've done it. You've broken it down, you've gone by page by page before you were ready to be for it to be finished. And it took you some time, but I mean, your website is now beautiful, the messaging is on point, you have stories throughout it, and people can see themselves in it, and it brings in clients because of that.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yeah, yeah.

Redefining Success Beyond Revenue

Jenny 20:35

So, how do you help clients or entrepreneurs redefine success so it's not just tied to revenue or output?

SPEAKER_00 20:45

So I believe in um having the a holistic perspective, right? Not just on business, but on life. And that was one of the other things that I came to as I was recovering from my last bout of burnout that destroyed me physically. And it's success is are you do you have what you want and are you happy? And when we talk about all aspects of life, right? I'm talking about physically, are you where you want to be? So you can function family-wise, does that life look the way you want? So you can prioritize time with them. Um, you know, mentally, emotionally, have you healed? And kind of what's that mindset? But I also believe we have to look at the spirituality for a person too, right? So it's that holistic perspective. Because if we're living life to the fullest and we're in our purpose, which comes and connects to what we believe, then we have success, right? Because I've watched this with other people, and I actually watched it honestly with my dad about four or five years ago. We have so much we have tied to work. That it's like again, our identity and our success is tied to what we're doing. And I watched him tank when he lost an election. Right. And he floundered for several years. And so it's like success cannot be all work and revenue. Yes.

Jenny 22:20

No, so so very true. So now tell us about your burnout quiz and what they can expect to learn from

Burnout Quiz And Closing

Jenny 22:29

it.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Yeah. So I created the burnout quiz because I get asked a lot of times, right? Um, I think I'm burnt out. And yet we have to define that a little bit. And so the burnout quiz is really designed to help you. It asks you questions on your energy levels and your exhaustion and your view on work, right? But it's to help you figure out like, am I truly burnt out? Because if you're truly burnt out, you're questioning what you're doing. You don't think you can sustain. And so, but then there's like a couple levels before that. And so when you can identify where am I at on this path towards burnout, then you can implement things to not get there. I don't want people to get where I got, right? That was a bad, bad, that was a terrible place that I couldn't believe I was at. And so at each step, there's different resources based on are you starting to show signs or are you already there?

unknown 23:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

Excellent.

Jenny 23:33

Well, Deedra, I appreciate you so much for taking the time to speak with me and my audience. Um, we're going to link to the Kurtways in the description so people can make sure that they take it. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Jenny 23:48

Of course.