Recently I had a conversation with a good friend and associate who has been in the same business for many years. As we were walking together, he turned to me and said, “You know, Michael, I really thought I would be done with all of this by now.”
After many years of doing the same job, he was referring to the amount of effort and hard work he was putting into the continued sustainment and growth of his business. Constantly looking for new prospects, supporting relationships with existing customers, managing the people on his team, fighting for revenue, managing expenses and cost — all that had just left him feeling burnt out.
We decided a quick coaching session was in order. First, I reminded him he was one of the very best business development people I had ever met. He has a nose for finding new business, and a true gift and knack for connecting with people. And as an outside observer, he seemed to really enjoy it once he was actually in the process. Watching him with a prospect or customer and the passion he displayed have always amazed me.
Second, I shared with him one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes. When Ziglar was coming back to the stage in his late 70s after an illness, people used to think he had retired. So Zig would reply with the following: “Retired? You must have misheard. I am not retired, I am re-fired!” He would continue with, “I am not giving up, letting up, or shutting up until the good Lord takes me up, and as a matter of fact I am just getting warmed up!”
Zig Ziglar is a man who knows how to turn that feeling of being burnt out into an attitude of being fired up.
We can all do well to remember that we have a chosen profession and we pursued our career because we either had an intense passion for it or we followed a natural progression towards the path we are now on. Ok, so there are some of us who either stumbled into our career or have yet to really find what it is we are supposed to be doing.
In almost every case, there will come a time of feeling burnt out, tired, tested, abused or taken advantage of. Or maybe we’ve just lost passion or energy. These feelings can be exacerbated in the dog days of summer or the depths of the dark cold winters.
The best way to combat these feelings is to get fired up again, dig deep and re-kindle the fire, passion and purpose that inspired us to accept our position, start our company, become a sales person or take that promotion into management. I’ll bet with a little creative thinking time, we can all come up with at least three things we can do right now to spark that interest again or get ourselves back in the game.
Accepting burn out is no fun. It’s no good, and it is certainly not healthy for any one of us or any coworker, friend, or family member who is hanging around us.
Are you burnt out or fired up? I would love to hear all about it at gotonorton@gmail.com . Together, let’s make it a better than good week.
Michael Norton, a resident of Highlands Ranch, is the former president of the Zig Ziglar organization and CEO and founder of www.candogo.com.