There’s all this talk around job or work burnout.

You’ll often hear people say, “I’m getting burned out.” Or, if they see you working hard, they’ll warn you, “Take it easy or you’ll burn out.”

There’s even that popular phrase we’ve all heard a thousand times: “Burning the candle at both ends.” It implies that the candle symbolizes your life, and burning the candle at both ends means you are exhausting yourself by working too much.

Today, I want you to think about it like this:

The biggest reason people tell you to do less is because they quit doing more.

They cannot afford to have you doing more as it reminds them of what they refuse to do. Hence, they warn you about “burning out”.

Throughout my life, countless people — friends, family, customers, and even competition — have offered me unsolicited advice that I should do less.

“Don’t burn out,” they tell me.

First, I’m not a candle. I produce energy at will and am incapable of burnout.

And you are not a candle either.

If you consider it, burning out is a decrease in fuel or substance.

Purpose is the fuel that can keep you going

Or as I like to say:

be obsessed or be burned out.

Why would you not be excited about what you’re doing every day?

I guarantee you, if you have told others recently you’re “burning out”, it’s because you aren’t focused on a big enough purpose.

Most people don’t even have their own purpose  —  they’ve adopted another person’s purpose.

What gets you excited?

Be on purpose, know where you’re going, and know what you’re excited about. If you can’t find your mojo, don’t blame it on work burnout.

Your life is like a 32-gallon tank of gas. Use it all, don’t save gas. Don’t have it sit in your tank. Burn it up. And refuel again by knowing where you’re going, your destination, and your purpose.

In The 10X Rule, I talk about the concept of adding wood to your fire. The person who quits adding wood to their fire and backs off has lost their hunger.

The truth is, so long as you maintain your hunger, there can never be enough wood on your fire, and you’ll never burn out. The same wind that extinguishes a candle extends a brushfire.

Purpose is your wind

A candle can’t stand any wind at all, but a brushfire needs wind. The stronger the wind, the stronger the fire.

So, instead of burning out, start a brushfire or even a bonfire. You need to continue to stoke your fire, and that means more wood, more fuel, and in your case, more actions.

You’ve blown out candles on a birthday cake. Unless they’re trick candles, it takes such a small breath to blow them out. It’s almost effortless.

Why? Because the flame is small; measurably smaller than a brushfire.

So, to avoid “work burnout”, recognize you’re not a candle… and that you just need to create a bigger fire.

Here are 4 reasons a business (and your dreams) get extinguished:

#1 Attacking the wrong problem

Most companies haven’t identified the right problem.

You will hear the economy, competition, regulation, customers, etc., as the problem when one simple thing would have solved all that.

I saw a company once lower price when they should have raised it to increase sales. In your personal life, if you’re attacking the wrong problems, you’ll not see success — and hence, begin to feel burned out.

#2 Unwilling to push to greatness

In many companies, leadership is too soft and tolerates average. They believe that being nice is somehow going to make great people and a great company. Simply being good to your people does not make them happy.

Production makes people happy. If you’re an employee and don’t like your $12 an hour job and you complain about it, you’ll never move into a $25 an hour job.

Average people quit on their dreams because they won’t push themselves.

#3 Focusing on saving and shortages

Show me how to make money, not how to save it. Businesses were built to create income, not based on how much money they can save.

Whenever a business begins to retreat, it will sooner or later be extinguished. If you want to avoid work burnout, stop focusing on saving $100 and see how you can create $100,000.

#4 Not getting inspired daily

All organizations should have daily short meetings telling the staff about what is happening, what the company is doing well and how they are succeeding. Otherwise, your teams will become distracted.

In your life, you need to find 100 ways to stay motivated. The motivation you got yesterday won’t carry into today. You have to renew it each morning.

So, now what?

You could be feeling like you’re burned out with your money, your job, or a relationship.

I’m not perfect — I’ve been in all those places. I want to help you get this sorted out because, at different places in life, you will start to feel like you’re burning out.

So, I want you to remember this:

Purpose is your fuel. If you want to start a brushfire that could grow to a bonfire so big it’ll never go out, catch the wind of your purpose.

And remember, the smaller the flame, the easier it is to blow out.

That’s why you need big goals and 10X actions.

If you have purpose, more action will not burn you out. It will only fan the flame.

Be Great,

Grant Cardone

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