The Proffitt Podcast
Are you thinking about starting a podcast? Launching a YouTube channel? Repurposing your old blog content into something fresh? Hi, I'm Krystal - host of "The Proffitt Podcast." And I'm happy to say you've come to the right place!
Business owners and content creators dream of building a platform where they can connect deeply with their audience, and marketing feels easy. But I also know what it's like to feel confused and overwhelmed.
Join us weekly as we strip down those processes and remove all the overwhelm with new tips, simple strategies, and great conversations with creators like you. Tune in to hear how I help creators start, launch, and market their content confidently. The motto here is, "We all have to start somewhere."
The Proffitt Podcast
Overcoming Burnout: Balancing Creativity and Self-Care
Sydnea Lewis, renowned creative strategist, and yoga teacher, joins us in unraveling the mysteries of burnout and learning how to triumph over it with grace. She shares her transformative yoga journey and how it became a cornerstone for redefining success beyond the relentless hustle culture. Get ready to discover how embracing curiosity and unexpected conversations can lead to enlightening insights and a healthier mindset. This episode is your guide to balancing productivity with self-care, offering firsthand experiences and practical strategies to navigate the pressures of constant output without compromising well-being.
Through our discussion, you’ll learn the art of setting boundaries between work and personal life, especially crucial for entrepreneurs. Hear about how a memorable trip to Disney World taught me the importance of preparation and honest client communication to truly disconnect and recharge. Sydnea and I also explore time management strategies like personal time audits and time blocking, which are instrumental in enhancing productivity and reducing overwhelm. Whether you're a creative freelancer or a business owner, these insights are tailored to help you maintain balance and achieve your professional goals while staying grounded.
Finally, we explore the nuances of brand strategy with Sydneaa as she shares her passion for helping clients refine their messaging and connect authentically with their audience. We touch upon the challenges of podcasting, perfectionism, and the significance of addressing burnout within our community. Join us as we offer inspiration and encouragement to build a sustainable, balanced lifestyle, and remember—it's about finding joy in both the expected and unexpected paths life takes us on.
Click the "Send Krystal a Text Message" link above to send us your questions, comments, and feedback on the show! (Pssst...we'll do giveaways in upcoming episodes so make sure you leave your name & podcast title.)
Looking for a podcast community that supports you on your journey? Check out Podcasters Connect today.
What comes to mind whenever I say the word burnout. Did your shoulders just tense up a little bit? Did you just like raise your hand, like instinctually, and think, oh, that's me, that's where I'm at today? Well, if that's you, or if you're on the edge of burnout, or maybe you know someone who could benefit from advice to avoid burnout, you're going to love today's discussion, because not only are we going deep on what burnout is and different formats and I mean I'm going to go ahead and share a little bit of my own experiences as well but we actually have an expert who has dedicated time and energy and so much of her resources to helping people avoid burnout. So Sidneya Lewis, who I am so blessed to have met in person at Craft and Commerce earlier this year, is a trusted expert and educator for creative freelancers and entrepreneurs. Blending 12 years of entrepreneurship as a creative strategist and yoga teacher, sidneya helps overwhelmed creative freelancers launch and run their businesses without burnout. She believes that we can redefine what it means to hustle and grind, but creative freelancers don't have to subscribe to be struggling and starving artists. And this conversation we went so many directions that I was not anticipating and I'm so grateful that we did, and this is just a quick shout out to all of you podcasters that are trying to find guests for your show or maybe you're trying to become a better interviewer or you're trying to really tap into that special something that you get whenever you have a guest. All I have to say is today's conversation is a perfect example of just let the conversation go and you never know what kind of magical places you'll land whenever you just embrace your curiosity and the things that your audience really wants to know about. So I hope that we landed on some of these important topics for you today.
Speaker 1:But let's get right to it. Welcome to the Profit Podcast, where we teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm teach you how to start, launch and market your content with confidence. I'm your host, crystal Profit, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today, because if you've been trying to figure out the world of content creation, this is the show that will help be your time-saving shortcut. So let's get right to it, shall we it? Shall we All? Right, profit Podcast listeners, we have a special guest on the show today, so welcome to the show, sinead.
Speaker 2:How are you? I'm great. I'm really grateful to be here. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I'm so excited to chat with you. We were just talking before we started recording. We have such a juicy topic today that everyone has experienced, so but before I get there, tell us a little bit about you and all the different things that you do, because you're, I mean, we. The first thing we talked about is your multi-hyphenate, like you do so many things, so tell us all about them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so now when I introduce myself, I literally just say I do a lot right, so I have lots of passion. So I am a brand designer and strategist, so I help clients get their visuals, you know, through branding websites and marketing clarity. I am a yoga teacher, so moving constantly, and I'm also a professor teaching students how to improve graphic design as well as a business of entrepreneurship business of design too.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, and how long have you been doing all of these things? Are any of those like a newer thing, or have you been doing them for a while?
Speaker 2:I mean at this point. So I started with the design and graphics. I started that in school, so I knew I didn't want to work for anyone. So that's been 12 years. Now. 12 years Yoga. I've been teaching yoga for almost nine years and then I've been a professor, for this will be my full third year, so that's so, so awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, I love kind of setting the scene for everybody because we haven't really fully teased out. The topic is burnout today. So if you just heard all of that and you're like, oh, but I wonder because I'm someone I picked up yoga about let me see, I've been doing it on a very amateur like. Got a DVD for home instruction probably about a decade ago and I would do it and be like I'm a yoga master, like I mean, obviously, and I never took a class I never. This was all just in the comfort of my home. I'm like I'm amazing at this.
Speaker 1:And then I just stopped doing it for a while and now I've incorporated it back into my lifestyle and I will tell you you know, if anybody's listening, if you've never tried yoga, and you're like I want to do something that's active, I want to work out. It is the best thing for my mental health. Like on top of running or any other kind of like really strenuous exercise, it is the thing I feel like that's been a game changer in my body, craves it Like if I go a week without doing it, I'm like, oh my gosh, I got it. I got to do yoga again. So I'm so curious how did that kind of come into your world and what made you?
Speaker 2:want to not just practice yoga but become a teacher. Well, being a yoga teacher actually kind of fell into my lap. I should say my whole journey has been kind of just like a let's go with it. So, growing up, my mom had a gym, and so I would always like be in the gym, not by choice, but, you know, helping out, right, right. And so when I came to college, I actually started as a Zumba teacher because my mom was like, hey, let's get certified.
Speaker 2:And then, as I was building my design business, I just had a lot of free time too. So I had a friend who was just once hey, can you teach a yoga class for me, kids class? I'd never taught a class before, you know yoga or not, outside of Zumba. And she's like, yeah, it's just like an adult's class, and I never taught that either. But so I just went and it was so hard, but it was so good. Yeah, you know just hearing the children laugh and like, not listen to me. And and I'm like this is amazing, you know she was like well, if you go get certified in children's, I'll give you the contract.
Speaker 2:And then one contract led to the next, and then eventually, because I was teaching in schools, I was able to get my full 200 hour for free. So I went and got that and I started teaching adults and over the course of the nine years I just like wanted to learn more. I started getting trainings every year and just started I was teaching everywhere and so it was just like I said, it kind of fell into my lap and it was like one of the best decisions because it like added that mindfulness piece checking out my body to be able to see like what's going on, you know, and just like thinking about what I'm doing differently, you know, and just letting go of my ego. Really that was big piece.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, my gosh Like. And I can only imagine, because when you know everybody that's listening, they're either a creator, they want to be a creator, or they have an online business and they're trying to figure out, well, how does this whole creator economy, content marketing, how does that play into it? And within that, there are a lot of egos. Let me just tell you, there are some big egos out there. So I love that you mentioned like. For me, yoga is so grounding and I love that we have this like commonality, because it's not something I talk about publicly a lot too, and whenever I saw that you know that's one of your specialties and one of the things that you do, I was like, oh, we need to have a chat, because I mean, if that's the only thing you get out of today's episode is you need to add some yoga in your life. I feel like we've done our job, like we've done a really good job.
Speaker 2:It's so important, like we've done a really good job.
Speaker 2:It's so important. I think, when you're talking about burnout, like, I think, had I not been a yoga teacher right and really understanding and studying the concepts, and like the mindfulness aspect, I think where I'm at today would probably look a little bit different, if not a lot Right To be able to be mindful of all the things that I do in a way that like, okay, is this supporting me? Do I need to take a break? Do I need to step back? Am I experiencing something in my body that does not feel good? Is it time for rest? And I think for me, as I teach my students, we have to listen to our body at all times Because, at the end of the day, if I'm not at 100% or if I'm not mindful, then I can't be that to other people in whatever capacity.
Speaker 1:That is mindful then I can't be that to other people, in whatever capacity that is. Yeah, I mean, can you share? I mean we talked about this earlier that my audience, they love personal stories or they love stories of you know, just realness, because we're sitting here. Yes, we have both accomplished some incredible things in our journeys, but at the end of the day, like we're human and we all experience burnout to varying degrees. So I'm just curious if you have any examples of in your journey, maybe even early in your journey, because there's some people that are just starting out and they're overwhelmed with all the things that they could do to run their online business or create a podcast or start something, and they're just really feeling that. So do you have like a special message for them or a story that you could share?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So when I first started you know, I came 12 years ago looks a lot, a little different than what it looks like now in terms of being a graphic designer and going to do the work right. It was a lot of hustle, hustle, hustle like, go, you don't sleep, like you, just, you just did, you just worked and try to find as much as many clients as possible. And in that mind space for me, what I started, I started getting sick, you know, a cold would last a little bit longer, or a cough would be a little bit longer. And until I had to realize, like what is going on in my body and it's even before yoga, right, I'm like what is what's happening right now that I cannot be functional enough to take, take, do my, do my work. Is this hustling that I'm trying to do? Is it really healthy for me, you know? So I had to kind of like take a step back and like how can I still, how can I still thrive in my business but still put myself first? And the funny part is is that when I once I realized like me, once I realized like, okay, my burnout looks like sickness, I learned how to because I still hadn't really clicked that hustle mindset, yet I learned how to navigate around that Right, and so then, what happens, though, is okay. Your body's like, hey, well, sick doesn't work anymore, what do you need to do now?
Speaker 2:So, eventually, it came to just me being tired all the time. I would go to sleep and I just work wouldn't get done, you know. I just couldn't, physically could not do it. So, even like today, like these days, my body can still recognize it. You know, two weeks ago actually, yeah, two weeks ago I had been working every day. I was supposed to take a Saturday off and just like, hey, pause, pause, you know, take the break, but I didn't. So, sunday morning, I got up, I taught a yoga class, and I came back and I was like I want to do some little, just a little bit of work, just a little bit of work. I was so tired, I got in bed for an hour, I slept the whole day, and what's the interesting part was that every time I got up to use the bathroom, my body felt so heavy.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, and that mindset that I had previously, like in that hustle mindset, I really beat myself up over oh my God, you're not working. To work, like, yes, sunday, but so where it, like you know, I remember at one point I was told, like McDonald's is open every day, you need to be open every day as well. No, so now, these days, like that, two weeks ago, it was just like giving yourself the grace. You need to take the break, you know you've been working, you know you were traveling, you've been working. It's okay to just pause and like be enjoy the pause. You've been, you were traveling, you've been working. It's OK to to just pause and like be enjoy the pause.
Speaker 2:You know, and coming off of that, like that, so that Sunday off the next week was great, you know. But I think for me, like I said, really putting away that ego and recognizing it first, because sometimes it's hard to recognize, like, well, someone else is doing you know a little bit more. Someone else is doing, you know, working, but I'm not someone else. We don't know their story. All I know is, right now, my body needs this because if not, it will shut down drastically, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that our bodies have that muscle memory, like you were saying. It's like we can recognize it a lot faster. It's not this like ah, maybe I have this or maybe I just have allergies or something. It's like oh, no, no, no, this is familiar now, like we've been playing this game long enough that we can kind of see it coming. And you have a decision point where it's like okay, are you going to rest or are you going to keep pushing?
Speaker 1:And I'm thinking about the people that are listening right now that are saying, cause I've heard this time and time again they're like well, I have to keep creating content. I have to put things out on Instagram every single day. I have to, you know, put out a podcast episode every week or a YouTube video, or I need to get that blog post out.
Speaker 1:And what's really tricky about, you know, content creation in general and I'd love for you to speak to this is it never ends, right, like there's no end date. Like you don't start a podcast to say, well, unless it's a limited podcast, right, unless it's just 10 episodes and then you're going to take a break and it's seasonal, like, but the majority of the people listening, they're creating and they're, and in their minds it's just it's not going to end. So how do you really balance that need that? You know that there's always something to do right, there's always the next piece of content to create, or the always. There's always, always, always, the next thing, the next thing. How do you balance that with being actually productive and saying, no, I am going to take a break?
Speaker 2:that with being actually productive and saying no, I am going to take a break, yeah. So I think that that's kind of a two parts right, because we have the list of the always productive or I mean always things to do and yet that list never ends and it's constantly growing. And one thing I talk to my students about because I'll talk to them about like time management and whatnot and the fact of the matter is that half the things on our list while it's constantly growing, do we really want to do them? Right, because the likelihood of us really wanting to not or not wanting to do them is why it stays on a list. So long you know something else pops up is on a list so long you know something else pops up. You know, I think for me, this year has really been a case of how honest can I be with?
Speaker 2:myself, Not necessarily for, like other people, right, it's just like, what am I really telling myself? Like, was that self-unconscious part self-conscious part? And is it? Is it in line with what I'm saying? And if it's not, why is that? You know?
Speaker 2:And as far as tackling the list, like I'll write a list, like right now, my list for my list for yesterday had six items on it. One thing I done, and that's okay. The world did not burn, you know, like I'm still here. My clients nobody like broke their business, Like you know. But what I, what I've had to learn too, is add space. I had a lot of space around what I need to do and give myself the time. There used to be a time when I would say, or talk to a client, hey, I get this to you tonight, knowing I had three other things to do, and that was a case of me trying to please them. Look good, you know that goes back to the ego. So now it's just okay. Well, so now it's just okay. Well, you need this done, Maybe not today, but within 48 hours, you know, letting them know, like communicating to, communicating to who needs to be communicated to, and just being honest about my time and actually follow through on that, rather than give you a time and not follow through at all, you know.
Speaker 2:And then, as far as content, I have not posted on my social page the stories I commit, the um, and quite some time right and in the top of the year, all right. Last year, going into new year, I was like posting every day. I was in the challenge. So once I really started rebuilding it, I was miserable. Every day it's like I have to post now, what am I going to post today? And my coach was just like do you enjoy this? I was like no. She was like then why are you doing it? You know? And at the time I told her I was like well, I want to build authority in what I'm talking about. And she was like you're using social media to build authority. And I'm like well, why don't you put it that way?
Speaker 1:You know, You've got to love coaches, right, right, no.
Speaker 2:That conversation was everything, but what we discovered instead it's like well, I do like to talk to my stories, I'm talking to my friends and we're just talking about the busyness of my life or what's going on behind the scenes, like as if it's a conversation, you know, and that's lighter for me in this moment than having to sit down and try and plan out a grid, you know. And so when I then have the space to do the grid or do the posts, to be consistent at it, then that's another conversation, you know. So for me, again, it goes to what am I actually wanting to do? That I can do for a little bit, because, yeah, once you start posting, you want to be consistent at it, like whatever your schedule is going to be. But you know, it's also, it's more than just posting, it's what's the quality of your post? You know, because at some point you can only get away with, you know, post to post for so long before it's like, hey, what are we really talking about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that. Well, first of all, I just I love the honesty here because I, as soon as you said like, oh, you know, I had six things and I did one thing, I'm like yes and yes, and I have found myself I use Asana for all my time management, like project management stuff. There is three tasks right now off the top of my head that I can tell you that I have moved at least once a month where I'm just like, nah, that's not going to happen this month, so I'll just throw it to the next month. I don't even look at what date it is, I'm just like, nope, it's not going to happen and I know it's not going to happen for the next few weeks, I'll just throw it to the next month. But in reality it makes me see like, oh, maybe I don't need to do this. Like maybe I just don't need to do it, or I need to have someone else do this for me that maybe actually enjoys doing it. Like this is a sign to myself. Like there's a reason why you're pushing it out. You don't enjoy it, or you know it's, it's too time consuming, or you just confused, you don't know how to do it and that's okay.
Speaker 1:Like, I think that being honest about it is like half, half the struggle, and I think about people that have burned out, like in the content space or the online marketing space or digital core space that I've been following for a few years, and the one thing that is so, so common when they come back is boundaries. And I'm curious do you have any experience with setting boundaries? Or do you have any recommendations for someone that's like oh yeah, I have no boundaries right now, people are calling me all the time or they're texting me. I have clients that are like overstepping boundaries, or maybe family members, but do you have any experience with boundaries that you can share?
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, I do.
Speaker 2:Oh yes, now we're in a therapy session that again, like this year, like, along with the, the honesty, like boundaries, has really been my, my thing. So I am a I like to put it a like a recovered people pleaser. Right, where boundaries? Just I would start a project and like set the boundaries, but then, once we're in the swing of things and just feeling good and because I don't want to disappoint them, oh yeah, I'll take the call at 10 o'clock at night time. Oh, don't worry about it. I know I'm out right now on the weekend, but as soon as I get home or let me just see what I can do on my phone they had to stop Again.
Speaker 2:Another coach was essentially was like listen, you're running a business, you're running a business, so you have to treat it like a business. You have to operate as a business. And, mind you, this is me 12 years in business, you know, and sometimes you just need that reminder. So what I had to do was start setting the boundaries and boundaries as in with myself first. So if I say I'm going to not look at my phone or not look at my computer after a certain time, not looking at my computer at a certain time, it's hard, it's not, it's. It's so hard a certain time. It's hard, it's not, it's so hard. I'm so used to picking up my phone first thing. I text my emails and who do I need to respond to? Right, but start there, then from there communicating this. So this year I have been traveling without working. I may bring the computer, but I've not opened it up.
Speaker 1:I was going to say how's that work for you? I want to hear.
Speaker 2:It has been great. But I set everything up well in advance. So I'm telling my clients the last trip I did was me and my sister went to Disney World two big kids running around the park and I knew, because of how we were planning our days, there would be no early morning work, pm work, no, I've done that before and it was miserable. I told my clients, hey, I'm going to be out of town from these days. I need this by this date. These are the last cutoff days. I will not respond to you.
Speaker 2:And when I was going, I did have some clients respond, sending emails, but I said, no, I'm not responding. You know and you know. So, yeah, I did check the email. I didn't respond. But you know, just for that, like it made their work didn't respond, but you know, just for for that, like it made their work didn't stop, especially with my marketing clients, their posts still went out. You know, websites were fine. You know what they needed to do was great for them and it was all taken care of. But it was taken care of in advance so that I could really take the break, you know, and it was just so pleasant, you know, and it was just so pleasant and I just it was just so pleasant. And it's in stark contrast because we did Disney in February also.
Speaker 2:I worked around the clock, early morning pm, early morning pm, now, mind you, early morning doing work, walking a park for 10 hours doing work. As soon as I got, like literally I would, I would be getting to the house, I'm on a computer and I had the thought I'm like this is not why I started a business. Yeah, you know, and for the longest I did, you know, I did do the traveling and working. I'm like finally, no, I can't, I don't want to do this anymore. Yeah, but what do I need to do so that my business does not stop? You know, I have clients so that everybody is supported and I can still enjoy my time. They're not stressed out, you know. So, just really, it comes back to communication, being honest with myself and then being honest with them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean I, in hearing your story, I just imagined three of my friends that are in that exact Disney scenario of they were still working or they were still answering questions. They're waiting in line and like, oh, I just got to respond back to somebody, or they think that they're going to, you know, cure cancer or like solve the world's problems from a line at Disney World from their phone, and I'm like, oh, my gosh, like I'm so grateful that you shared your message because, again, it's so honest and it's not like it's. This is a universal problem, especially because we all have smartphones, we all have access to work from anywhere and be able to do all these incredible things, but it doesn't mean that we should. You know, 24, 7, 365. And I love that. You have found how that works for you. And I think that the scariest part of it is doing it the very first time, like in holding yourself accountable to like okay, you know, I put up the boundary, I communicated that, it's all there. Now I just have to do it Now.
Speaker 1:I just have to make sure that I'm not like stepping over my own boundary right. It's not even about other people half the time. It's about us kind of letting ourselves down and saying, no, but this is an emergency, and it's like no, it's their emergency, it's not my emergency, it's their. In their mind, it's their emergency. But I did what was requested and I'm taking a step back and honoring my own boundary and I think that it's scary. But man, when it works and you do it and you're successful and upholding those, you're like oh, this is how people like this is the people that enjoy their lives. Like that's what I have felt. It's like I've made it, I've made it.
Speaker 2:And even like, even outside of, like, traveling. It can be as simple as just me on the weekend, me deciding to take the day off. You know, I've had it where I've had a client, where we've approved a website, it's good to go. And then, Friday five o'clock oh hey, we had the wrong text or we had an error here on our part. My computer's closed. I will respond. I'm telling myself this. Tell myself you will respond on Monday.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:They will be okay and in the weekend they were okay, you know, and I think for me it was really a case of again like not wanting to lose the client and not wanting to, again not wanting to look bad. But what I found is that your people are your people and I honestly wouldn't want to work with anybody who couldn't understand boundaries. Anyway, yeah, you know, because I want you want to be taking care of yourself too, you know, or even be open to learning, like more about that, like how can we learn from each other? But you know, like I said, I've never had it go drastically. Where it's an explosion, like emergencies, tend to disappear when when the laptop's closed.
Speaker 1:We need to put that on a shirt. Emergencies go away when my out of office is on, I don't know what happens.
Speaker 2:There was a time in life before computers like at home computers, I think about all the time like what, 30 years ago, you know where people would go to work. And then you come home, yeah, and you didn't have a phone at home, you went to work. You know, I think I had watched a show on um apple. What is it like where the guy like, when you're in the office, you, you're like a second person it's a really severance severance.
Speaker 1:I haven't seen it yet. I was like I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2:No spoilers, but go ahead. You know you're not going to call somebody. Hey, did you see my email last night? No, I don't have a computer at home. What are you talking about? You know, so internet is great and devices are great, but also, the world is much, much smaller. Everybody thinks we're supposed to be connected all the time, and is that healthy?
Speaker 1:that's the question yeah, and I love how you know you talked about it. Sounds like you enjoyed your disney trip so much more the second time when you were able to be present, because I'm just imagining I mean just the whole. You know You're waking up early, you're having your coffee and you're like you're doing like all the things. You're like answering emails frantically, and then you know your sister's like okay, we gotta go, like the the train's leaving, the bus is leaving. You're like no, no, just one second. And then you're like, oh crap, I didn't eat anything or I didn't pack any snacks. And then you're there and the whole time you're there you're worried about your clients. And then you get back and then I mean just walking period for that long is exhausting and they're beaten in the heat. Then you get back to your hotel and you're like you're not at your best.
Speaker 1:I think that's the other piece here is when you're stretched so thin you can't give your all to your family and friends, and you can't give your all to your clients. If you're also like like you're just burning the candle at both ends and that is literally the definition of burning out Like it's just it's gone.
Speaker 1:So when I'm thinking about the audience and the people that are listening to this, there's probably a good majority of people that find themselves in that they're butting up against burnout, Like maybe they haven't fully hit it, because if they did, I would imagine they just shut off all the podcasts. They're not even listening to the podcast anymore. They're like I got to step away, I got to walk away from everything. But let's assume that there's a good chunk of the audience that are like yeah, I want to avoid this completely, or I want to you know, know what signs of burnout are, or I want to make sure that if this does happen to me in the future like what are some tips that you would give to them that could be very practical, and not something that's like something they could do today, like right now, as soon as they're done listening to our conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, the first thing, usually, if I'm feeling burned out or I feel it coming on, the first thing I do is an audit of my time and not a oh, what do I want to do? But what am I actually doing? How much time am I spending on Instagram? How much time am I spending on work, or client work, or emails or meetings, and then from there seeing what needs to shift right, because there may be a time where, like, maybe I'm spending a little bit too much time on Instagram where that could be sleep time right, or it may be realized oh, I'm not a little bit too much time on Instagram where that could be sleep time, right.
Speaker 2:Or it may be realized oh, I'm not spending enough client work time, so I'm stressed out there because I'm not getting as much work done. But on this space I have, you know, some extra time here, you know. So there that goes first, right. And then from there looking at the audit, looking to see what on my list or my schedule is non-negotiables, right. So for me, school just started, so my mornings I'm teaching, I can't do anything, I can't make commitments, you know, which means I have, like my afternoons to do work, whether it's teaching, yoga, or teaching or doing client work, you know, after my classes, then yoga classes that are scheduled are also non-negotiable, right. So then it's like there's steps to this. So after we get understand what we, what we're, what we're doing, we see what's on our schedule and then for the things that can be removed, can they be removed?
Speaker 2:you know, so let's say, let's say I have, um, oh. For example, you know, last week I was telling you that I had the pod, the podcast conference that I signed up to do while also being in the first week of school. I would have liked to go to the conference. You know, I could have fitted in after classes, but also after classes I had some some client work to do. You know, had I gone to the conference, I would have had to wait until after to do the client work, which then eats into my sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sleep for me is a priority you know, so that I can be well rested, you know. So I would say first, yeah, definitely looking at what you're, what you're doing, what can be removed, and then, in terms of getting stuff done, I like to time block it. And getting stuff done, I like to time block it. And I like to say I do work blocks or 90-minute sprints where, if I can get one done and I'm talking about a work block in that everything is on.
Speaker 2:Do not disturb, here's a list of, you know, like maybe the top three I may only get through the one 90 minutes, hit it down, get the work done. Then when I come up it's like, oh, oh, I've gotten the work, I've gotten it done. I feel good for the day. If I can get another 90 minute sprint in, that's great, but if not, I won the day. Yeah, I won the day. You know, give yourself that check, check, and so you. I find that when I do it like that, I get more done in a week than if I were just trying to get everything done. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I love that. You said you know so, time blocking I love, I love to time block. I feel like that's the only reason why I get anything done is because I literally like go and write out like no, this is when I'm going to do these things. And you know, it's the only way that I've found time to work out is like no, it's just blocked in my calendar. It's like no one could do anything during like, you know, family, like nobody is like that's just for me to do 30 minutes and that's all I need is I just need 30 minutes. I don't need five hours, I just need 30 minutes for myself to work out. And then I love the 90 minute.
Speaker 1:You know blocks of just like nothing, like no, no distractions, no checking emails, like nothing that's going to keep me from getting this one thing done. So if you add in, you know, yoga or another type of workout for 30 minutes and a 90 minute block, that's just two hours of a 24 hour day. And I think that when you think about it that way, doesn't that sound more doable? Like I hope everyone's nodding right now. That's like yes, like we can actually do that, like from these tips that you're sharing today, it just doesn't feel so overwhelming, cause when I think about trying to do all the possible things that I could do, I immediately my brain shuts down Like that's too overwhelming, I can't. I can't do that. It's just, it's way too much, it's way too much.
Speaker 2:And then I would also say to the other tip is that when figuring out what to do in a 90 minute sprint, so when we usually create our to do lists, what I used to do, like when I had client stuff, I would just put the client's name right this person, this person, this person do like. When I had client stuff, I would literally just put the client's name right this person, this person, this person, or even like clean up or whatever. That doesn't actually tell me what I'm doing, it just says their name. So people call them different things. I call it the next actionable item, right? So if I have, like a client, say Ashley, ashley on my list, what is Ashley? What am I working on with Ashley? I'm working on a website. Ok, is that the project as a project? So do I need to say I'm building a Web page for her? Ok, that's an action item. Do I can I just go build a page? Well, no, actually I need to confirm I have the text the right content Right.
Speaker 2:So, then, is that the next action item to make sure the content? Well, actually, it's me contacting Ashley to get the content from her, you know.
Speaker 2:So sometimes it's like really breaking it down to the weeds of what do you need to do, like what's the steps, and it's going to go through the list, you know, so that when you have a on your list saying I need to contact Ashley about the, the context for the website is a little bit different to saying Ashley. So it makes it and that's why, like, make that focus period so much easier when that list is written, written down in specifics.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that I mean I love call it agile, call it, you know all the different, like you know project management terms that you want.
Speaker 1:But I love the brain dumping of like okay, like you said, it's like I got to create a page. Okay, but what does that look like? Do you need visuals? Do you need the copy? Do you need a? Who needs to sign off on this?
Speaker 1:So I love it when I mean I'm a list girl. Like let's just be really honest, I'm a list girl. Give me a fun. Like let's make it colorful, let's make it fancy, like I mean, I don't care, it could be literally on a post-it note, but anytime you give me a list, I am that satisfaction of checking it off. I get a dopamine hit every single time. So that's what's even more fun about having like sub categories or some items on one thing, cause I'm like, ooh, I get to check off multiple things. Like okay, we just I just totally nerded out on everybody. But you've said multiple times you know your clients and people that you work with. So can you tell us a little bit about what you do for your clients? Like tell us more about your business and specifically like if you have some examples on some previous clients that you've helped and what that could look like for that someone's that's listening and they're like I want to work more with Sydney and like what could that look like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my, like I said, my, my main client base is around the brand strategy, and so, really, what I focus on really finding clarity, right. So, again, like adding that space for them to be able to better connect with their audiences, and so it's understanding. Do we have the brand visuals that we need to then? Because sometimes we come in like, okay, I want to build a website, and so a lot of people come to me for websites and to either audit their websites or to redo their websites, um, or just brand new websites. But it's like, okay, we want a website, but what's the actual brand that we're trying? Like, what's the message we're trying to get? Because you can have a website that does not convert or does not, or rather that someone goes to. It's like, okay, I don't understand what I'm looking at. Yeah, right, and so I help people really find clarity in their messaging.
Speaker 2:And so I just finished one, an opera house, a couple lectures last week, and their site was very old, it's very outdated, which is fine, you know. I I don't. I, at the end of the day, someone made the effort to put it out there, you know, and it worked for a little bit, but I took it to the 21st century, which we, like this, like to say, and so we just they wanted it to be more modern, right, while still while still using, like their, their logo and everything else is kind of up to me. So, first, what I had to do, like before we even got to the website, was really get clear clear about the message that they're trying to present and who they're trying to present to. Right, because presenting to children is very different than coming to an audience who's looking for, you know, children who want to like music, versus an audience who like, oh, we are philanthropists who want to support the arts, right.
Speaker 2:So we went through a few processes to understand the audience, like doing research, um, and then took that into like a direction, like how do we really want this to look like? Even a little bit more than like a mood board, but really like being able to talk about the site and talk about the company itself, and that transitions to the site, you know, um, and so they were very pleased, very pleased, um, and they're launching their, their, um, new, like their new season, in a couple months, so it's like right on time for them, you know. So I love it. I think that for me, the name of my company is Creative Obsessions, and aptly titled because, like, I think the idea of creative things right, like even like websites or branding or whatnot, it's just someone had to think about them. But then also, how to be connected to the audience. Yeah, right, I tell my students that in design there's art, there's design and they're very interchangeable.
Speaker 2:Yes, but design serves purpose so it's different to create a brand that looks pretty, a website that looks pretty, but if you're not creating something where people are moved to action. We have a really nice art and that's fine and that's what you want.
Speaker 2:But if you were spending money to create a site like we want them to be able to do something, but that goes into clarity, right, the clarity strategy of then having how do we market this? So it was a runabout way of saying I create websites and I create brands and I help people find clarity, Like it's just. It just brings me joy.
Speaker 1:Oh, I mean, and I can tell, like this is what's so fun about like finding people. You know, it's like when people meet me, they're just like, oh my gosh, like you're really obsessed with podcasts. I'm like, yes, and I love to talk to people that are obsessed with at the root of it. I'm obsessed with marketing and I can tell you are too. You know, it's like really making that connection between who a customer is and who the client is or whoever's trying to serve the people that are in the audience. And I just love that. You know you get so giddy talking about it, because I can see your passion and I love it.
Speaker 1:And I mean to round this whole conversation out, this is why I thought it was so important for you to come on and share about burnout today, because it bums me out so much whenever I find that someone has burned out because they got overwhelmed with their content or what they're doing. Because they have a passion, they have a really important message to share and, at the end of the day, that's my mission is to help more people share their message to the specific audience that they're trying to reach. So thank you so much for sharing all about your journey, and can we link to that website that you recently redone, or would we be able to? Okay, we'll link to reach, so thank you so much for sharing all about your journey. And can we link to that website that you recently redone, or would we be able to?
Speaker 1:okay, we'll link to that in the show notes, cause I think that would be fun to see some of your work in action, but I, before we get to like the end of this conversation, I have a few rapid fire questions that I wanted to ask you. So are you ready? I'm ready, okay. So the first one is what piece of advice would you give to a brand new podcaster or content creator?
Speaker 2:I would say that you are right where you need to be, like, yes, it's nice to get inspiration from others, but also the internet is not a real place and it's really easy to to see oh, they're doing this, they're doing this, I'm behind. No, you're getting started, like start. And it's okay. Like your people will find you and you have to believe that right. Like your people will find you, have your space. There's more than enough space for you to do what you want to do.
Speaker 1:I love that. Oh, that's such good advice. Okay, my next one is a two part question. So what is a dream podcast you would love to be on would be oh my God, that's so hard.
Speaker 2:Ok, I think a dream would be. I would like to. Okay, so there's a comedy podcast let's go.
Speaker 1:You gotta share it. We gotta hear this now okay.
Speaker 2:So it's here's the thing, and it's these two comedians, but one comedian come on stage. He has built a like empire right around his children, around his family, and he does all the things and it's been so fascinating to watch right, because he's like the person of busy but still manages. You know, like I'm like this is amazing. You know how to do the things but still take care of yourself and take care of your family, you know. And so like burnout, like what, so I think that would be a nice one to be on, like a lighter, lighter one.
Speaker 1:That's fun. And then, who would you love to interview as a host of a show and you're interviewing a guest?
Speaker 2:well, I mean, I think if we're reaching for the stars, then going for the stars. I want kamala harris. Awesome, you know, someone is literally doing it all and yeah, I think it would be so cool or interesting to interview her to see, like, how she manages it, everything you know, and what that looks like, what her journey has been, you know, and really like kind of get the nitty gritty of like what's the journey been? Yeah, nitty gritty of like what's the journey been? Yeah, but also just how she manages to be vice president while trying to run for another campaign, while, you know, supporting her family and being a woman and like all these other things. I just, yeah, I just find it fascinating when people are just do the things they love, you know and and okay, with all the yeah well, I don't want to make you nervous or anything, but there have been a few that have called it on this podcast and it's happened.
Speaker 1:So I'm just saying, like we put it out into the universe, Like we put it out there, right, Our job is done to put it out there, Okay. My last question is do you consider yourself a perfectionist?
Speaker 2:I am. I was told this last night. I'm a reformed perfectionist. That's what I'm claiming. We talk about it in therapy. It's a different conversation, but I a lot of what I've done has been because of perfectionism, and so I'm claiming that I'm reformed and that I'm working through it. I've worked through it. I really try and embrace the be have to or be do, have right. Who would I want to be? I want to be somebody who is no longer a perfectionist, and so I try and operate in that space so that I can then walk into perfectionism. It's nothing that I struggle with. That's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. I love that. Oh, this has been just such a fun conversation and I already know that we're going to get some DMS and some fan mail like flurries on, like okay, like this episode was so good. So, sydney, I really appreciate everything that you shared today. This was such a beautiful conversation, so where can everybody find more about you and all the fun things that you're up to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you can find it at my website. It's just my name Sine Lewiscom. I'm also on Instagram. I'm Sine S Y D N E, a underscore Deborah D E, b O R I H. I talk about burnout there. I talk about, like I said, what I'm doing, usually my stories about, like I said, what I'm doing usually in my stories.
Speaker 1:I will start posting again, but usually like those between the website and in that Instagram page is kind of the hub of where I kind of hang out. Okay, awesome, and we're gonna link to everything in the show notes. So again, thank you so much for hanging out with us today this was so fun, thank you.
Speaker 1:I mean, wow, wow, wow, right, like we get so many incredible experts on the podcast that share incredible strategies to help you with your podcast and you know you could try this marketing tip or try this. You know, grow and scale your podcast. You hear me, I'm like getting tongue tied on the back end because we've had so many awesome experts. But Sidneya was really special because she was helping us not just with our businesses, not just with our podcast, but also with our lifestyles and our mindset, and I think that that's the foundational pieces that we need to get figured out first before we hustle and grind and like look at all the different strategies that we need to get figured out first before we hustle and grind and look at all the different strategies that we could try in our businesses. We got to take care of ourselves first. So I'm so grateful to have had this conversation and to share it with you today, and she actually has a five-day burnout series that I want you to go try. So this is what she sent over to me. It was, like you know, we were talking about how fantastic this conversation was and she said this is a free five-day email guide that provides actionable strategies to help prevent burnout while building a sustainable business aligned with your personal values. So I'm going to have a link to it in the show notes. I absolutely want you to go check it out, and we also talked about some of the fun things that she had done and some of the pieces in her portfolio. So go to creativeobsessionsco and go check it out and you'll find them there in the portfolio section. But, again, we'll have that linked in the show notes, but that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much again, sidney. This linked in the show notes, but that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much again, sidney.
Speaker 1:This was such an incredible conversation and I think that it's one that we need to continue to talk about. Burnout is real. Burnout has happened to me, it's happened to so many of you, and I think it's one of those things that it can be avoided If you put in boundaries, if you put in, you know really strategic things that can help you be successful, and that's really what I want to see this community do. But that's all I have for you today. So make sure you hit that follow or subscribe button wherever you are listening and, as always, remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.
