[SPEAKER_00]: You deserve more than feeling constantly fried to a crisp.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Fried, the burnout podcast, where you get the understanding, the community, and the information you need to end burnout for good.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm your host Kate Dunovan, and all of my work focuses on hashtag ending burnout culture.

[SPEAKER_00]: Outside the pod, you'll find me on stages at conferences, giving keynotes, in offices providing corporate trainings, doing virtual VIP one-on-one work, or supporting our group program on Friday that is run by my right-hand woman Sarah Vosin.

[SPEAKER_00]: Both Sarah and I have been through burnout and came out stronger, happier and more fulfilled.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we want that post burnout growth for you too.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I'd fam, today we're going to do something fun and we're going to do a burnout recovery exercise that you can do right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might not want to, but you probably should.

[SPEAKER_00]: It works in a lot of different situations.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought I had done an episode on this a long time ago and somebody asked a question recently in the Facebook group.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought, oh my goodness, I'm just going to send you this episode and then you'll be able to follow the instructions and you'll be ready to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: This will be so helpful for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This exercise is most helpful when you are at the crux of making some sort of decision and your frozen.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're not sure what to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's called the worst case scenario exercise.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've shared it on different podcasts before in various places, just none so specifically as just an entire episode of here's an exercise for you to do like let's get going.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you ready?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wrote it out for myself, so I don't forget any parts.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you are burnt out, decisions can be super hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it feels like every decision is the worst one, no matter what you do, something's gonna go sideways.

[SPEAKER_00]: You lose a lot of self trust when you're burnt out, you lose a lot of self confidence when you're burnt out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you and your decision-making powers are diminished because of the loss of cells in the front of your brain and your prefrontal cortex.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's normal that you feel a little hesitant to move forward in this way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, these are real fears.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that they're not real.

[SPEAKER_00]: And burnout makes them feel deeper and stronger and bigger than they are.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you want to imagine how you feel, it's real.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to do something with it so that you can move forward so that it doesn't keep you stuck.

[SPEAKER_00]: I know you've heard the statement the way out is through and that statement can be really annoying, but in this scenario it's super true.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I started using the worst case scenario work when I was still doing fertility acupuncture in Warsaw in the twenty-tens.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most women were so afraid to have hope that things would work, that they would end up pregnant, that they would end up having a baby.

[SPEAKER_00]: And at the same time, we're super nervous about bringing negative energy to the process.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they were stuck between not wanting to let themselves hope too strongly and not wanting to be negative because they thought they would block their own success.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they were stuck between these two extremes, and that was causing more stress than the process itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: So instead of waiting in it and sitting in the mug, the way out was through.

[SPEAKER_00]: Often when we make our true fears, clearly known stated in written, we can make a plan to manage them and they're accompanying emotions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what that might look like.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're on the edge of accepting a new job after a burnout leave.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are nervous AF.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're afraid you won't be able to work the full amount of hours or that you'll have a crappy boss.

[SPEAKER_00]: You aren't sure if you'll get along with the people.

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't know if you can handle the commute.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you're afraid if you don't take the job, you won't have enough money to survive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you need that damn health insurance if you're in the US.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's play worst case scenario.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the exercise.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't usually do episodes while I'm chewing gum, but here we are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Step one in the worst case scenario is lay out the worst case for both options of your choosing matter in front of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or if you're in a situation where you're like, this is my only way forward, lay out the worst case scenario for that way forward.

[SPEAKER_00]: In this scenario, situation a worst case scenario, a is you take the job, it's toxic and abusive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you stay in the job, you'll definitely burn out again or worse.

[SPEAKER_00]: This job could land you in the hospital.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'll be destitute and sick.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pretty shitty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Option B, you don't take the job, but then you're without work for the rest of your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: And again, your destiny, maybe not ill, but destiny too.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when we are going through the worst case scenario, [SPEAKER_00]: Once we start writing them out, we start to see how extreme they seem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most of the time we are afraid of being destitute or ill or dead, if we're honest, like those are the big fears that keep coming up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So be honest and don't feel like you're exaggerating because whatever thing you're writing that seems like this big extreme that's probably the true fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: And knowing that will help you work through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So write it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Step two is that if this happens, step [SPEAKER_00]: So, if these scenarios did happen, what would you do?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you start to engage your prefrontal cortex as best you can when your brain is burned out.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you might ask friends for support and help so that they know that what they can do and how they can support you.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you look around for skills or resources to turn to.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you look for people.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you go to community resources that might be able to provide some direction.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is when you search for podcasts that might give you some solutions and some things to try to figure your way out.

[SPEAKER_00]: What books might you read, what authors might you follow, and a skill you would uplevel, if this happens, what would you do or what could you do?

[SPEAKER_00]: If I end up in this worst case scenario, what are my paths out, what resources could I tap into, what is possible from that place of sickness illness destitution?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's there?

[SPEAKER_00]: Once you start writing that out, and you have to write it out, [SPEAKER_00]: There's a step two B.

And step two B is find the actual resources that you'll need.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right out a list of the names of people you might be able to.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't matter if you think that they'll help or not.

[SPEAKER_00]: People that you might be able to reach out to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make a list of their names, phone numbers, emails, however it is that you'd contact them.

[SPEAKER_00]: These might be people you know well.

[SPEAKER_00]: They might be weak ties in your community either way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you have them listed somewhere.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make sure you look into your local library.

[SPEAKER_00]: What resources does your local library have for bankruptcy and learning new skills and figuring out how to finance health issues or patient getting a patient advocate or you would not believe how powerful [SPEAKER_00]: your local librarian is at finding resources.

[SPEAKER_00]: Librarians are like the secret superheroes of the world that no one seems to talk about, but they are magical and can help you find resources for so many things.

[SPEAKER_00]: Books, podcasts, people, programs, grants, funds, all sorts of things.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's really normal to get to this stage and say, I don't have any real support.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not close to my family.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't have any people that will help me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I need you to leave that story behind for the purpose of this exercise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look up local or online based nonprofits in your area, find Facebook communities, follow TikTok accounts.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are in a time of non-stop resources.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is someone out there providing you with information [SPEAKER_00]: typically for free like this podcast that you can use to move forward on a plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to find the actual resources you can use and write them down, not the ones I said here, look up your local library, call your library and say, hey, if I ended up in bankruptcy, would you be able to help me figure out what to do and who to talk to or just actually figure it out, take some weird action in this step so that you know that resources exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you do this, [SPEAKER_00]: What happens is you create a safety net for yourself that is not inherent in our culture and in our country in the United States.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some places have more of a safety net than others.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have a big one here.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when you start to realize that there are things, they're just not necessarily federally funded.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are nonprofits.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are in different areas and different from different people.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there are so many resources.

[SPEAKER_00]: And once you start to tap into them, look for them, find them.

[SPEAKER_00]: You start to build this safety net underneath you that starts to rebuild yourself trust and confidence that says, no matter what happens, I'm going to find a way through.

[SPEAKER_00]: and this diminishes your fear.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then you can start to get more clear on which decision is the right one for you outside of the big fears.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me go to step number three.

[SPEAKER_00]: Step number three is right out a real plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to write out clearly what you will actually do if you become ill in destitute or just destitute or whatever happened in your worst case scenario.

[SPEAKER_00]: What we actually do right out an actual game plan, make it really clear, make it in bullet points in a list, use links to websites and phone numbers and all sorts of things, put it down on paper.

[SPEAKER_00]: or in your computer, Google Doc is fine.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it doesn't matter to me if you ever use this.

[SPEAKER_00]: The knowing that it exists is what allows you the freedom to make the aligned choice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Last step, step four.

[SPEAKER_00]: right out alternate possibilities.

[SPEAKER_00]: If the worst case scenario doesn't happen, what else is possible?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now that you've gotten the worst case scenario out of the way, they'll be room for some more.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not positive thinking just for the sake of toxic positivity, but for looking at, what's actually possible?

[SPEAKER_00]: What could happen?

[SPEAKER_00]: Right down as many as you have the energy for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of them will still be kind of shitty.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'll take this job, it'll be semi-ok.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll make enough money, but I won't love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's an option.

[SPEAKER_00]: But also, it might be you take a new job and you find support in a role like you've never had before.

[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't know a boss or a company like this could exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: You went through one fried and you're feeling super good about your boundaries.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you're not working after hours and you broke the habit of being the good one who's always available.

[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't know work like this could exist.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yay!

[SPEAKER_00]: like keep digging through options.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it said maybe you write down, you don't take the job because you know it's not right for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: You just know it and you know that you'll never truly get to destitute because you take some sort of basic job just to get by if you had to and learn to lean on the resources in your community to find something better or just chill in a simple job and love it in like live your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then out of the blue, a recruiter calls you with a better option.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy moly, thank God you held out and didn't say yes to that job.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is an alternate scenario that could also be true.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want you to write three or four or ten scenarios and start to realize that all of them are possible and no matter what happens, you are going to figure it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might need to pivot again.

[SPEAKER_00]: You might need to shift again, but you have resources and people and things in place to support you and guide you and get you through.

[SPEAKER_00]: The worst case scenario should help you highlight resources that you aren't paying attention to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Open your eyes to possibilities and remind you of just how capable you really are.

[SPEAKER_00]: Try it fam.

[SPEAKER_00]: use this exercise when you're feeling stuck when you feel like you can't make a decision when you feel like you're not sure what to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dive into the worst case scenario.

[SPEAKER_00]: Grant yourself from some perspective and give yourself the freedom to make a choice that truly aligns with who you are and what you want and not just what you think you need based on the commands of the world at large.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time.