Essentialism as a cure for ‘Burner Burnout’
By: Johar Amor
Tags: Balance, Burnout, Essentialism, Goals, Lifestyle

In an era where socio-economic roles are successfully becoming less and less predetermined for a fast-growing “lucky few”, the flip-side is that now everyone is ubiquitously “strongly encouraged” not only to have a successful career and thriving social life but also to be super-fit-and-healthy and an exemplary family person.

Of course it’s now easier than ever to feel overwhelmed!

Or at least in different ways than it used to be. I already wrote about one major type of pressure we’re all under for living in the information age, so this is just another piece of the ginormous equation.

The Four Burners Theory, as best explained in James Clear’s article, is a simple model that breaks down life into the areas implied above:

Work

Friends

Health

Family,

comparing each to a burner on a stove (with a presumably limited total gas flow… must be an old mental model).

It dictates that…

In order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful you have to cut off two.

This sounds brutal, right?

As James illustrates with a couple of his (like my) multiple failed attempts at bypassing the stove’s constraints, though, it’s no news that compromises are an inevitable part of life.

Perhaps, a more productive abstraction for looking at the problem, then, is to think less about which burners combo you want, and more about which type of distribution you want.

Does it best suit your values, character and life goals to dramatically pursue 1–2 areas to world excellence? Or are you the kind of person who, rather than “mediocrity”, sees beauty and wholeness in an even distribution of moderate skill and organic experience?

Only you can answer that for yourself, and it will certainly fluctuate over time. However, there is one thing that could be helpful for all…

Yep, you guessed it.

Essentialism!

As presented by Greg Mckeown in his eponymous book, taglined “the disciplined pursuit of less.” And boy, does it require discipline indeed…

Last time, I said I would be revisiting old books, and so I went and moved a small pile from a bookshelf to my bedside for evening reading. Nonetheless, “life happened” on most of the following days, and I kept coming home feeling mentally tired.

The A-type in me said “read anyway! follow through!” but my newfound essentialist friend inside countered with the higher impulse to let my subconscious mind and physical brain recover (thank goodness or I may have had another burnout).

Every morning, I would invariably feel re-energised by having given myself permission to cultivate my ongoing focus and resources. So, after a week of establishing what mattered most, I said my goodbyes and put the pile back on the shelf.

This is only one of many examples of self-imposed simplicity having recently saved my butt across all four burners.

Without having to count my possessions, meditate daily nor take a year off.

Some others include:

Making a tough call (guess which!) between the health benefits of a clean diet and the psycho-emotional benefits of tasty junk. Sticking to it & streamlining my cooking & shopping — which I don’t particularly enjoy… So I can spend more time on projects! And less on my phone… Although I love my friends, so now we schedule dedicated time.

Homework: Try these or other simple adjustments for a week!

I hope this introduced some useful models to your lovely mind, helped inspire you to make more radical but self-informed choices & ultimately save you precious resources long-term that you can use for whatever you truly care about.

I still definitely recommend reading the book. (Not getting paid to say that!)

Oooor at least the awesome summary on Blinkist, using my 20% discount code! 😉 (OK maybe that one would pay off for both of us.)

See you next time — but only if my content aligns with your essentialist goals!