Why I’m opting out of more, faster and better — and why you’re allowed to as well
- “Just be more disciplined”
- “Have you tried a better routine?”
-
“Maybe you need a new goal”
What you actually need isn’t another answer, another fix, another approach.
It’s permission.
Permission to stop striving.
Permission to rest without a productivity plan.
Permission to choose enough.
The productivity lie we all swallowed
Somewhere along the way, productivity stopped being a tool and became a moral standard.
Busy became virtuous.
Rest became lazy.
And exhaustion became something to override, not listen to.
We were sold the idea that capacity is infinite — especially if you’re capable, competent and “good at what you do”.
Burnout research tells a very different story.
Psychologist Christina Maslach — whose work underpins much of what we know about burnout — is very clear on this: burnout is not caused by personal weakness or lack of resilience. It’s the result of chronic, unmanaged stress, often in environments that reward over-functioning and ignore human limits.
Yet the solution we’re offered is almost always… more:
- learn another framework
- buy another course
- optimise another habit
- hustle just a bit harder
If you’ve tried all of that and still feel wrecked, it’s not because you didn’t try hard enough.
It’s because the system is broken — not you.
There’s something else Maslach’s work points toward, even if it’s not always named explicitly: burnout thrives when people are treated like output machines rather than humans.
I’ve seen the difference this makes firsthand.
Years ago, one workplace I was in brought in facilitators to run a creativity workshop — not to extract better ideas or improve KPIs, but simply to get us thinking differently together.
We laughed.
We played.
For a moment, the pressure eased and we remembered we were people, not just roles.
Another organisation invested time in teaching us graphic facilitation with Simon Banks. Not because we had to become visual thinkers overnight, but because drawing, listening and making sense of complexity together gave our brains a break from constant performance mode.
None of this was about productivity hacks.
It was about creating space to breathe.
And that matters more than we’re willing to admit.
Taking time to do something creative — especially together — interrupts the stress cycle. It reminds your nervous system that you’re safe, connected, and allowed to exist beyond your output.
In high-pressure environments, that kind of pause isn’t indulgent.
It’s restorative.
Hustle culture doesn’t respect human limits
Hustle culture loves ambition.
What it doesn’t love is a body saying “no”.
It tells us slowing down is risky.
That rest will make us irrelevant.
That if we stop pushing, we’ll fall behind.
Dr Devon Price has written extensively about how hustle culture rewards over-functioning — especially in women — while quietly punishing boundaries, rest and slowness.
The message is subtle but relentless: your value is tied to your output.
But here’s the part no-one selling hustle wants to say out loud:
Rest doesn’t kill ambition.
Chronic depletion does.
If you’ve ever felt your spark disappear — not because you stopped caring, but because you were too tired to access it — that wasn’t a motivation problem.
That was your nervous system doing its job.
And if you’re still trying to out-discipline exhaustion, I want you to hear this clearly:
There is nothing wrong with you.
I’m not anti-growth. I’m pro-enough.
This isn’t about giving up.
And it’s not about doing nothing.
It’s about refusing the constant escalation.
You don’t need:
- a bigger to-do list
- a more optimised morning routine
- another version of yourself that needs fixing.
You might just need enough:
Enough energy to think clearly.
Enough space to notice what actually matters to you now — not five-years ago, not pre-burnout, not pre-everything.
Enough ambition that doesn’t require self-abandonment.
Brené Brown often reminds us that exhaustion doesn’t usually come from doing too much — it comes from doing things that don’t align with our values. When everything is urgent, nothing feels meaningful.
Growth that costs your health isn’t growth.
It’s burnout with nicer branding.
[IMAGE ABOVE: My very fabulous and talented friend and some times colleague, Bianca Dillon, is often my partner in crime at various conferences. We go because they inspire us and feed our souls, NOT because they are adding pressure to our lives. We love to learn, but on our terms and in our time.]
Learning isn’t the problem. Pressure is.
I love learning. As I mentioned at the start of this article, curiosity has always been part of who I am.
But, what I DON'T love is the belief that learning must always be faster, monetised, optimised or immediately turned into output.
Neuroscientist Dr Amishi Jha’s research shows that the brain requires idle space to restore attention, regulate emotion and consolidate learning. Constant input without pause doesn’t make us smarter — it makes us scattered, anxious and fatigued.
Your brain isn’t designed for constant input without pause.
Creativity, clarity and emotional regulation all require space — the very thing hustle culture treats as wasteful.
So no — you don’t need another podcast at 1.25x speed.
You don’t need to consume more content to prove you’re still “growing”.
You don’t need to turn every interest into income.
You’re allowed to learn slowly.
You’re allowed to integrate instead of accumulate.
You’re allowed to be done for a while.
[IMAGE ABOVE: Some times, you just need to open a bottle of wine and get messy creative with mates to truly just kick back and create space... some times, you don't even need to get out of your pyjamas or leave the house!]
A quieter definition of success (for you)
For me, this season is about sustainability.
Working when my body allows it.
Resting when my nervous system asks for it.
Setting boundaries that protect my energy — not just my calendar.
But this isn’t just about me.
If you’re here, chances are you’re questioning the same things:
- why does success feel so heavy?
- why am I exhausted even when I’m “doing everything right”?
- why does slowing down feel rebellious?
Maybe you don’t want more either.
Maybe you don’t want faster.
Maybe you don’t want “better” if better means burning yourself to the ground.
And maybe — just maybe — that doesn’t mean you’re failing.
Choosing enough is not quitting
It’s choosing to stay in your life.
It’s choosing a pace that lets you think, feel, create and rest — without constantly recovering from the last push.
[IMAGE ABOVE: This is 7 year old me. She loved school and learning, and thought she'd rule the world one day. I wonder what she'd think about where she's landed almost 40 years later. I haven't conquered the world but I've made a life to be proud of and I'm learning to accept that is enough.]
As a kid, I kept asking “why” because I wanted to understand the world.
These days, I’m asking a different question:
Why do we keep believing that more is the answer — when so many of us are exhausted, disconnected and quietly unravelling?
You are not behind.
You are not broken.
And you do not need to hustle harder to earn rest, worth or ambition.
If the old rules don’t work for you anymore, you don’t need to force yourself back into them.
You’re allowed to choose enough — and write new rules from there.
If this resonated...
You don’t need to do anything with it.
You don’t need to optimise it, journal it, or turn it into a personal development project.
Maybe just notice where you’re tired of chasing more.
Maybe ask yourself what enough might look like — for this season, not forever.
And if nothing else, take this with you:
You’re allowed to slow down without losing who you are.
Turn your face to the sun and breathe in everything you are and everything you have in this very moment.
Further reading and influences
This piece is informed by the work of researchers and thinkers who challenge hustle culture and reframe burnout as a systems issue, not a personal failing:
- Christina Maslach & Michael Leiter — The Truth About Burnout
- Brené Brown — Atlas of the Heart and Dare to Lead
- Dr Devon Price — Laziness Does Not Exist
- Dr Amishi Jha — Peak Mind
- World Health Organization — Burnout as an occupational phenomenon
Their work consistently reinforces what many of us already feel in our bodies: exhaustion is information, not a flaw.
