Avoid burnout in 2026

Jason · 00:00Welcome to another episode of the Numbers game. I'm Jace. I'm here with Nick. Since we have no Marty anymore, the budget for other things has gone up. Nick, 2026, welcome to the show. How you going?

Nick · 00:19Look really well. Sad not to have Marty here, but stoked. I am charged, mate. I'm ready. I'm fired up. Tommy the producer's got a tighter rein on us, so should be a bigger and better show this year.

Jason · 01:03It is the end of January 2026 and there's so much energy around New Year's, people going alcohol free, dry January, kickstarting the year with lots of energy. But Nick, today you want to chat around that phenomenon of new year, new me, and what happens.

Nick · 01:41Exactly that. You come back super energised, you've got all these goals, whether they're business or personal, supercharged. And then throughout the year you just follow these patterns that you follow all the time. And then before you know it it's December and you're limping to the line. I started back at work on the 12th of Jan, three-week break, fired up. We're now towards the end of Jan, two weeks in, and you're already feeling a little bit of a lag.

Jason · 02:49There's probably so many people at home nodding going, yep, that's exactly how I was feeling. First couple of weeks back it's let's go, I'm fresh, recharged. And man, that drops off pretty quick.

Nick · 03:02Drops off quick. And then you think, oh Easter's coming, I'm gonna get another break at Easter, so I'm just gonna push through to Easter. Then winter, you've got a long six months ahead. Then spring's busy, Melbourne Cup Carnival, and I get to the end of spring absolutely spent, limping to December. I put it down to being busier. The busier you are, the quicker the time goes because you've got more time, more things to do.

Nick · 04:25We see it a lot in the financial planning business. Our busiest time is January because new year resolutions that weren't ticked off two or three years ago, people come back with renewed energy, but then they won't do anything and two years later they come back. So I've been reflecting on how to change that pattern this year.

Jason · 05:00Absolutely resonate with the majority of it. In accounting land you get through Feb, March is busy, FBT year end, April hits tax planning. By April, May, June you're doing the year-end lodgements. It's the same cycle, and often there's an intention to change it but it's the natural thing to fall back into that pattern, just rinse and repeat.

Nick · 06:14I'm not sitting here saying I have the answers. It's all about getting away from being motivated and having sustained energy. Particularly as you get older, I'm 43, the biggest change I noticed was 40 onwards in energy. It's not about running through brick walls all year, you need a sustained level of energy. And if I don't have good energy as a leader in our business, how does that impact the wider staff? If I come home with no energy, what am I giving to my family?

Jason · 07:40One thing I'd like to change is overcommitment. I say yes to everything and then try and figure it out later. And you said you started saying no to things that didn't serve you or weren't worth your energy. Definitely going to take that on board.

Nick · 08:36The thing I had to do first is you have to accept where you're at. You have to reflect and own your current position. Own the fact that I am tired, I was going to do this and I didn't. Because if you don't accept that, you can't commit to making the changes. Am I wired, am I coasting, am I just going through the motions, or am I burnt out?

Jason · 09:21Most people just go to making plans for the year without stopping and reflecting. Burnout's a real thing that maybe goes unnoticed for people that have come back from holidays. They're feeling refreshed after a couple of weeks off, then burnout creeps back in. You can't ignore it because you're not stopping to reflect.

Nick · 10:12For me it was overcommitting, not having any real breaks where you switch off, the constant on mode. And setting annual goals that are so far away. So I've got an annual goal, why don't I bring it back to quarterly? When you tick one off, you're motivated to tick the next one off. And one thing I've done this year, anything I want to get done that day, I come into work and write it on a bit of paper. Old school, with a pen. I put a line through each task as I do them, and it motivates me.

Jason · 12:09If you're not doing that, you get an email, a Slack message, a phone call, and very quickly you're taken away from the most important things you should have achieved that day, because you let other people put their problems onto you. All morning I was reacting to a message from someone calling in sick, and I didn't get any of the main things I wanted to achieve before I came here today.

Nick · 12:56The biggest thing for me is the momentum it creates. The feeling you get when you put a line through one of those tasks gives you momentum. It's the same in financial planning: clients come up with a plan, come back in a year and see they've ticked off year one, and it creates this motivation, this momentum, and they double down. Same as saving, you see an interest payment come in and think, I'm gonna save more next month.

Nick · 15:07Tony Robbins was on Diary of a CEO and said something that resonated. Well-being and putting yourself first, creating space for yourself, has been done to death, and that doesn't necessarily fill his cup. What fills his cup is giving back and helping people. Most people get the most joy out of life when they can help someone and put them in a better position. So maybe I implement quarterly activities where I'm actually helping people.

Jason · 16:39A lot of high performers don't get energy from rest, they get it from contribution. I've done a cold plunge every week for three years and now it's just part of the routine. But the last two days I spent in Xero's head office giving back, working with the Xero team, telling them what was right and wrong with the product. I walked out going, I've made a difference today. That fills my cup more than a 30 minute meditation.

Nick · 18:18He's a great example of me putting things off. When I turned 40 I said I was going to get my blood work done, and I've put it off for two years. Not because I didn't want to, I just thought I'll get it done at some stage during the year. This year it's gotta be done by the first quarter.

Nick · 19:10I've been rethinking the annual sprint, mapping out when I'm going to have breaks. My proposed pattern: come back in January recharged, a mini break in March, three to four days away. A decent reset at Easter, a longer break in July because Melbourne's cold, another mini break in September, then a proper shutdown in January. And time your breaks to make sense for your industry.

Nick · 22:59People might say I've only got four weeks annual leave. My argument is I'm better off taking five or six weeks and being super productive when I'm present at work. That's something you can negotiate with your employer in today's day and age, as long as you're performing.

Jason · 23:50Right now, very intentional rather than reactive. Don't wait for overwhelm or burnout, put these things in place right now so you've got that carrot dangled. Breaking up the year with intent sets you up very differently to just going through a year that's rinse and repeat.

Nick · 25:51What it is for a lot of people is big promises and big intentions in January and then a really long 11 months. I'm not saying this is the way to do it, this is just what I'm going to try. You need to continue to try things and see what works for you.