Big battery, small battery

Avoid burnout with this simple framework

Today’s definition of burnout is really lacking. It suggests we have a single energy store and once it’s depleted, we’ve “burnt out” and need to rest. But it’s unclear what kind of rest, and what burns us out.

After struggling with burnout for years — let’s call it experimentation 😅 — I’ve come up with a model that works better for me: we have two energy stores, and they work together.

• We have a small battery, the one we expend through regular activity and recharge on a daily basis, through sleep and rest — this is our short-term reserve

• We also have a big battery, our long-term reserve — this one drains slowly (months and years), and importantly takes much longer to recharge

The small battery can charge to full with a good night’s sleep (or sometimes a weekend).

But I’ve found that even if I sleep well, exercise well, eat well, all of it, I can still feel tremendous lack of energy and willpower — if I’ve been going at it for too hard and for too long.

That’s why it’s key to realize that one can be full and one can be empty. And that recharging the big battery takes a long time. This is what deep recovery is all about.

Have you ever felt that after a long weekend of doing nothing — your first time really doing nothing in a while — you end up more tired than at the start of it?

That’s because you entered deep recovery, and you started charging your big battery.

This takes time. The body needs continued, uninterrupted time to charge the big battery and a weekend isn’t enough. Your small battery might be full — you’re ready to function again the next day — but you still have an energy debt, so to speak, if you don’t pay it off.

Big battery mechanics

In fact, I’ve found that big battery charges slower the lower percentage it’s at. If you’ve been grinding away and really working yourself to the bottom over several months, where you’re close to collapse and being completely non-functional — let’s say this is ~5% of big battery reserves — then charging back to 25% from that state can take months. Yes, seriously, months. Because you may have done some serious internal damage.

Whereas filling it up from 40% to 60% can be as simple as a week of vacation.

Small battery mechanics

Small battery, on the other hand, can recharge in a night. It even recharges quickly during a nap, letting me keep going for hours.

When the small battery is drained, I can tap into my big battery reserves and keep going in emergency situations. For instance, if I had to stay awake for 24 or even 36 hours, I believe I could, if my big battery was full. But eventually I’d need to recharge the small one.

Examples

Here’s what drains my small battery:

• a long day full of work

• back-to-back meetings

• hard physical work and exercise

• parenting toddlers 😅

• multitasking

• arguing

• noisy and busy places

What charges my small battery:

• sleep

• napping

• relaxing

• did I mention sleep?

What drains my big battery:

• unresolved conflict

• unresolved emotions

• responsibility and pressure

• fear

• big, unclear goals that are never met

• office politics

• never taking vacation

• plus whenever the small battery is empty and needs a loan

What charges my big battery:

• prolonged downtime (5+ days)

• being carefree, without a schedule

• nature, vacation, retreats

• quality time with family and friends

• spontaneity

• being completely offline

• healthy food

• regular workout

• deep conversations

• live music

Daring to stay in deep recovery

So as you see, these two batteries work together and take care of different parts of us. The mistake we often make is to think that we’re fully rested after a weekend, when it’s only the small battery that’s full. We resist the temptation to enter the state of deep recovery because it can feel like a bottomless hole.

But we really should.

Consciously create the conditions required for deep recovery to occur, and see what happens. Take time off and focus on it. Yes, you may feel like you’re of no use to society, lazy, bored, frustrated… until you start settling into it and really start enjoying it.

Don’t let up until the body tells you your big battery is charged. It’ll take a while. And you’ll know when you get there, because you’ll feel completely different.

Otherwise, you’ll keep going through life in the “near burnout” zone — meaning, running your big battery on fumes, only ever recovering your small battery. You may be “rested”, but you’re still empty. At this stage, everything feels like a problem, and you’ll often be anxious — and deep recovery never feels like the solution.

With a full big battery, you’ll be less reactive, less anxious, more centered and kind. You’ll know what’s important and what’s not. And importantly, it’s easier to know when you need to recharge, and actually do it.

Hope this helps!

Blessings,
Jon