Work Life Balance for Speech Pathologists: Mindful Time Management Tips for Therapists, Clinicians, & Private Practice Owners

122. The ADHD Burnout Cycle (and How to Break It)

• Theresa Harp

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Have you ever pushed yourself to the limit -- skipping sleep, meals, or anything that doesn’t feel “urgent” -- in order to crush your To-Do List… and then crashed for days? You’re not alone. It’s ADHD Awareness Month, and in the third episode of this four-part series, we’re unpacking the Overdrive-to-Burnout Cycle—why it happens (even if you don’t have ADHD) and how to finally step out of it without losing your drive.

What You’ll Learn:

  • Why the go-go-go-then-crash pattern isn’t a time management issue (and what it really is instead).
  • How dopamine, interest-based nervous systems, and executive functioning shape this burnout cycle.
  • The role of interoception (aka, your ability to notice what your body’s telling you) in preventing burnout.
  • How to spot early warning signs before your body forces you to stop.
  • Realistic ways to interrupt the pattern—without losing your drive or productivity.

Progress over perfection, always.

If This Resonates…
If you’re ready to stop swinging between overdrive and shutdown, I’d love to help. Book a free consult and we’ll map out how to build sustainable productivity that actually works for your brain. You’ll leave with a clear plan and real next steps.

📌 Book a free 1:1 consult → https://cutt.ly/ywVWsPy5

🎧 Related Episodes:
Ep. 53 - Navigating Burnout: Should You Leave Your SLP Job?
Ep. 97 - This is What They Didn't Teach Us About Being an SLP
Ep. 103 - Burnout or Bad Fit? The Question That Could Change Your Career
Ep. 109 - Is Your Relationship With Time Fueling Your Burnout?
Ep. 115 - Crushing It or Just Masking? The Hidden Burnout Plaguing SLPs

👥 Join the FB group → SLP Support Group

Keywords: ADHD burnout cycle, executive dysfunction, ADHD productivity, overwhelmed SLP, neurodivergent time management, ADHD rest, ADHD energy regulation, productivity coaching for SLPs



To find out how I can help you improve your work-life balance, click here.

Come join the SLP Support Group on Facebook for more tips and tricks!

Follow me on Instagram! @theresamharp

Learn more about Theresa Harp Coaching here.

theresa-harp_1_10-17-2025_143514:

Hey podcast listeners. Welcome back to the show. I am squeezing in this episode before my kids get home and I anticipate that they will be home probably before I have wrapped this up,'cause I love this topic so much, there's so much that I wanna say about it. So, towards the end you might hear a bunch of, you know, wild animals. Literally like my, you know, not wild, but my, my dogs barking and freaking out and then my, my children, but that's your warning. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to do my best to stay focused, to stay on task and on topic and to give you as much value as I can in this episode. This is another episode related to A DHD. It is October A DHD awareness month. But you do not need to have a DHD to relate to this topic because I'm talking about the burnout cycle. Okay? And I will give you some info about how A DHD fits in here for sure. But you don't have to have a DHD to burn out, right? So a lot of this information in here is going to be relative to you regardless of whether or not you have a DHD or suspect that you do. Okay? So here we go. What is this? A DHD productivity then collapse cycle. This like burnout cycle. Okay. And to be clear, I just, you know, a, um. Oops. A uh, to be clear, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a licensed therapist or counselor or social worker. This is not medical advice. This is just me, my own lived experience through and through my coaching training, um, in neurodiversity and executive functioning. Okay? So just wanna throw that little disclaimer out there. Uh, so here's what I wanna talk about. Okay? First of all, what is this cycle? That I'm, that I'm describing, and it's gonna look slightly different. It comes in like different flavors for different people for sure. But it's basically the go, go, go, go crash. It's that cycle of go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Crash done. Can't do anything. And we get in this cycle. Pretty often, at least according to all of you. You know, those who I, I see posts in Facebook groups and I hear from colleagues I know from my coaching clients, and I have had a ton of personal experience in this pattern, for sure. For as long as I can remember, I would push, push, push, and then crash like it was. A cycle for me and a pa. It was definitely a pattern, and it was not until I enrolled in my Neurodiversity coaching certification program that I realized actually somebody else had to point this out to me, that I discovered that this is a. Classic A DHD trait. I had no idea. And to be clear, I'm not saying that if you have a cycle of go, go, go, go, go burnout, that means you have a D, h, D. So just throwing that out there. But it is a pattern within the neurodivergent brain, and it was definitely my pattern, right? So. You go at like a million miles an hour for as long as you can. You're like burning the candle at both ends, and then the candle burns out. So you are literally then in burnout, right? Can't do anything, and you start to shut down. Then you start to feel guilty, and then you start to panic because while you're in this burnout shutdown mode, nothing is getting done, or very little is getting done in your mind, right? That's what your mind is telling you. So the panic sets in. Then cue the go, go, go cycle again, right Now, this is not a time management issue, okay? Does time management come into this and play a role? A hundred percent. But this is not a time management issue, and if you have been trying to fix the way that you spend your time during the day to get out of this cycle. Chances are it hasn't been very successful. And I say this with the utmost respect, love, and support. Okay? So what I wanna do today is give you some insights about why it's happening and what actually is going on. If it's not a time management issue, what is happening? And of course, most importantly, what can you do about it? All right? Because spoiler alert, this is a pretty predictable pattern. And it is a pattern that we can interrupt. We have to disrupt the pattern. Okay? We have to disrupt it. But you, and you can, you can change this pattern. I know that you can because I have changed this pattern. Now, does this mean I never burn out? No, but it certainly looks a lot different than it did before. Okay. So let's talk about why this happens, and I'm not gonna spend a ton of time here because I know you all want like the answers, but don't fast forward, stay with me because if you don't know exactly why this is happening or if you don't have some good ideas and guesses about why this is happening, it's going to be really hard for you to solve the problem. You have to identify the problem first before you can solve it, right? I think I heard someone say the other day on a podcast, a well-defined. A well-defined problem is halfway to a solution. Something like that. Like you gotta actually really clearly define what's going on. What is the issue? What is the problem. So with A DHD, we know that there are differences in dopamine. Production. And it's not just the dopamine, the quantity of the dopamine that's being produced, but it's also the consistency. So the, the pattern and the frequency that the body is producing dopamine is irregular, is inconsistent for someone in someone with a DHD. Okay? And so. There's, I'm not gonna get into all the specifics. It's not all that important to be honest, but just know that less dopamine or inconsistent or late producing dopamine, like it's not hitting you until the task is due in an hour, and then boom, you gotta go. Right? That is contributing here. And when we have less dopamine, we are oftentimes trying to chase those dopamine hits. We're trying to create that sort of like high. Or sometimes it results in like an adrenaline rush and the body responds to that. The brain is respo. That happens in the brain and the body's responding. So with those irregularities in the dopamine can come. Some shifts in your productivity, in, in your action, in how, in what kinds of actions you're taking, when you're taking them, the energy with which you are taking or making those actions. Taking those actions. Okay, so there's definitely a dopamine component here, but keep in mind too, it's not just about. Neurochemistry. There's also, there's a lot of pieces that go into this, and on a very basic level, if we just acknowledge that many of us have what you could call an interest based nervous system. So a nervous system that is a, it's not mo, we're not motivated by the shoulds. Like we're not motiv motivated by the have tos. We're motivated by the interest. What's. Ping my interest. What's keeping my interest? Because people with A DHD can focus. They can focus real nice, they can focus. We can focus really, really well on things that interest us on things that are exciting and rewarding. But when it's something that is boring or we don't. Agree that it's something that has to be done or we don't agree with how it's supposed to be done. Like lots of different factors, we are gonna have a harder time initiating the task and then sustaining the attention and, and kind of re turning back, returning back to, um, focus. When our mind starts to shift or wander. Okay. There's also this piece of this like unstructured time or like open time where it's like, what do I do with my day? Like, what do I do right now if I don't have a deadline? If I don't have anything that has to happen today? Like what do I do with this? Like open time, so. That can sometimes be uncomfortable for an A DHD brain or for, for lots of people that can be uncomfortable and sometimes we start to busy ourselves with, we might not even know what it is that we're doing. We're just taking action. More of like, it's more reactive than proactive. We're just like reacting to what we see and what we think and we're going, but we're not necessarily intentionally. Spending our time on specific tasks or doing certain things. And so we are like expending this energy, but it's on the, I, I'm gonna use air quotes here on the wrong things, or in the process of spending our energy on those things, the things with those deadlines, those shoulds, those have tos might not be getting done. And by the time we get there, it's like we're depleted. Right? And then there's also. This piece about the interoceptive awareness, the interoceptive skills. So for somebody with a DHD, the subtle cues, the subtle, uh, the subtle cues or information that's in our environment are brain, doesn't clock it, not as easily and consistently as a neurotypical brain, as you know, as a. As a neurotypical brain would. So if these cues, if this information signals are not. In our face getting our attention, we may miss them. So how does that affect, or how does that tie into this burnout cycle? Well, burnout doesn't just happen like out of nowhere. It might seem like that. But there are warning signs. There are lots of warning signs, there's lots of information, lots of cues, little lights on the dashboard that are going off, but. A DHD brain might not be noticing them or they might not be noticing them at, might not be noticing as many of them. They might not be noticing them as quickly or as consistently, so that by the time the body has caught up and you're in like in. In the burnout phase, or you're knocking on the door of burnout, it's too late because at that point the cues are really loud, right? Like now you're really noticing in your body, like shutting down, cannot do this, cannot do this anymore. Those are the loud cues that your body can't ignore. So, but when we get to that point, it's too late. Okay. So I, I think about this a lot with like my kids and with myself even. And for those of you who are moms, and when I'm talking about sort of interceptive skills, so knowing what's happening in your body, recognizing the cues. Uh, so for example, um, when you have to, when you're hungry, when you have to use the bathroom, when you have a, a headache or you're not feeling right, you're not feeling well physically. Uh, so those are things that are, are a lot easier to slip through the cracks for someone who's neurodivergent. I can't tell you how many times I have been running around the house chasing after the four kids and you know, the dogs and doing all whatever and start to like snap and lose my. Patience. And I'm like, what is going on here? And then I sort of paused for a second and realized, oh my gosh, I have not eaten anything in like seven hours. Or, oh my gosh, I've, I've had to go to the bathroom since like lunch and here we are. And it's like almost bedtime. And I'm, I haven't gone yet, right? So. Those cues, like I'm giving you some like in the moment examples, but like zoom out a little bit. There are lots of cues, lots of warning signs about that, about burnout that's approaching, but we might not be picking up on them. Okay, so we're gonna talk about this. I love this topic. Could you tell how pumped I am about this? I love burnout. False. I don't love burnout. I just love talking about this topic and helping, helping with it because I've. Lived it for, so like, ugh. It's just, it's so, I'm such a big part of my, of my, I don't know, probably the last like 20 plus years of my life. Okay. Let's talk about why burnout. Persists or like why we haven't done anything about it. And I don't mean to put it that way. I'm not shaming you. If you've been in this pattern for a while and it's, you, ha, it hasn't changed, you are absolutely not alone. Like you are so not alone. And I want to explain some of the reasons why, why this hasn't changed for you. Okay. Because you're, it, it's, this is, this is part of the process and there has to be some there ha you have to take some different actions and choose some different thoughts if you want different results. So we're gonna talk about that. But some of us out there, um, myself included, will. Say or think or believe that this is what I signed up for. So when we're in the go, go, go, go, go. And then burnout, like sometimes we think that this is part of like, this is normal, this is part of our role. Well, I'm an SLP. This is like, this is how it is. This is what I signed up for. This is our field. Like this is just what it is. Nothing has gone wrong here. Like, oh yeah, this is like, this is how it's supposed to be. Right? Or as a mom, as a parent, we think that, well, this is like, this is what motherhood is. It's like putting everybody else's needs above your own, and you just go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. This is part of motherhood and someday it will be better. Someday it will be different. And busy becomes this badge of honor. It becomes like how we value, we determine our value, our our self-concept. It, it revolves around what we are accomplishing, what we are doing. And that is a very tricky trap. It is a very tricky trap. Try to say that 10 times fast. Okay. We're approaching, we got five minutes before the kitties get home, so definitely gonna be interrupted by, uh, by some noise, but I will go on onward, as my son would say. Secondly, this pattern. Serves us. Like if we are being honest, and I like to be honest, um, like to be just kind of open this pattern is serving us. If it wasn't serving us, we wouldn't, it wouldn't keep happening. It serves us in a lot of ways, and I think we have to get really clearer on that. Number one, that can sort of be validating, like, oh, okay. No wonder I've like this. This has been going on for a while because there's been some benefit to it, at least we think like surface level, there's benefit. It gets, we are able to get stuff done. We're able to, you know, meet those deadlines. We're able to add something on to our schedule that like we otherwise wouldn't have been able to do. It serves us okay, but it comes. At such a cost, and there are so many more ways that it takes from us that it doesn't serve us. We have to talk about that as well. But let's just acknowledge there is some, there is some value that we're getting out of it, but that doesn't mean that it's worth continuing. Okay. That's, that's just throwing that out there. We'll get there. Some people. This isn't. Some people may think or believe that if we change it, we won't get anything done. This is the only way I can get stuff done. If I just go, go, go, go, go get like just get it all done as much as I can, as quick as I can, and then I rest. Like if I were to change that, wait, what? You want me to change that? So you're saying like, don't work as hard, you're saying don't try and get it all, like all these things accomplished, but look at all these things I have to accomplish and the only way I can accomplish them is if I burn the candle at both ends. That is a thought error. That is a limiting belief and that is absolutely contributing to the burnout cycle. It's not true. It's totally human and normal and, and understandable that your brain offers you that, but it's not true. Okay. We might also think that this is, and this is that this is what we. This is impossible to change. So it's sort of like the first reason where I said like, this is what we signed up for, but this is a, this reason is a little bit different. We think that even if we wanted to change it, even if we changed fields and went to another career, like this is just, this is the pattern and there's no other way. Like this is just the only way that it could be. And spoiler alert, it is absolutely not. It's absolutely not. Remember pattern disruption? We talked about that. I mentioned that a little bit earlier. Pattern disruption. We're gonna talk about how to disrupt the patterns. And then of course, last but not least, this is not a complete list. But the last thing that I will share in terms of why this happens is the executive dysfunctioning, right? The, the executive functioning skills are struggling. So. They get in the way here. They absolutely get in the way here. So it's not just like a thought error, it's also stuff that's happening in our brain. Both Neurochemically, which we've established, but also just in terms of the executive functioning skills. Those when there are breakdowns or there are lags in the executive functioning skills, it impacts our ability to get work done. It impacts our ability to execute on tasks, and so it can run the risk of putting us into this cycle. Okay. All right, so let's talk about what to do, how to interrupt the cycle, all right? Don't shoot me, don't, don't hate me. The first thing that I wanna offer, and some of you might, you, some of you're gonna groan a little bit maybe, but I, I would too, like my past self would do, but I can't stress enough how important and critical this, this. Point is the strategy is becoming more present To me, this is so impactful that I wanna do a whole podcast episode or maybe a couple of episodes about being more present and all the ways that it can change your life for the better, becoming more present. Noticing what is happening in our body, in our mind when we, and this is hard to do, especially when we're in that go, go, go, go, go mode. We are not necessarily very present to what's happening. We're on autopilot many times. We are tunnel vision hyperfocus. Oh man, I wanna go down a hyperfocus rabbit hole. And the role, and the role that that plays in the burnout cycle, but I'm not, we're we're. Staying put, staying in this lane. Okay? So you need to be able to be slow down and become more present in order to do so many of these skills. And if you can work on your ability to be more present, the other strategies that we'll talk about will be so much more effective. Secondly, noticing patterns. Noticing patterns. There are absolutely patterns when it comes to our burnout cycles. So many patterns. There's patterns in terms of the hyper focus, like the go go, go stage. What are some patterns there? For example, are there certain times of the month, times of the quarter, times of the year when you are more prone to those cycles, are there certain types of tasks that will get you into that cycle of go, go, go, go, go burnout? Maybe it's in term, maybe it's um, you know. Maybe it's more likely for you to happen with physical tasks like chores, household projects, maybe it's work tasks with deadlines, right? What do you notice that's happening in your body and in your mind? When you're in that go, go, go phase. For me, I, if I, and you have to be present in order to notice this, you have to be mindful in order to notice this, but I'll just notice that my body is just racing, like my body is going a million miles a minute and I know right now I am racing with my voice because I'm actually rushing through this. Sorry, people, sorry. But it's also my excitement as well. So there's some patterns in the go, go, go phase. Is it like certain like fires that you have to put out in your private practice, or maybe it's like family dynamics. It's like go, go, go, and you're dealing with like a family crisis or family situation. There are patterns. Look for those patterns and look for the patterns and the warning signs about your fatigue. How. Are you, here, come the, here come the kids. How is your body responding? Like you have to notice those interceptive cues. Like I said, that interceptive awareness of what's going on here internally and externally. Sometimes I'll notice, uh, my breathing is different when I'm in this phase. Um, I'm more impulsive. And get and take action, you know, much more quickly. But it's not necessarily the quote unquote best action or the right action. You know, that's all relative, but you get the idea. Early warning signs. Is it, um, stress in your, like muscle tension in your shoulders, in your neck? For me, my back starts flaring up. It's not the only time my back will flare up, but that's a big time my back will flare up. Do you, uh, you know, obviously signs of exhaustion and fatigue, but um, maybe you notice. Bags under your eyes, or you're noticing that your feet are hurting more often, and like there are different cues, but we can't notice them if we're not present. So refer back to the last strategy and keep in mind what I said, a lot of those cues are not loud and in your face, so they're easy to miss. So I can't stress enough the importance and the benefit of slowing down and really looking for those clues. Okay. You also need to get on board with the idea that breaking free from this pattern cannot, like, hands down the, the most, in my opinion, the most beneficial reason of getting out of this pattern is better quality of life, like the quality of life, the quality of your relationships. Just huge impact. But I'm gonna throw in one little, almost like borderline. Not toxic, but borderline, um, what's the word? Uh, I'm, I'm having word retrieval issues, but I hesitate to share this because I don't want to perpetuate this pattern of getting things done. So take this. If it serves you, leave it if it doesn't. But for my productivity junkies, those of you who are like, I have to get these things done. I have to get things done. I can't afford to slow down, Theresa, blah, blah, blah, right? For those of you, if, if this, what I'm about to say motivates you to change or like in intrigues, you sparks your curiosity, then awesome. What if. The slowing down, the breaking free from the burnout cycle can actually help you get more done. What if, sorry, what if that were the case? Because for me, it absolutely has been true total game changer. And it's so counterintuitive. We think that if we slow down the level at which we are. Getting things done, then we will get less done if we rest. We're not getting something done, right? If I'm resting, I'm not getting this done on my list. Oh, we talk about this in coaching a lot, and this is one of the things that I help coaching clients with. So it is possible to actually accomplish more when you get out of this burnout cycle. I also can't stress enough the benefits of noticing your thoughts. I believe. I believe that burnout is not simply about doing too much. It's not just a result of doing too many things. It's also about what you are thinking. It's about what's going out going on inside your brain, in your mind. Because you could be doing a task and two people could be doing the same task, let's say writing an evaluation report. And each of them could be thinking very different things in their brain as they are writing it, and they could have very different experiences in the process. If somebody is writing a report and they're thinking. Oh my gosh, this is horrible. Oh my gosh. There's no way I'm gonna get all of this done before the deadline. This is, I don't even remember what we did in this evaluation. I don't even know how to say this. What am I forgetting about that? If I had done this, you know, three days ago or a week ago, it would've been way easier fresh in my mind. Now I'm like struggling to string sentences together. Someone's gonna read this, they're gonna find a. Mistake or an oversight, and it's gonna ruin my career, it's gonna ruin my reputation. That leads to a very different experience than the person who's writing a report thinking things like, all right, well. I know that I've gotta get this report done. I'm gonna do the best that I can. I'll remember what I can. I've got my notes to refer back to. I'm a seasoned, experienced clinician. I've got this. Or I'm a student, or I am a newer clinician. I don't have to be perfect. I'm not expected to know everything. This is one piece of information. In a big file of information. So this is not the only piece of this patient's puzzle, right? That is a total different experience, totally different energy. So it also, you also need to look at the thoughts that you are thinking because they impact the way that you're feeling. And can lead you towards burnout for sure. This is a huge piece of what I do in coaching. It's such a game changer. Okay. Another thing you can do is get very clear on your values and needs, especially in this case, your core needs. When it comes to burnout, knowing your core needs is so helpful because if you know what they are, you can figure out ways to squeeze them in, sneak them in, incorporate them, even in just small doses. They will give you so much more, you'll get so much more out of that than you would in doing things like doom scrolling, right. Um, you know, Netflix and just total like Netflix binging and from a place of like. This is, I've been doing this for days and I can't get, I can't stop. Like I'm all for a good Netflix binge. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but it is, it can be a bad thing depending upon the, the reasoning behind it and what you're thinking as you're doing it. So if you know what your needs are, then you can. Incorporate them and you'll have such a, it will impact you on such a, a greater level. So for me, I know some of my core needs, two of them are quiet and movement. So. Just even 10 minutes. Uh, perfect example. Yesterday I got up, I waited till the last possible minute to start my workout, and, but I made myself do it. I, I got on there, I initiated it, and I did it for 10 minutes. That's all I did was 10 minutes, and it was incredibly effective because it, that is one of my core needs. So it doesn't take a whole lot of it. In order for me to feel the impact and I've, those 10 minutes probably added so much more energy on the backend. Of my day, I was able to do more and feel better, more importantly, throughout my day because I took that time. So knowing what your needs are and looking, okay, what are my needs and what needs are not being met and this, these are the first things that we drop. You guys, you know this, this is the first stuff that we let go of when we are in a period of like, go, go, go. Gotta get stuff done. We neglect our own stuff, our own basic needs, our own core needs, our own values, and we think that that is necessary and it's not. We think that that's going to help us get more done and it doesn't. So. Figure out what those core values and needs are. I have a resource for this. I will link to it in the show notes. I actually also have another resource that's coming. I'm like just about finished with it, where I've created a GPT and chat GPT that will help you in like less than three minutes, get your core values and needs outlined for you. So stay tuned for that. Uh, I will, I'll. Link it back on the show or I'll, I'll let you know when it's ready and make sure that you guys have access to it. Okay. But for now, even just looking at the values and needs resource that I currently have that's free is really helpful. Okay. So take a look at that in the show notes. All right. I've got just a couple things left for you. Couple final tips. This one has been really helpful for me noticing and listening to. My energy levels. So remember back to the first couple strategies. You need to slow down, be more present and mindful noticing patterns, okay? Those are important here when it comes to noticing what your natural rhythms and energy is like. Okay? There are gonna be days where you're gonna wake up and you're gonna have. You're gonna feel great, right? You're gonna, well, I hope that there are days like that. You wake up, you feel energized, or maybe you don't wake up and you, maybe that is never the case for you, but shortly after you start your day, at some point you're having a, a really high energy feel good kind of day, right? You could tackle just about anything. And then there are gonna be days or moments where you just don't have much in the tank. And sometimes it's really frustrating when the energy that we have doesn't match the demands on our schedule. And the thing that I have learned to that has been so helpful for me is to honor those. Shifts are those differences in my energy and to listen to them as much as I can. So I might have the best laid plans of all this stuff I wanna get done on a day. And let's say I wake up and I just am not feeling it. I'm just not feeling it. Does that mean nothing gets accomplished? No, almost never. That's, that's almost never the case. So don't you know my all or nothing thinking here? Or like all or nothing thinkers here don't that, that's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is when I started just saying to myself, okay, you know what, today is just a little bit lower. I'm feeling more physically tired. I'm feeling a little bit, you know, my emotions are running high. Um, you know, whatever it is. Just noticing that and allowing. For that, allowing space for that and just shifting my expectations. Will I still get the things done that I have to get done? Maybe probably, you know, if it really needs to get done, but what can wait, what can I do at like. A B minus level instead of an a plus level, what could I just do a little bit of and not actually finish? What could I add into my day in terms of my needs or self care that to just listen to my body, that would actually support me and help me take care of me? Okay, so once you sort of notice that and honor it. Oh gosh. It was such, it's such a game changer. It just gives you this permission. It's very permissive and you just feel like, alright, I am who I am. I, I feel how I feel and I'm just going to be a little bit more gentle with myself today and everything is gonna be absolutely fine. Okay. I sometimes used to tell myself, this is speech therapy, not chemotherapy. I just,'cause sometimes in my mind I would hype it up so much. Like, oh, I can't cancel a session. There's no, oh my gosh, what are they gonna think? It's last minute. Oh my gosh. They're gonna think I flaked out, or they're gonna think this isn't important, or blah blah, blah. Right. It's okay. It's okay. The world will not stop turning. All right. Okay. And then the last thing that I'm gonna offer you here is to protect. And honor rest, not just on your low energy days or when things are feeling off, but proactively building in time for rest. When you notice that your body is pushing through, that's when you need to optimize those moments of rest, prioritize, and protect that rest. Now, if you are in the burnout phase of this cycle. Absolutely. Rest, rest, rest, rest. And that's a period of time where hitting your own needs and really listening to your body and your needs is really, really important. But also in that ramp up. To burnout in the in the go, go, go phase. When you're in that, we have to get you, we have to start shifting that to change that part of the pattern, and one way that you can do that is by prioritizing and protecting periods of rest. Normalize this. When I started thinking about rest as a productivity strategy, that was a game changer for me. Like, oh, okay. Do I want to stop doing what I'm doing right now and go to bed? No.'cause I really like doing this thing. I'm really interested in it. It's feeling good right now, and I, I'm not tired at this moment. I'll be tired tomorrow, but that's tomorrow's problem, not today's, but when I shifted the thinking to, to, okay, by prioritizing rest, now I will feel better and actually be more productive tomorrow. That was like, okay, yeah, this helps me be productive. Rest helps me get things done that I wanna get done. It is a way to regulate and take care of yourself, and it's absolutely a requirement. It's never a reward. Okay, I hope you hear that Rest is not the reward. It's the requirement, it's a responsibility and you are the only one who can do it for you. No one else is going to like take you and sit you down and make you a meal and you know, give you quiet and like no one else can do that for you. No one else is gonna do it for you. You have to know what your, what ways you like to rest and what your core needs are, and you have to meet them yourself. Okay. And as always, I know I say this a lot, but as always with anything progress over perfection, there is no such thing as perfect. And this is all about making progress, especially with the N-A-D-H-D brain. Okay. I hope that this was helpful. I've got a bunch of other episodes on burnout. I will link to them in the show notes, but episode 53, episode 1 0 3, 1 0 9 and one 15 are all. They all touch on burnout, so check those out. If this is a topic that you want some more support with, and if you're ready to take this to the, to the next level, to the point where you're like, yes, I wanna do this and I want help. I wanna make it easier on myself. I wanna invest in myself and do this for me. Book a call. I'm happy to walk you through how I can help you. You are the only one that can do that for you as well, so just throwing it out there. I would love to tell you how I can help, and consults are always free. You'll leave there with at least a very clear plan of what you need to do to start feeling better. All right. That's it for this week's episode. This was a long one. Hope you hung in there. I will talk to y'all next week. Bye.