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Hello everyone. Welcome to the 5 Minutes Podcast. Today I'd like to make a reflection and a self reflection and talk a little bit more about burnout. And you know, I'm not saying only project managers, but most of the people that need to deliver things that have the pressure of time, the pressure of bringing ideas to life, it's common that you become a victim of burnout. And I want to tell about myself. The past weeks I have been, I would say, fantastic in professional terms. I would say AI, the idea that we start working in AI is getting traction. I think we are doing the right things. A lot of opportunities to travel, to meet people, to greet, you know, the networks, the newsletter, the podcast people are really enjoying. So it's a wonderful moment. But at the same time, this moment comes with a very high price tag. This weekend I was in a concert. It was a fantastic concert from Depeche Mode, and I know that this band probably I would say that 90% of you listening to this episode have never heard about Depeche Mode. But Depeche Mode, It was an extremely popular band in the 80s with some very big hits and it was an excellent concert. But why I'm saying this because the title of this concert, of this tour is Memento Mori. And Memento Mori comes from a Latin word means we need to realize death will come. It talks about this finitude of life. And I don't want to go on the philosophical statements here, but it's one of the roots of stoicism.
And why I said this because, you know, I was watching the concert and I was seeing the schools on the video and it was all amazing. And I was leaving the concert in London. Okay, probably 50,000 people. So the streets were packed and I was walking, trying to find a cab, trying to find with my wife and friends. And we saw a taxi and I was running to find a taxi. When I put my feet on the road, I didn't look to the right side and a bus at a very high speed almost. When I say almost, I'm talking about maybe one second or maybe two seconds did not hit me completely. I don't know what happened. I only knew that I. I moved my body backwards to avoid. And, you know, I lost the equilibrium. And at the end, nothing happened. But it was extremely close. And why I say this? Because maybe you will say, Ricardo. No, you know, because you didn't look to the right side. And this. No, it's just because of burnout. Because one of the big symptoms of burnout is that you never stop ruminating about work. I was walking on the street. I was watching and looking for a cab, but I was not there. My brain was, What do I need to do in AI? What do I need to do this? What do I need this? It's this endless rumination and this remove myself from that moment and put myself at risk.
And when you listen to this, you will see that, for example, several of you will see irritability as one of the symptoms, the tendency to isolate. For example, I was facing this, you know, oh, do you want to have dinner and this? No, no. I just want to go and work and work and work and work. This is a symptom of burnout. Sleep problems, vulnerability to get sick, to get a simple code, everything becomes, I would say, far more dramatic with burnout. So this happens. And honestly, I'm saying that burnout does not happen when you are just having bad news. So for me, for example, this burnout episode was in a very happy moment, but it's just to realize that as a human you have limits. And this is exactly what I want to share with you. So I want to share five tips that I'm not saying that I'm the best one on following it. And you saw by my example, but it's something that I'm working so hard to improve. The first one is to set boundaries, is to put limits on things, limits on the amount of work you do, limits on the amount of time you spend in a specific time. You need to set boundaries. And this is directly related to the second thing that is extremely hard for me. You need to say no, you need to say no.
And for example, I'm not very used to say no. I have a hard time to say no, this I cannot do. I think that everything is something easy, that I should accept, that I should do, that I should support. And at the end, this is small things. Small things, small things. And when it add, it becomes a huge thing. The third thing is practice, self-care and reflection. And this goes back to this memento mori. You need to reflect and protect yourself. So you need to take care of yourself and understand that your body is the only body you have, that your mind is the only mind and everything you do, you need to protect yourself. You need to take care of yourself. And this drives me to the next one is exercise and eat well. I am 51 years old now. When I was 48, up to 48, I never, ever did a single exercise until the early days of Covid when everybody was in panic. I was completely overweight. I said, Stop, I need to change that. It's an act of self care and self protection. So I started doing exercise. For those who follow me on social media, you will see how happy I am when I'm able to run, when I'm able to do, you know what a ten kilometers or something like that exercise because these will improve the capacity of your body to answer to this absolutely stressful environment. And last but not least, as for help, ask for help.
If you see that you are close to a burnout or if you are losing the control, or if you are becoming irritated with your children or with your partner or with those who love you or even with your coworkers, ask for help. And the best way to ask for help is to ask for help for those who love you, your friends, and ask for help. Just be open and say, Look my friend, help me. I need just to breathe and find space to avoid having a crazy of burnout. And even if you don't find this, ask for professional help. Because at the end, what is important is that if you get sick, you know, everything else stop matter. It does not matter. Everything does not matter if you get sick, you know, and your project will meet. It will not be delivered on time. So even if you want to get things done, you need to take care of yourself because burnout will not speed up the results of your project, will only create more and more challenges, more and more risks. And think about that because you know you are only one person. And if you want to succeed, you need to take care of that. And today we live in a society of burnout and we need to think about that. And we need to care about yourself. Think about that and see you next week with another 5 Minutes Podcast without burnout.
