TL;DR: We sat down with Melanie Santos, mind, body, and spirit wellness educator, to learn how to cope with burnout and hone your energy and mindset to accomplish your goals. Keep reading to learn how.

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Meet Melanie Santos

Melanie is a wellness expert who guides people toward intentional living by showing them how to connect their minds, bodies, and souls. She invites clients to rebuild their foundations from the soul level through mental, physical, and energetic self-care. Melanie also helps people become more grounded and rooted in the human experience. Oh, and she’s been with Flodesk since day one! 

Connect with Melanie on Instagram or at melaniesantos.co.

Want to learn more about combating burnout and aligning your energy to get in the right mindset? Read on.

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How should I approach the new year grounded?

Instead of burning out quickly, Melanie slowly eases into her goals and intentionally takes a break from social media. Temporarily walking away from social allows her to escape all the noise and find a fresh perspective. How? By doing an energetic cleanse and finding clarity without the cloudiness that comes from always being connected.

Is it okay to disconnect from my audience for a week (or a month)?

It’s okay—and healthy—to step away from others every so often. When you do, you have time to think without comparing yourself to others or wondering if you should start doing things how others do. 

When we neglect to disconnect from others, especially from social media, we often get disconnected from ourselves, our work, and our audience. But if you can prioritize stepping away for a week or even a month to re-energize and gain clarity on what you need, you can return reinvigorated. Melanie recommends the following during off-time:

  • Meditation
  • Yoga
  • Reading books
  • Being in the sun or nature
  • Anything that grounds you

Pro tip: If you struggle to disconnect, you can always use your email list to keep subscribers engaged (by scheduling emails) without the commitment or distraction of social media. 

How does my “why” play into goal setting?

Why did you become an entrepreneur? What keeps you going even when you’re unmotivated or have a tough day? That is your why. Believe it or not, many people struggle to find their why, but without it, it’s hard to build a sustainable business. Ask yourself:

  • Where is my business grounded?
  • What are my roots, and how do I stay true to them?
  • What is my why?

Once you understand your why, you can set goals that align with that why and your values. Your why allows you to stay true to yourself, making decisions based on that and not on impulse or making a quick buck. But more than anything, it keeps you going on tough days or weeks when you’re not getting sales, likes, or engagement.

Let’s say your why is to support your community, especially minority-owned businesses. You’re passionate about giving back. Here are a few goals you could set to align with your why:

  • Host a community event to highlight the minority-owned businesses you love

  • Offer a free course, branding class, or anything else of value to the SMBs in your community

  • Collaborate with a non-profit and donate a percentage of your sales to that organization

Without a why you might set goals or take actions contrary to who you are as a brand.

How do I manifest my best year?

There’s so much mystery and intrigue around manifestation that we’ve made it to be this big, unattainable thing. But, as Melanie explains, we are always manifesting the next moment—manifestation is everything, not just the ritual of creating vision boards or “speaking it into existence.” In your business, manifestation can look like:

  • Writing down who your ideal customer is. What do they look like, sound like, live? How much money do they make? This practice reminds you of who you’re serving (because, as a business owner, you should be serving your customers). Hang your ideal customer details on your wall or make it visual (like a Venn diagram) so you can reference it whenever you feel lost or need a gentle reminder.

  • Thinking about what you want your business to feel like this year. Do you want to align your energy with your business energy? Maybe you want a full-powered and busy year for your business. Or perhaps you want slower, steady growth this year that allows you to step back a bit. Either way, think about how you want your business to look.

  • Creating rituals and setting intentions. View your intentions and rituals as a compass to guide you through the year. Your intentions can help you be more intentional in your decision-making, and your rituals (habits) can help you slowly work toward achieving your goals.

How do I deal with burnout in the online space?

Ask for help. Melanie quickly realized that the best way to treat burnout is to get help with tasks you can’t or don’t want to do. They can suck all your energy and further contribute to burnout. 

  • Reach out to your community for help. You can pay people in your community to help or barter services, make trades, or some may be willing to help for free.

  • Figure out what you can outsource. Is there admin work you don’t want to do? Or is there something you absolutely dread doing that an executive assistant could help with? Sites like Fiverr are affordable solutions!

Another way to prevent or cure burnout is to prioritize self-care. Self-care has become trendy lately, but Melanie makes it a non-negotiable. In the online space, we connect with more people than we could in person, which drains our energy even faster. We skip lunch, spend most of the day in front of the screen, and neglect ourselves.

Melanie intentionally schedules self-care into her day, going so far as to block out her calendar with self-care practices throughout the day:

  • Take time to escape the screen. Take a walk or a nap. It’s up to you!
  • Have a spa day
  • Go to therapy
  • Lay on the floor and do nothing
  • Talk with friends and family about things that inspire you or make you happy

Burnout has become commonplace, which is why it’s so important to acknowledge it and address it head-on. Try to maintain a positive mindset and let yourself stop when things start to feel overwhelming or just not good.

  • Know your limits, and don’t try to push past them. Set boundaries with yourself.

  • Don’t do everything. You don’t need to try every new marketing trend or go on every social media channel.

  • Invest your energy where it makes sense. If your audience doesn’t care about TikTok videos, don’t stress yourself trying to make TikTok videos!

  • Don’t spread yourself too thin. It’s okay to repurpose content so you’re not constantly filming videos for social, blogging for your website, and creating email content. Work smarter, not harder.

  • Show up authentically and realize that not everyone is for you. Stay rooted in your mission, and you will reach your people. 

More from the Flodesk community

This challenge is packed with valuable tips, from building your email list and your business to digital marketing strategies to transform your business’s bottom line. If you missed them live, check out the replays below!