1. Burnout Zone
! You !

2. The Burnout Zone
This is exciting stuff … But
… Bad News … this work
environment is a “grinder”
like Pro Sports

3. Pro Sports
• Pick your favorite sport
• Now try to name a top athlete who has
not had a significant injury.
• Friend -- It was so cool. I got inside the
Canucks dressing room … Weird
though … the most memorable thing
was all the surgery scars. Every guy
had one.

4. “Rules, Boundaries, and
Limitations”
• Sport stars have a defined schedule, doctors
on staff, time off between games, etc
– Loads of rules, boundaries, and limitations in
search of optimum performance.
• Business Leaders
– Boundary-less schedule, few (if any) doctors, no
time off, … more
– Ie no rules, no boundaries, no limitations in search
of ???

5. Fred Wilson - VC
• Ten Meetings Per Day
– http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/11/ten-meetings-per-
day.html
• In Comments
– “long work day today, started at 7am today and
will finish at 9pm
but today is unusual,Igenerally start at 8am and
am done at 6pm, butIcan do nine one hour
meetings in that span or 8 one hour and 2 thirty
minute meetings”

6. Packet Engines -
VC Funded Startup
• Basic Hours
– M-F 7am - 7pm
– Sat 7am - noon
– Sun off
– Holidays off
• Project “Plan of Record” Meetings
– Friday 11pm
– “the only good time to meet”

7. John Morgridge
x-Cisco CEO & Chair
• The podcast description finishes with
“He also discusses the personal
sacrifices that he believes an executive
must make to succeed.”
• http://iinnovate.blogspot.com/2007/12/jo
hn-morgridge.html

8. Have You Experienced
• Getting dizzy spells during a meeting.
• Watching a colleague fall asleep during the weekly update.
• Watching a customer fall asleep during a meeting.
• Forgetting a close colleagues name.
• Forgetting a bosses name.
• Forgetting how I got to this meeting room.
• Getting dizzy spells on the drive home.
• Not being able to get out of bed for 2-3 days after a big conference.
(burnout pre-cursors)

9. : Hint :
you need to use a
Pro Athlete
as your model
wrt/ rules, boundaries,
and limitations.

10. Schedule Your Family Time
• And make it Priority #1
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11. Work / Life Balance
• You will be 60 work / 40 life
• At best … likely 70/30 with 100/0 times.
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12. Staff Your Home
• Your home requires staff
– Get a nanny
– Get a housekeeper
– Get a gardener
• Do this earlier … It takes a while to get
good at this.
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13. Medical
• Get a doctor
• Schedule your annual Physical
• Get a fitness plan ( do it )
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14. Single Tasking
• Can you multi-task while playing a
sport?
• Can you multi-task while presenting?
• Can you multi-task while listening?
• Think single tasking … get deeper into
your tasks.
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15. :Hint #2:
Exercise is Very Important
• “Exercise is 3x more effective than any
other activity in promoting brain health”,
Dr. Max Cynader, UBC 2011.
• About Max Cynader
– Canada Research Chair in Brain Development at UBC
– http://www.brain.ubc.ca/about/cynader.htm
– There is a podcast at end of this page “The Ageing Brain: How to Age Successfully”
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