This question has been asked to me several times this year as I  published my second book.

If you’d asked me 6 years ago where would you find the time to write a book? The answer would have been, ‘I don’t know.’ 

Had you asked me, ‘Can you write a book?’ I’d have answered, ‘Me? How can I write a book.‘  But I have and I did, twice now (and contributed to a 3rd!)

I jokingly call myself an ‘accidental author’, but I’m doing myself a disservice because the fact is I created a Vision with these books as part of it, and I made it happen. So not an accident at all.

 Living proof that if you want it, you make space for it in your Vision and take action on it, there is very little you can’t do! 

How did I do it?

 First, in both cases I decided it was something I wanted to do.

With Bounce Back from Burnout: 

• I wanted to do it because I have gained such a lot myself from reading books and implementing action from exercises and strategies that lie within those lovely pages. 
• I knew not everyone would be able to invest fully in coaching, so a book was an ideal opportunity for me to reach that woman who is sitting with her head in her hands at the kitchen table feeling alone, exhausted and can’t see the wood for the trees. She’s my why. She was my reason I had to make the time. I wanted her to have the book that wasn’t available to me when I had a Burnout.
• I also wanted to write a book that allowed me to be me, to talk with my voice and not the well trained ‘corporate voice’ that was necessary to attract European Funding or attract charitable donations from large corporations or train CEOs and Head Teachers. I wanted to write a down to earth, warm, British approach to the issue of burnout. Yes, well researched. Yes, filled with value, but also I wanted it to be filled with me. 
• Above all,  I wanted to take the shame out of my burnout. 
• Just 6 years ago there was a lot more stigma and shame  around mental health at work.  20 years ago it was unrecognisable from today. Those of us who spoke up were too often seen as a burden or weak. Thankfully, I had been blessed with  great leaders who were supportive and resourceful, but I still hid a lot of my symptoms , because I’d been conditioned to believe I should.

However, after researching more about burnout and seeing the great societal shift towards understanding mental health and the spectrum we are all on,  I realised that by sharing our burnout stories in the workplace we can support employers to create more nurturing environments and give them the chance to retain talent before they leave unexpectedly. And yet, my Mean Little Cow voice was telling me I'd make myself unemployable.

 I talked back to my Mean Little Cow voice, “I must do this. I must admit to my burnout,  because there is a lady out there feeling just like I did. She feels alone, scared, that she’ll never feel OK again and my story and the tools in the book can help her see this isn’t a bad thing that is happening.

It’s a chance to reflect, assess, to grow. It’s an opportunity to look at what she is doing and why she is doing it. It’s a chance to make positive changes in the environment she’s in, or create an exit plan that will take her to a place she can shine and show her strengths in a better light if that’s what she needs. It’s completely human.

The fact you, Michala, are now equipped with all these tools, strategies and have a success definition that alerts you to when you aren’t aligned to it makes you completely employable. If you ever apply for a job that is.”

And in quietening MLCs fear driven banter,  I pressed approve on the publish button and brought that story to you and in doing so allowed the taboo of burning out to be overcome in a small, but significant way. 

So why I wanted to find the time was a significant factor in how I found the time!

The secret to finding the time.

‘What was the secret then Michala?’ I hear you cry. ‘How did you find the time?’

I used the time I had to better effect. 

Nothing mind blowing. 

No rocket science. 

Simply, I looked at my working week, plus the time I am with my family/friends and I said where can I fit this in?

The only available slots were 2 hours a week, whilst my treasures were in extra curricular clubs. Usually, I’d sit and watch them in one hour, or I’d go for a coffee with a friend or go for a run, in the other. 

Instead, I sat in my car, paper and pen in hand (I’m so old school. LOL) and I wrote.

It took me longer this way than if I’d blocked time during the day or written late into the night, however, with my client commitments, my online content creation, my family commitments and other volunteering I was doing,  there wasn’t any space for that, so rather than wait for that space, (Let’s face it, it will never appear!) I used what time I had to the best advantage. Several months later I had written my first book!! 

No excuses. No waiting. I did it. 

Did technical hitches set me back on my original release deadline? Yes. 

Did  it stop me? No. 

Did I find help? Yes. (Thank you Peter Thompson, Little Man Designs.  I am eternally grateful!)

If you are a woman sitting at your kitchen table, head in hands saying, ‘What’s the point? Why can’t I see a way forward? Why aren’t there more hours in the day? What is wrong with me?’ then this book is for you.

I hope it makes you love you a bit more.

I hope it helps you see you and your world more clearly.

I hope you can learn as I did that burnout is an opportunity to grow and create positive changes. 

I hope it helps you see the wood for the trees and allow you to reset your Vision and definition of Success.

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