Read Time: 5 min

The Idea: The Problem of Burnout.

Burnout is a significant issue for coaches, athletes, and leaders.

But, in our experience, those performers fundamentally misunderstand it.

We would identify burnout as one of the most significant issues in the coaching institution. Far too many amazing coaches are leaving the profession.

Note: We are passionate about this issue, so we want to help with more than just our thoughts in this newsletter. There’s a giveaway at the bottom of this newsletter, so make sure you RAFO (read and find out).

Anecdote: The Master Coach

Kevin and I had a call with a coach a few weeks ago.

This coach was expressing how they can feel themselves starting to sense the signs of burnout. Building the same motivation they carried during their first few years is hard. It’s far easier to take the easy road.

It’s harder to have the hard conversations. They sounded desperate.

They love what they do and believe in their impact on their coaches and players. But they could feel it slipping through their fingers and wanted to know what to do.

Here’s the scariest part: This was a master coach. They are a model for coaches everywhere.

Seasoned, veteran, multi-time championship winner.

Nearly every metric you can use to measure success—they’ve done it. They’ve also built sustainable systems to perpetuate it year after year.

If they are moving towards burnout, do any of us have hope? How far is our industry from health that even the best of the best can’t avoid it? Something has to change.

And here’s the other thing—we have conversations with coaches like this all the time. Rarely does a week go by without us counseling a coach or an athlete who’s reached out and is asking, “What can I do?”

This is one of the foundational reasons BETTER exists. We consider ourselves researchers of this exact question.

Can you be a great coach with all the energy, motivation, expertise, and focus it takes to build sustained excellence and do it in a way that isn’t detrimental to you?

Said differently, can you be healthy, have great character, and win?

Here’s our attempt to help.

First - what is burnout, and where does it come from?

The first step is to establish what burnout actually means before we can help address how to deal with it.

It’s not what you think.

As always, it starts with awareness.

When coaches come to us, they question their motivation. But burnout isn’t an issue of motivation. It comes from intense motivation over a prolonged period. 

Highly motivated coaches and athletes feel guilt and shame from even starting to see the signs of burnout. They feel “lazy.”

But burnout isn’t a problem of motivation. It’s a problem of rest. So…

What is rest?

This is more than just physical rest. We are talking about soul-level rest and recharge. Your mind, body, and soul all need rest. Each needs to be nourished for you to be at your best.

Rest doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means building intentional disciplines in your day to recharge your mind, body, and soul.

So, as performers, how do we rest properly?

First, let’s say this is not an exhaustive list. This topic is a path with many branches off of it. But if you’re starting to think about being intentional about your rest, here are some things to consider. (I know we usually do five, but here are 6 🙂):

1. Build healthy rhythms for rest into your days and weeks.

How will you know that you have a good plan for your rest? What does an intentional plan look like? If I asked you to show me your calendar, intentionality with your rest means you could point to your calendar when and what you are doing to rest.

2. Start small.

Most “plans” don’t work because people bite off more than they can chew. To expect to go from nothing to one hour a day will not work. What’s the smallest thing you can do? Start there. Then build.

What small activity can you do to feed your mind? Your body? Your soul?

If you don’t know where to start, start with the basics: Sleep, Exercise, Hydration, and Diet.

3. Play “detective” on yourself.

When most people say they are starting to feel burnout, they’re actually already there. So, take note of what signs you recognize in yourself that lead you towards burnout. This allows you to be more intentional with your rest in those seasons of life.

4. “Day off” means day off.

Most people take days off. But that means they’re not going into the office. They still work. They still think about work. They still watch film. They don’t allow their brains to turn off. Add more intention to these days. On those days, think about things other than work or performance. Plan activities outside of your sport to help you do that.

5. Take time away from electronics each day.

Again, start small. Expecting yourself to go from not doing this to doing it for an hour is too much. Start with 10 minutes, then add. This can be part of your plan for #1. For extra points, do this first thing in the morning. You'll be in control of your day, and you won’t even risk letting something you see on your phone or TV affect your mood or mindset.

6. Evaluate yourself and your performance each day.

Develop a simple process to evaluate yourself when you're done each day.

A simple 1-5 rating on several things can go a long way. Pick three things you know are important to your performance and rate yourself. Don’t do more than three to start. But consider things like…

Energy, Connection, Decision-making, Preparation, Communication, Resilience….etc.

What this functionally does is that it helps us “put work down” and switch off mentally.

A Gift.

If you’ve followed us for long, you probably know that we’ve built a one-page document (both physical and digital) to help coaches track their rest and recharge with the exact level of detail we describe above. We call it the Coach Performance Plan. It’s called a Performance Plan because we know your ability to rest is the first and primary thing leaders must master to be their best for their team.

When a coach or AD invites us to work with their program or department, we inventory their rest. We give them the Coach Performance Plan and make them use it.

Since its creation, we’ve used it with ADs, Coaches, Business Owners, Athletes, Golfers, and Caddies.

If you’re still reading this, we’d like to give it to you. In return, we’d just ask for one thing.

We want to hear your story. We get fantastic emails from readers all the time, but it happens randomly. We want to get better at collecting those stories to help all of us become, well….. BETTER.

So, to get the Coach Performance Plan, we’d love you to email us. The prompt is this. What’s one newsletter we’ve written that has resonated with you? And why?

It can be this one where you share your story of burnout. It could be an issue you had with a player or your team. How you’ve used our newsletter to influence your messaging. Anything.

We just want to hear from you.

Conclusion.

Burnout isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a call to refocus on rest and self-care. By building small, intentional rhythms into your life, you can prevent burnout before it takes hold and create the space to perform at your best. Start with one small step—whether it’s adding rest to your schedule or unplugging from electronics for a few minutes—and commit to fostering a healthier relationship with your work. Take charge of your rest, and you’ll see the difference in your energy, clarity, and ability to lead.

Team Talks

One of the significant topics coaches ask us about is messaging.

Chances are, if we see a Head Coach’s name pop up on our phone, and they’re in-season, they want to share where their team is in their season and ask how to craft a message to maximize performance.

We know you’re tired of scrolling through YouTube, Instagram, and X (Twitter), looking for a motivational video that you hope and pray will resonate with your team.

We were asked so much that we created a more permanent solution.

And that’s Team Talks.

What are Team Talks?

Team Talks are short, 10-minute-or-less videos to use with your team, focused on mindset, leadership, and performance. They’re evidence-based ideas with stories to capture your team’s heart. Each video comes with an exercise to make the lesson stick. They are used by state, conference, and national champions. We have Team Talks on:

• Adversity

• Accountability

• Teamwork

• Discipline

• Mindset

• Elite Performance

There are currently 18 (the length of a typical season). We will build the library over the next few months to have thirty-six.

Team Talks set you up with the right message at the right time for your team.

And for a limited time, we’re offering them a 25% discount. Get Team Talks today.

The Culture Playbook + Cohorts

Coaches have access to a lot of coaching content. What they lack are systems.

The Culture Playbook is 10 leadership ideas with the exercises you need to install the ideas and culture into your program. It’s the exact system we use to help coaches build their programs around mindset, leadership, and performance. We’ve used it at schools like Oklahoma, Mississippi State, and Florida State.

Since the Culture Playbook was released almost a year ago, nearly 1,000 coaches have purchased and are using it for their programs.

You can get it for your program today.

Culture Playbook Cohorts

We are offering Culture Playbook Cohorts if you’re interested in exploring the Culture Playbook on a deeper level.

We’ve had a few dozen commitments over the last week and aren’t starting with very many cohorts, so reserve your spot today!

Monthly Calls + Powerful Content + Practical Application + Community = Accelerate Your Growth

If interested, simply DM Seth or Kevin on Twitter.