Speed vs. Sustainability (Burnout): How Leaders Stay on Track for Sustainable Performance Without Losing Everything That Matters

The leaders who burn out aren't the ones who care too little; they're the ones who never learn to stop.

In this episode, I'm joined by Andrew and Sarah Beard, pastors and ministry leaders with over 20 years of experience, to talk about the tension every driven leader eventually hits. When slowing down feels like falling behind, but keeping up is quietly costing everything that matters.

We get into how to tell the difference between a hard season and an unsustainable pace, what you have to let go of to lead well long term, and why rest is a discipline, not a retreat.
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⏱️ Episode Highlights
[01:31] – Speed vs. Sustainability: Why most leaders set their pace too fast, and what it costs before they even notice.
[03:12] – Running on Empty: Preston's burnout story
[06:39] – Meet Andrew and Sarah Beard: Pastors at The Chapel at Seaside, 20 years of ministry, 18 of them working side by side.
[10:27] – The Tipping Point: How a massive ministry renovation and a relentless pace brought Andrew and Sarah to the edge of burnout.
[13:43] – The Wake-Up Call: The moment that stopped everything, and why it took a family crisis to slow down finally.
[14:07] – Pushing Through vs. Running Yourself Down: How to tell the difference, and why knowing your season matters.
[18:02] – What They Let Go Of: Walking away from everything they built, and why it was the best leadership decision they ever made.
[21:57] – "I Don't Think I Have Compassion Anymore": The moment Andrew said the quiet part out loud, and what Sarah did next.
[23:50] – Don't Build a Life You Want to Escape From: The rhythms Andrew and Sarah built to lead sustainably, and the question every leader needs to ask.
[30:00] – Elijah Under the Tree: The oldest burnout story in Scripture, and why God's answer wasn't a strategy. It was rest.
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Links & Resources Mentioned
• Discipled Leader Apprenticeship — prestonpoore.com
• Discipled Leader Book — prestonpoore.com/books-by-preston
• How is Greater Than What Book — prestonpoore.com/book
• About Preston — prestonpoore.com/about-preston_poore
• The Chapel at Seaside (Andrew & Sarah Beard) — located in Seaside, Florida on 30A
• Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (John Mark Comer, mentioned) — available wherever books are sold
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Connect With Me
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/prestonpoore
Facebook: facebook.com/PoorePreston
Instagram: instagram.com/prestonpoore1
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Closing Thoughts
If today's episode hit home, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Like it, comment, leave a review, it helps more people find the show and quite honestly, it reminds me I'm not just talking to myself in here.
Peace out. Be a rock star.

About Preston Poore

Preston Poore is a former Coca-Cola executive who practices what he preaches. He uses his wealth of hard-earned experience in the corporate arena to help emerging leaders and millennials reach their potential—all while staying true to his values, purpose, and goals.

Preston is a Certified Maxwell Leadership Team Keynote Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer, and Executive Coach. Through his books, How Is Greater Than What, Discipled Leader (2022 Selah Awards Nonfiction Book of the Year) and 21 Days to Sound Decision Making, his blog, and podcast, he seeks to help people become redemptive influences in their workplaces and live more fulfilling lives.

Learn more about Preston Poore & Associates: https://prestonpoore.com

Work with Preston or invite him to speak: https://prestonpoore.com/leadership-development-services/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We hit this spot. Andrew turned and looked at me and he just said, I don't think I have compassion anymore.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Which is a problem.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

It's a password. My immediate response was, you have to leave. Like you have to go and have a retreat.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I talked to somebody here in a recent episode that he uh got this uh work ethic uh from his father that never quit what you're doing until you succeed. And if you stay persistent in that uh for the right reasons for the wrong reasons, it can create that burnout. I was doing everything I could to be a positive influence, but I was met with resistance around every corner. My co-workers had left or had been exited one by one, until I was the only person my manager could rely on to get things done. The burden got heavier, the environment got more suffocating, and the recognition, well, it got thinner. I lost hope that things would get better. I felt broken, desperate, and really at the end of my rope. I was ready to leave the company. And I didn't know what to do next. I just knew I couldn't keep running at this pace. If you've ever felt like slowing down means falling behind, but you know that if you don't, you'll break. This one's for you. I spent 30 years in corporate leadership, making every mistake in the book. Some of them twice. I'm Preston Poor, and if you're a leader who's ever felt in over your head but too proud to say it, you're in the right place. This is PQ. Welcome. Quick recap. Episode six was about the activity trap, being the busiest person in the building and the least effective leader on the floor. Learning that nothing is a priority if everything is a priority, and that empowering your team is the ultimate progress multiplier. Last episode we talked about cutting through the noise, prioritizing, making real progress. But here's the tension that shows up once you start moving. You get afraid to stop. Because the moment you slow down, the voice kicks in. Someone else is gaining on you. If you rest, you'll fall behind. If you pause, you lose everything you've built. And that voice will run you into the ground if you let it. And I let it. Episode seven speed versus sustainability. Burnout. Every leader has a pace. And most of us set ours way too fast. Not because we don't know better, but because we're afraid of what happens when we slow down. We see the leader next to us grinding. We see the promotion going to the person who's always on. We tell ourselves rest is for people who aren't serious. So we keep going. Past exhaustion, past our health, past people who need us present, not productive. Speed asks, Am I keeping up? Sustainability asks, can I keep this up? And the most leaders never ask the second question until the answer is already no. Burnout doesn't happen all at once. It's a slow leak. You don't notice it until you're flat. And by then, you've already driven past every exit ramp. Looking back on how I managed my pace and my limits, I exercised some poor judgment. I used to brag about how little sleep I got. Four hours, five if it was a good night. It wasn't an accomplishment. It was a warning label. I just didn't read it. Turns out my body had been reading it for years. It just waited until I stopped to hand me the bill. I stopped exercising, stopped eating right, stopped being present at home. I was running so fast to keep up at work, I was falling behind everywhere else. I was employee of the month and a stranger in my own house. Someone asked me, How are you doing? I said, surviving. They laughed. I wasn't joking. Somewhere between 30 and 50, surviving stopped being a low bar and started being the whole plan. You heard where I ended up. Now here's how I got there. I was part of a group, not a team, and the distinction matters. My manager was self-preserving, more worried about impressing upper management than leading. She didn't have a lick of leadership in her bones. The group was filled with dissension and gossip, and roles weren't clear. Our business partner didn't understand or value our contribution. An underperforming coworker was dragging down the group's effectiveness. There was no recognition, and business results didn't meet expectations. Trust was nowhere to be found. We were going nowhere. Then the bleed started. Coworkers began leaving or were exited one by one until I was the only person the manager could rely on to get things done. The burden got heavy, the suffocating environment, the overwork, the complete lack of appreciation, it all compounded. And I started to burn out. I was doing everything I could to be a positive influence, but I was met with resistance around every corner. I lost hope that things would get better. I felt broken and desperate. And I was at the end of my rope and ready to leave the company. And I didn't know what to do next. So I prayed. I told God everything. My circumstances, my exhaustion, my despair. And I got the sense that I should hold on. And I wasn't sure what hold on meant or why. But a resolved to take it day by day and not give up. Well, the next day was my birthday. And when I got to work, my manager called me into her office and delivered the news. She was relocating to another city, and I'd soon have a new manager. And the relief that washed over me was immediate. And what a man, what a birthday present. Light at the end of the tunnel, and it wasn't an oncoming train, and I was instantly optimistic about the future. Well, I stayed at the company for many more years. What a difference a day and a prayer can make. I almost walked away from everything. Not because I wasn't strong enough, because I was running at a pace that was never meant to be sustained. God didn't tell me to run faster, he just told me to hold on. Most leaders I know go to church on Sunday and show up on Monday like they've never heard a word of it. I was one of them. The Discipled Leader Apprenticeship exists to close that gap. One-on-one discipleship that shapes how you actually lead, not just what you do. If you're tired of living two separate lives, visit Prestonpoor.com. All right. Hey, I've got Andrew and Sarah Beard in the house in PCube. So excited to have them here. Welcome. Thanks. Thanks. Happy to be here.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Yeah. Hey, I normally uh let folks introduce themselves instead of doing these really long bios about both of you. Yeah. So I just want to hand it over to you. Maybe Andrew, you'd start, just introduce yourself and then Sarah, however, you guys want to do, that'd be great.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

You don't want to read the bio I sent you. That was part of my expectations that you read that.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

I had to cut 20 minutes off the podcast. So we we had to we had a shortened.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

Good. Yeah. Uh my name is Andrew Beard. I uh am the pastor and lead uh the chapel at Seaside in lovely Seaside, Florida, a small little beach community between um uh Destin and Panama City. But I didn't grow up, I didn't grow up here. Um I grew up in Missouri, uh a suburb of Kansas City, and met Sarah um in Springfield, Missouri, where we went to college. And both of us had felt a call to ministry and jumped in to work in a ministry shortly after we got married. We were both serving, but we worked jumped into it in kind of a full-time capacity and been doing that for the last 20 years for about five years in Kansas City area, 10 years in the Dallas area. And then we've been here for six years. We got two boys, they're young teenagers, and we're just kind of blowing and going in lots of diction different directions in this season of our life. Yeah, it's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Right now is really fun. We um, for me, I also have done the exact same thing that Andrew has done for the last 20 years. This year we're celebrating 21 years of marriage, which is great. Um, and our kids are 12 and 13, about to be 13 and 14. Um, and then I also work at the chapel. I I lead. Um, I like to say I do everything that Andrew does not do.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

That's probably true. That's probably true.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

So anything that is um off the Sunday morning preaching schedule, um, I'm I'm kind of behind that. And so uh I do a little bit of all of the things. And so we've been down here for six years. Um, and this is a smaller church, but it's a huge reach. So I will say about us is we care a lot about the comings and goings of what happens in our town. And a lot of people don't have to worry about that, I think. And so we kind of have this unique perspective in life, but we work together full-time and have um in this capacity for 18 of the 21 years of our marriage. Wow. And so that's also been a really fun.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah. And we look we look very young and youthful and spry because the first like five plus years, uh, we were working exclusively with kind of youth in college, and then we transitioned to working exclusive exclusively with college students, and then kind of a larger reach across our church in Dallas. And then since here we've been uh working with people who are on vacation. So, you know, we uh we look like we're vacation people all the time.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Yeah, that's great. I love it. I love it. And and Carla, my wife and I uh just enjoy coming to visit uh the chapel at Seaside when we're there to experience the service that you put on. And not only that, I think they also we you go all do Bible studies on Wednesday mornings and uh Tuesday, the prayer time. And so uh what a great ministry for all the people that come and go for vacation there. And uh so a plug up for y'all, if you're listening, you have a chance to, and you're down on the 30A area, uh, I would encourage you to visit. Hey, but let's jump into the uh discussion questions real quick about burnout uh today and this question of you know, I'm running so fast. And I really want to dig into this a little bit because your partnership over these uh working together for 18 years, being in the ministry for 21, uh and everything, you've got you had to have experienced some times where you're like, oh my gosh, I'm exhausted, I'm worn out. So, Andrew, I want to throw the first question to you. Uh, when did you first know that the pace that you were in wasn't sustainable? And what did it actually take you, uh take for you to finally admit it, to finally just stop and say, wait a second, this pace is going too much for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a good question. Yeah, when Sarah and I first kind of were drawn to one another and started dating and started doing ministry stuff together, like we're kind of dreamers and builders and we're thinking, this is fun, we should do this. And then um many times those things have grown, and which is awesome. But when growing things happen, you continue to like, you know, have to keep throwing more fuel on the fire to keep it, keep it going. And so all the way from when we first started in full-time ministry together in Kansas City through our time in Dallas, we just kept, you know, taking on more, creating more, doing more projects. Um, and in 2018, we had done this massive renovation of a college ministry facility. It had taken everything, our blood, sweat, and tears, and all this stuff for this. And we opened it up in um uh uh January of 2019, January of 2019, and we were so excited this is gonna be it. We're you know, we now we can rest.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

We can plan our feet, we can just keep doing you know the program. And then we realize we've got to fund this thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yeah, and we need to fill with college students. And so we would like pick up our kids from school and take them over to the college facility and meet with college students and do worship gatherings and then uh finally get home at 10 p.m. and put our kids to bed and the next morning do the same thing. We're getting up early, meeting with college students, uh doing church work and all this stuff over and over and over again.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Yeah, and I would say at in this time in our lives, we're not just running our ministry, but we're a part of a bigger ministry that also has meetings and people that we have to answer to. And then we've got a whole team of people that are underneath us that were leading, and then we've got all of our volunteers that we have to like schedule and then meet with them and make sure that they're healthy. So we had created this rhythm of sort of everything depends on us, and we still have to answer to big, you know, the the big church.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

And so and I think that the truth is we don't we didn't really know that we were like doing an unsustainable pace, or we didn't really know that we were close to burnout until March 2020. We all kind of paused and we all had an opportunity to go, what am I doing with my life? And and I remember, I remember in March, we were having a conversation right as the world was starting to shut down, where we were like, Can we keep this up? Like, can we keep doing this? And then, of course, when the world paused, it caused us to go, no, actually, no, we can't. We can't keep doing this.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

And I'll say, Preston, too, it a really important thing for us is our family. And when we got so caught up into the rigor of what we were doing, um, we just brought our family with us. And so I like to say, our kids, like we were always with our kids, but like we weren't really with our kids. And and one of them was diagnosed with a just learning disability that needed attention. And when that was brought to our attention in February of 2020, I hit a place where I was like, I don't, we don't have time for this.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Which then was a wake up moment for us. Yeah. And then when we were caused to slow down, then we were like, we have to make actual changes in our life that actual like has sustainability for for who we are in the family that we want to be, the people we want to be, yeah, and the followers of Jesus that we want to be.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Yeah, yeah. So good. Um, well, let's do this, Sarah. I want to throw this next one to you uh because I think we're gonna kind of build because I really want to hear, since you've learned some of these lessons uh and the struggles that you went through around the burnout, how then do you cope with it? So we'll lead it into that here in a minute. But uh how do you tell the difference, Sarah, between pushing through a hard season and running yourself into the ground? There's there's a line there somewhere, right? Yeah. How do you know the difference?

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, I think this one has been really interesting to learn because I sort of think you have to learn your way through this when you're trying to build something, and we're builders and dreamers. And I know this is across the board with different people's, you know, jobs. There are things that you have seasons where you're like, we are in a building season. Yeah. And it is like go time.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

This has to happen.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

And you you just have to set the pace. There have been seasons in my life where I'm like, I cannot keep doing this, and I cannot stop anything that I am doing because then the floor will fall out. And that's just true. You know, that's just true with like certain times in life. But the the thing about that is to be able to go, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? And when I get to that place, am I building a future in this moment that is going to allow me to have an escape route? Then so stop saying yes when you feel overwhelmed and burnt out. The difference I think of knowing when it's self-inflicted and when it's like just the season is um, well, it's one, it's wisdom, but it's also saying, like, is there a time where this can stop?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, will this relent? Yeah. The one of the things that we oftentimes talk about is like when you're entering into seasons, like for us, like leading up to Christmas, leading up to Easter, those are like busy, kind of churchy seasons that take a lot out of us. So like I can't really go, ah, you know, I'm really busy, I'm tired, I'm not really gonna do Christmas or Easter because I'm like kind of a big part of my job, you know. But there's a clear, there's a clear exit at the end where I go, okay, I'm I'm focused towards this. And so that that's where my line is, is on December 26th. Like I set down those stuff and I'm like super present with my family and our responsibilities at home and all those things. And so for me, I can have those. But for whether it's business or a startup or a deal you're trying to close, like sometimes the line is a little different for each person. And it and you kind of got to ask yourself, what it what am I trying to accomplish? Like, what's the line I'm trying to cross where I can say, okay, I can take the foot off the gas? Because if you're just moving that line down the road constantly, it's like when I hit the next deal, when I hit the next client.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Like that is a you're in a perpetual state of that's like a you're never gonna heal.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, it's a treadmill that you will never get to the end of. And so you gotta like decide, okay, clearly this is where the line is. And it's gonna be different for each person depending on like what season they're in. Yeah.

unknown 16:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

I love that because uh I look at it l like living in compartments, and so you recognize your the words you use with season. Yeah. Yeah. So if you can figure out there's a beginning and ending, and then have some rest, if you will, and then come back. You might pick up that pace again, but it's that pausing and the the time on December the 26th and say, hey, yeah, we've done what we need to do. Take some time and then we'll come back to it again.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So yeah, I think one of the things that we were highlighting when we were kind of talking through this was like we we try to be very aware in the season, like this is too much. Right. And I know that this season's gonna come back. So it's easy, it's better to be able to go, how do I prevent this from feeling this way the next time that I know I'm gonna be in a season that is coming like this? Because I think we can kind of are, you know, we know those heavy seasons, even in in business, you know. Like we were talking about a lot of our friends are real estate agents, and like they feel like they can never not answer the phone. And I'm like, you know, sometimes it's okay to not answer the phone. You can wait like three hours. You can call it, but there are some times that you know a deal is very important, and you need to just let your family and the people who are depending on you know, like, okay, this is one of those times, and just bear with me. And then, you know, it's easier to deal with in the heavy season.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah, yeah. So good. Okay, thank great insights on that. Um, so Andrew, I'm gonna kick this one back to you over here. And it says, uh, what did you have to let go of to lead at a sustainable pace? And what was the hardest thing to let go of? Uh yeah, okay. So, you know, it's time for transparency and honesty on this one, huh? You look like we're about to deliver it.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Yeah. I mean, when we were we were in Dallas doing this great work with this awesome facility, and when we started to really wrestle through that was when we were kind of presented with this opportunity to lead this church here. And so when you say, what did you give up? What did you let go? What did you walk away from? Everything we built for the previous table. I mean, we walked away from that ministry, we walked away from um working in that church, we walked away from that structure, we walked away from the community that we had there. Now, we still have great community there. We love those people, still are really special to us. In that ministry, we love seeing what uh God continues to do in and through that place, but but we had to walk away from that. And I don't think we walked away from it because we were like, we're burned out, we can't do this here. But we knew that in conjunction with feeling like God was leading us to a new place, this new place would allow us to set new paces and new rhythms. And so for us, we we said, we're just doing a fresh start. And so we had to build in rhythms into our life. So shortly after, in the process of us moving from Dallas to here, uh, we'd read um John Mark Homer's book, Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, that it really is a huge supporter of building these uh uh rhythms and paces in your life that are much more sustainable. We started practicing Sabbath. So on Saturdays, Friday night through Saturday night, we just turn off our email, turn off our phones, disconnect from from the things that we think our identity is found in, and we remind ourselves our identity is found in in our creator, in our sustainer, our redeemer. And it turns out all those people that would have called me on uh Saturday or sent me emails, I get back to them on Sunday. And they're fine. And they're fine. And they're fine with that.

SPEAKER_00 19:57

No, I will say we we can say, like we we really did. We quit everything, like we changed everything fundamentally about our lives when we realized we were doing a thing that was not sustainable, but it was also building something that was not sustainable. And so when we moved, we had new insight into how to build something that was going to be sustainable. We do not say yes to everything because it's a good idea. We make sure that we've got people in place to help carry a vision that's not built on us because then that leaves you feeling like if I stop, the floor will fall out. And that's not a that is not a healthy place, I don't think to live ever. But then, like, you know, we were discussing, you know, with you before we hit record here that that just a few months ago, we had gone through a very serious season here from September until Easter that was so rigorous. And, you know, you have to realize with the work that we do too, it is not just like what you see on a Sunday morning, it's also all of the people and all of their things and all of you know the suffering and the yeah counseling. And it's it's a heavy, heavy thing sometimes. And we hit this spot. Andrew turned and looked at me and he just said, I don't think I have compassion anymore.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Which is a problem if you're a pastor. Like it's a problem. In general, it's like generally speaking, want to have compassion.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

But literally, my immediate response was, you have to leave. Like you have to go and have a retreat. And you know, God is so kind. I that night we got an email from somebody who said, Hey, there's some spots at this retreat center. Do you want? I literally that day. Wow. It was like, sign up, don't even ask any questions, just go. You need to go and you need to regroup. Now, I will say this. I think the thing that is at risk every time that you hit burnout, like what are you giving up? You are giving up pride and you are also giving up some measure of success. That could be financial, that could be um other people's opinions of you.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

Um, but I'm gonna say all of that kind of falls into this pride basket. And we have to ask the question always what is the greater loss?

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

What is the greater loss?

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, and in when you ask yourself. Of what is the greater loss? You when you can center yourself on your identity of like who you are, that loss becomes a lot easier to answer. So if you think my success is based on having, you know, X amount of zeros in my bank account or a certain amount of closed deals or whatever, that's that's what you're building your whole framework around of like your goals and who you see yourself to be and all those things. And so you're gonna work tirelessly till you till you reach that. But if you decide your success is I want to have a like a thriving, meaningful relationship with my family, I want to like, you know, know my kids and be at their games and their events, or I want to have like a meaningful community and relationship with people in my neighborhood, or I want to have a deep, thriving uh faith, or all of the above. Well, you gotta find a balance, you gotta find a balance, and you may have to say, this deal is gonna have to wait because it's taking too much from the stuff that actually is gonna sustain me for the rest of my life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

So, so good. I I I one thing I want to call out, I think that's important for uh the listeners to hear is that sometimes you run into these situations like y'all did. It's okay to walk away and quit, yeah, isn't it? It is I actually I've talked to somebody here in a recent episode that he uh got this uh work ethic uh from his father that never quit what you're doing. Oh, yeah. Until you succeed. And if you keep going down that path and can't say, okay, wait a sec, I need to be doing something different. This isn't working for me. Yeah. And if you stay persistent in that uh for the right reasons, for the wrong reasons, it can create that burnout. Yeah, I love what you all did. You just said, hey, wait a second, let's step back for a minute. This is not the right thing for us, not sustainable. What can we do better? So let's talk about that real quick here then too, Sarah. Tell me a little bit about uh where you are now and the rhythms that you have. And then uh, if you're speaking to the millennial listener today, uh from a leadership perspective and this this whole thing about that, what do they need to hear from both of you? What how would you encourage them today?

SPEAKER_00 23:51

Yeah, I I actually heard recently somebody say, Don't build a life you want to escape from. And I was like, that's like wise, those are wise words. And so um for us, when we when we moved and we were like, we have an opportunity here. Listen, we being builders and visionaries, you just kind of want to go, oh, we could do this, let's do it. And that's the first thing. But then you always have to ask your next question, which to me is to what end? What is the end goal of this? Why is this so important right now? What is what am I actually trying to achieve? And how is it going to actually benefit the the world? We always say the glory of God and good of others, right? Like, oh, so what is that gonna, how is this gonna fall into that category? And so creating rhythms for us is like there are things in the morning, the very first thing we do, we sleep away from our phones. Our phones have a drawer. We plug, our kids don't have phones yet, right? We are like, this is not the first thing we need to see, and the last thing we need to see. We need to let God shape our identity. And we need to like, uh, I heard recently somebody say, you need to inhabit the time. Do not let the time inhabit you. So to yeah, to be able to say, I'm gonna carve out spaces and times that are nourishing for my soul so that I can lead one well, but with um discernment and wisdom to say which direction do I actually need to go and what do I really need to say yes to?

SPEAKER_01 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Um we built Sabbath into our life because we felt like it was really important to, especially for people who are supposed to be leaders in a spiritual way, um, to just say, like, I cannot believe that my identity is found in me showing up or that somebody's salvation actually depends on me answering my emails on Saturday. Like, I can't believe that that is true. Cause that is putting way too much pressure on me uh and on you. Now, there are times that people need us and we will go. Um, but but for the most part, it's figuring out, and I think this is what Andrew was so articulate in in saying this to me earlier. Um, if he had to speak to the millennial and say, like, how do you build something that is sustainable? is he asked this question. He said, What is your measure of success? And you have to know that.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

You have to know that.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Yeah. And the the truth is to invest in like what will be with you at the end of your life, what will like care for you when you're sick, will like, you know, call on you and check on you, is probably not your work. It's probably not your accomplishments. It's your relationships, it's your family, it's your spouse, it's significant others. It's all of those things. And so if you're if you're choosing to exclusively invest in the things that burn you out and you are wildly successful in business, but you lose all your family or your relationships or even your faith in the process, you did not win. You did not win at that thing. You may have like closed the deal, but you did not win. Uh, buddy of ours who had is a writer and speaker and had done a lot of great work about a decade or so ago, chose to actually tap the brakes when his kids were little. And he said, I'm gonna kind of hold hold back and I'm gonna be investing in my family. And he watched other people that were in his same realm pass him. And there's a lot of questioning of like, oh man, did I miss out? And guess what? Now he's back and he's doing the things he loves. And he has a decade that he was so dialed into his family that he was able to be like really present for them. And it is okay. It is okay if he's not the number one selling, you know, author or speaker or things like that. It is okay because he has a great family that loves him, that he was present for, and he did not burn out.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Oh, that's so good. You know, I'd share with you real quick, and this is a little bit of burnout because I share a story earlier in this uh podcast, uh, the episode about uh the time that I did burn out. But I did make those decisions along my career where I decided not to on Saturday morning, and I love golf, but I decided not to go play golf on Saturday. I wanted to be at the T-ball games or the basketball games, cheerleading or whatever it was. I wanted to be home at night for dinner and be around my kids. And so, but that also had a cost that you all just mentioned. Yeah. And because uh, and there are many reasons I wasn't ever a vice president of Coca-Cola, but we'll blame it on this. Um, just kidding. We will uh it was the fact that I I wasn't willing to at some point have made a decision and said, hey, I'm not gonna burn out, I'm not gonna lean in too far on this. Uh, and I don't want to sell my soul for the company, if you will. And uh that I think that paid, I've got a 33-year-old daughter and a 30-year-old son that I'm friends with now. Yeah, yeah. Love to be around. So a bride that I adore. And uh things weren't always easy, but you just make those decisions through life. And I think that's one that benefited for me for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

Yeah, yeah. I want to say, I want to say one other thing if that's okay. You you brought up the idea of being able to quit and uh, you know, uh our mutual friend who I think shared that idea that he was told he could never quit. Uh, but one of the things I think is often missed is you can quit well, and you can quit and like kill still keep friendships and relationships, and you can walk away from a job or a business deal and just say, Hey, you're great. I just can't do this right now, or it's it's just not worth it. And I I love you, or I appreciate this opportunity, or thanks for reaching out. I just can't do this right now, and that is okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Yeah, I feel like people are so afraid to say no because they're afraid they're gonna miss the next thing. And we're always like, You will lose your soul in the process if you say yes. Just learn to say no. Yeah, just be okay with losing a deal every once in a while. Be okay with somebody leaving your church because you couldn't like be okay with it. Um, because there's always going to be another opportunity. Like we you don't have to say yes all the time. We are humans. We are just that's right.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Yeah. So yeah, so good. Hey, you guys, the great discussion today. Man, I tell you what, the listeners, if you're listening today to Andrew and Sarah and their thoughts on the burnout, the sustainability, them sharing their story with us today. So much wisdom in there and so much to think through. And if you can just take a couple nuggets out of what they said and uh uh not burn out and listen to their example, we're gonna benefit greatly. So, uh, Andrew and Sarah, thanks for being on PCUbe. Greatly appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, grateful for the opportunity. Andrew, Sarah, thanks so much for joining us on PC. And here's what keeps coming back to me as I listen to you. The leaders who burn out aren't the ones who care too little. They're the ones who never learn to stop. And there's a story in scripture about exactly that. You know, there's a moment in 1 Kings 19 that I keep coming back to. Elijah had just done the impossible. He stood on Mount Carmel against 450 prophets of Baal. He called fire down from heaven and he won. By any measure, he was at the peak of his leadership. And the very next day he ran for his life. Jezebel threatened to kill him. And this man, the same man who just stared down 450 false prophets, ran into the wilderness and sat under a tree and said, I've had enough. I've had enough, Lord, take my life. That's burnout, not from failure, but from success at an unsustainable pace. And here's what God did. He didn't lecture Elijah. He didn't say, Get up, you just won on Mount Carmel. What's wrong with you? He didn't give him a pep talk. He let him sleep. Then he sent an angel with bread and water, get up and eat. Elijah ate and laid down again. The angel came back a second time, get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you. God's answer to Elijah's burnout wasn't a strategy. It wasn't a priority grid. It wasn't a motivational speech. It was rest and food. And the words, the journey is too much for you. That might be the most compassionate sentence in scripture for the leader who's running on empty. If you're at the end of your rope today, running scared and running on empty, ready to quit, God's not asking you to run faster. He's asking you to sit down and eat and let Him handle what's next. The journey is too much for you. And that's not weakness, that's the truth that sets you free. So what do we do with all this? I'm not going to let you sit in the tension. Here are three things that I wish someone had said to me before I ran myself into the ground and came one bad day away from walking out. Number one, rest is not retreat. I spent years believing that slowing down meant falling behind. It doesn't. It means you'll still be standing when the leaders who refuse to stop are carried off the field. Rest is a discipline, not a luxury. The leader who builds recovery into the rhythm isn't weak, they're wise. And they'll outlast everyone who thinks sleep is optional. Number two, your pace is not your identity. I were busy and exhausted like they were titles on my business card. They weren't accomplishments, they were symptoms. When your pace becomes your personality, you've lost something that you can't get back with a promotion. Check yourself. If the only version of you that shows up is the tired one, something needs to change. And number three, God's provision often arrives the morning after you decide to hold on. I was ready to quit. I prayed, and I held on for one more day. And the next morning the door opened. Now that's not a formula, that's a testimony. But I've seen it enough times to know this. Don't make your biggest decision on your worst day. Hold on. Pray. And let God do the night shift. So before you book the next thing, answer the next call, say yes to one more, ask yourself the question that I never stop to ask. Not can I keep up, but can I keep this up? The pace that built your career doesn't have to be the pace that breaks you. Slow down. Sit under the tree. Let God bring the bread. The journey is too much for you. And that's exactly why He's in it with you. So you learn that the pace was never meant to be sustained. You've given yourself permission to rest. You've started leading from a rhythm rather than a sprint. But there's one more tension in this arc. And it's the one you feel every time you walk into a room where everyone expects you to have it together. Because you don't. Not always. Not even most of the time. Next episode, I'm supposed to be calm, but I'm not. Appearance versus reality. See you there. Well, that's a wrap. Thanks for spending part of your day with me, and I know your time is valuable and your to-do list is long. If this was helpful, share it with someone else who needs it. Like it, comment, leave a review. It helps more people find the show, and quite honestly, it makes me feel like I'm not just talking to myself in here. And if today's tension, hit home, maybe a little too close to home, and if you're tired of being one person on Sunday and someone else on Monday, check out the Disciple Leader Apprenticeship at Preston4.com. Ten weeks, one hour a week, one conversation at a time, no slides, no lectures, just real talk. And find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Peace out, EROXDOR.