How To Deal With Kaizen Burnout
When I got a job at Trader Joes in 2012 I was full of hope and hibiscus flowers. I loved the people I worked with, I loved that they offered part time employees health benefit options and most of all, I loved the vibe of the company.
During one of the first crew meetings, I heard the word ‘kaizen’ for the first time from a manager named Doug who notoriously wore funky socks.
Kaizen is the Japanese word for ‘improvement’ and in corporate culture means doing better than you did before on all tasks in your job description. Kaizen is reaching further, doing better, working harder and showing up as the best version of yourself that you can be.
I could write an entire novel on the emotional and performative labor that went into my job at Trader Joes. Instead, I want to focus on the insidious nature of the infamous kaizen concept and how it relates to your debt free journey.
On the surface, kaizen seems harmless. At least that’s what I thought before I majored in corporate power and communications and became jaded with capitalist dread.
When you take a closer look you notice that the kaizen ‘continuous improvement’ philosophy is corporate brainwashing wrapped up in a pretty bow. At the end of the day, when you kaizen for a company, you’re kaizening (is that a thing?) for a bottom line — and it certainly isn’t your bottom line.
While I do believe that everyone should try to show up as their best selves and be the best version they can be, I also believe in giving yourself grace and understanding that the present time is a blessing - not something to be rushed to make bigger profits.
Kaizen to me is a rat race.
We all love to talk about the rat race in the debt free community, but no one talks about this particular marathon.
When is enough enough? Seriously, when? This is me, Vee, asking the real question.
How many hours a day are you obsessing about being better, doing more, achieving that accolade, or that raise?
How much energy are you putting into working your 9-5 with overtime and a side hustle? To become debt free a month earlier?
I’ve done all of this myself. I’ve thought: “If I just do x, y, and z, I’ll be the best partner, child, sibling, worker, blogger, and creator. I can do it all, I know I can. I just have to work harder. Put my nose to the grindstone. Be better. I need to be better. Better, Vee, better. Work, work, work.”
Does that not sound like a rat race to you? Because that’s what it sounds like to me.
I love the debt free community, don’t get me wrong. You can tell I do because I criticize it often and relentlessly. That’s because I know it’s an influential platform — full of ideas and action.
It’s the best of our country, and yes, I know it sounds cheesy, but it’s true.
We have people of all walks of life in one place with a common goal.
There are few places I find nowadays that offer something as collaborative and inclusive.
The real issue is the balance and empathy exhibited. There’s an undisputed pressure to never stop working, never stop improving, never stop increasing the bottom line, never stop moving forward, never stop never stop never stop.
And that’s not okay, folks.
You MUST stop. You MUST breathe. You MUST regroup.
This is the way of healthy humans — to live in the moment and appreciate the work you have done, too rest and to recalibrate yourself so that you can reach your goals in a balanced way.
I don’t want anyone kaizening to death… or kaizening out of the debt free community due to burn out.
I want you all to know that it is okay to spend money on yourself.
It’s okay to not work 80+ hours a week.
It’s okay to take a break now and then.
It’s okay to put your mental health ahead of your money.
Don’t trade one rat race for another.
Here’s are some pieces of advice from veteran DFCers about balance:
If you really want to purchase something during your journey, weigh the opportunity cost. Figure out how much it will set your journey back if you bought the item and then decide if it’s worth purchasing. Also, don’t forget to celebrate your wins!
Take a day off, make a short to-do list and give yourself a treat for getting through that list. Realize that burnout is inevitable, but you can get through it!
Let go of perfectionism. Chasing perfection just adds unnecessary stress and pressure to an already challenging journey. Accept the fact that every budget won't be the best budget ever and things like emergencies and surprise expenses will definitely happen. You don't have to be perfect to make progress.
People think a need on the DFJ is motivation. But really it’s self-discipline. Motivation comes and goes, day by day. Self discipline is the real magic. Making choices everyday that get you a step closer to the life you want, even when it’s hard and everyone is yelling YOLO.
Always remember your motivation! Where do you want to be in 10 years? If you quit now, will you get there? Probably not. Keep going!
The best thing I think you can do to prevent yourself from burning out on this journey is to remember not to deprive yourself. Deprivation creates lack of motivation. If your journey is going to be a couple of years, and you deprive yourself of everything you enjoy, you’re going to be miserable and you’re going to want to give up. Cut back where you truly can, increase your the money coming in, still do the things you love and make adjustments along the way as necessary.
Speaking from experience, burnout is real & it sucks! My husband was Active Duty in the Navy and I worked my 9-5. On Friday and Saturday evenings we were doing DoorDash as a side hustle. I was absolutely obsessed with making money and not spending any. I realized that I went from one polar opposite to the other; spending haphazardly to penny pinching.
We both felt the burnout & it caused discord in our marriage. On our DFJ, it often felt overwhelming. Especially on IG when you see folks making huge money strides & you struggle with making minimum payments. I felt the need to compete & pay off debt as quickly as possible. The saying “comparison is the thief of joy“ couldn’t be more true. Comparing our debt payoff to someone else’s was only fuel to the burnout.
I had to learn that it is about balance. Finding that happy medium where you give yourself grace and empathy. Be realistic that it might take some time to become debt free. Your DFJ timeline is not parallel with anyone else’s. Try to find ways to celebrate your wins. Stay the course, but allow for flexibility and know when to dial back.
Debt Free Journey burnout is REAL! My wife and I experienced the burnout in the middle of our journey and realized aggressively paying off debt wasn’t worth it during this season of our lives. The money fights that we had and the stress from our DFJ became too much for us, so we decided to pause our DFJ in order to realign our goals and focus more important things like family time and preparing to buy our first home.
One of my best strategies to not burn out is to stretch a task out for a good amount of time. So if a task takes maybe three hours of work I would probably stretch it out five hours where I’m able to take him breaks watch some TV and listen to music while I’m working that way in though it takes longer it’s not that draining of my energy.