Dawson Woods

8 hour work day, plus commute, plus getting ready for work, plus plus plus. Thinking about spending all that time just to pay rent and buy the occasional treat, used to send me spinning. With more “time on” than “time off”, understanding the greater purpose of work really feels like life or death to me. I’ve been caught up in the frenzy of workaholism and experienced the crushing sensations of burnout. While I’m far from having all the answers, my relationship to work is getting healthier, more nuanced, and more invigorating than ever before.

From 2015 to 2021 I was in and out of different colleges and universities all the while working to pay these educational bills. This 6 year marathon of 10+ hour days hit me hard and I eventually experienced a full burnout at the end of 2021. Dissociating consistently, unmotivated, and numb to pleasure, continuing as I had been was no longer a choice. It was time I got out of my head a little and started addressing my emotions that had been screaming at me the whole time.

The problem with the commonly found advice around burnout, is it usually just tells you to do less. It completely ignores the fact that burnout is caused in multiple ways, and some of them have nothing to do with workload (yes, you can experience burnout without even having a job). The other thing this advice ignores, is the reason someone like myself had so much on my plate in the first place, it felt good to accomplish things. Doing less didn’t leave me feeling rejuvenated, it left me feeling meaningless. Do less is terrible advice for someone like me.

Today, I use knowledge of neurotransmitters (like dopamine and cortisol), flow states and clutch states, social boundaries, clear communication, and productivity tricks to continue to accomplish my goals, while steering clear of burnout. I rarely ever work more than 6 hours in a day and I cover a lot of ground in those hours.

With the vast number of hours spent collecting and distilling information that allows me to feel good while working, it is now my pleasure to share that knowledge. Helping others move towards greater enjoyment of their jobs, achieve their goals, and bring purpose to the activity they spend a large majority of their lives doing.

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  Dancing is one of my favorite forms of active rest. Ecstatic dance, contact improv, and contemporary dance. I also have a love affair with my leviwand. Leviwanding is a not so common circus flow art that always seems to blow people’s minds due to the illusion it produces. While the illusions are fun, the flow state I achieve dancing with my leviwand are incomparable to any other activity.

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  I used to be a collector of hobbies and skills. I can juggle, unicycle, sew, knit, play piano, do basic acrylic painting, I built most of the tables in my apartment, I garden, took bartending courses, marketing courses, accounting courses, have a forklift licence, build websites (including this one), and a plethora of other things.
  Now I realize that I was just chasing the dopamine high of learning new things fast. While my “skills” list is long, my ability to enter into flow state was weak and my long term enjoyment of any given activity was near non-existent.
  I didn’t just like learning new things, I needed to. I have since narrowed my list of interests and begun to find greater and greater pleasure in mastery.

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  I’m a terrible cook. I can turn almost any recipe into something bland. I keep meaning to fix that, but the truth is, I don’t mind eating bland food. It’s just a little embarrassing if I’m trying to impress a date 😂