When to Quit: Burnout, Breaks, and Toxic Studios

If you're dragging yourself to the studio (or your workplace) and have a deep feeling that you might be "done" with teaching... This episode is for you.

In this quick, straight-to-the-point chat I dive into the sensitive topic of recognizing when it's time to make a change in your life, whether you're an indoor cycling instructor or anyone facing burnout and challenges.

I even get personal about the time I should have left a workplace sooner than I did, and how it's affected me since.

Whether you're an indoor cycling instructor OR someone who has a niggling feeling that it might be time to quit, this episode is for you.

STUDIO SALES ACCELERATOR: AUGUST 20 WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
Use code EARLYBIRD until August 9! 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

• The Big Leap by Gaye Hendricks
• Crucial Conversations book

🎙️ Episode Highlights:

1. Recognizing Burnout: Are you just disinterested or truly done? Pay attention to how long you've been feeling this way and whether it's a consistent feeling of being over it.
2. Physical and Mental Symptoms: Identify the physical and mental symptoms you experience, like migraines or chronic stress, as they can be indicators that it's time for a break.
3. The Zone of Genius: We talk about how to recognize the difference between operating in your "zone of excellence" (where you excel but might not be fully passionate) and your "zone of genius" (where you feel aligned, energized, and creative).
4. Toxic Work Environment: Toxicity can take a toll on your confidence and well-being for years to come- and one of the few situations where I recommend getting the F out as soon as humanly possible. 
5. Taking a Break: Sometimes, all you need is a break to recharge and get creatively inspired. Take time away from the usual routine to rediscover your passion.
6. Reducing Your Schedule: A reduced schedule can be liberating and help you focus on your strengths and other side hustles that bring you joy.
7. Positive Closure: Leave on a high note if you feel it's time to move on. Don't be afraid to take a hiatus; remember, you can always return.

Quitting or taking a break is not a sign of failure but a courageous step toward personal growth and self-care. Tune in to gain insights and discover the best path for you! 🎧🚴‍♀️

Want to level up in 2025? My Black Friday sale is on now for ALL courses and programs with 25% off! Use code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

Transcript

0:00

.Welcome to the yes, you can podcast a soft place to land for fitpros and aspiring entrepreneurs. Looking for a motivational cheerleader. Who's been through it all and believes your best life is about being brave and tapping into your magic. Hi, I'm Hannah Pratt, an online coach and vulnerability clean I'm here. Ready to share my experiences through grief. Life and finding my place on the podium to help you level up. So grab a latte and a notebook and get ready to be inspired. Through the yes you can podcast Hey friends. Welcome to another episode of the yes, you can podcast today. We are talking about. Quitting and burnout. Now this episode will be applicable to, I want to say everyone, um, there's certain situations and scenarios that will likely be more. Relevant for instructors and coaches. But if you're a listener of the show and you've been hanging on. It's for all the content in spite of not being an instructor. This is going to be one that I think you're going to enjoy and I'm going to try and keep it pretty quick. A little announcement that if you're listening to this on time, I have an upcoming workshop for studio owners coming up on the 20th of August. Now this is going to be all about how to generate revenue, how to run effective sales campaign. I've been in charge of running sales campaigns, like things like black Friday or summer specials. Four studios and helping mentor and coach others. And I've seen upwards of 50 K of revenue come in. That's really strategic and won't burn out your client list or dilute your audience or force you to feel like you have to then run another sale to actually get more revenue in. So it's, I'm super excited about this workshop. It is going to be a paid one. I do a lot of free webinars, a lot of free stuff. This one's going to be paid because it's going to be two hours with me live on zooms. They're gonna be able to ask me questions if you are interested. In joining that workshop either. Attending it live or getting it and grabbing the replay afterwards, you can register in the show notes. Now let's get right into this episode. So I had a question come in and it was from an anonymous person into my instructor magic community. So they're truly anonymous. I have no idea who they are. And the question was really heartbreaking because it was around finding that magic in the studio again, after losing it. And when the, basically the question was one, how do you know when it's time to quit? How do you know when it's time to leave the studio behind? And I think that this question is super relevant for anybody who's in a phase in their life where they're feeling. Either bird out uninspired or a certain degree of just like Malays and sort of. Disinterest about something in their life. Now I think that there's some really important considerations when you come at this question of how do you know when it's time to quit or take a break or move on to something else? Number one is, are you just disinterested or are you truly done? And sometimes that's hard to figure out for me. I always look at the length of time that I've been feeling this way, because sometimes you're uninspired and that's been going on for like a month or two months, but it's not this consistent feeling of like, I am over this. And there's nothing, even the things that used to light me up that are bringing me back to the place that I used to feel really excited about it. Um, if it's has been going on a long time, like if you're in a job and you've been feeling this way for six months, seven months, Maybe even a year, depending on how long you staying in your, your roles for it could be a, it could be an indicator that it's time to look for something new, whether it's a new opportunity. Whether it's a new company, um, new. A new opportunity in that company or new company entirely. Or if you're an instructor, whether it's time to reduce your schedule, take a break or quit completely. I went through a period of burnout this year. And I say burnout with a bit of a caveat because they manage my burnout pretty well. Like I know what's happening. I'm aware of it and I try and take proactive steps. So I knew that I was feeling a little. Mm, I think tired, I will say physically and mentally. In teaching the schedule that I was, which was, you know, five, sometimes six times a week for the last year and a half, since I was full-time with wheelhouse and, and working as the director of marketing, I was working also teaching that length of time because I could make those daytime schedule, uh, scheduled rides. And so I was teaching Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday. And that did not leave a lot of time for me to just be away from the studio. Especially my full-time job was also being the director of marketing for wheelhouse. It was a lot of wheelhouse all the time. And when you are an obsessive, like I am. I love this. I'm so excited about this mode. That's great. That's fantastic. But it can only last for so long when you're exerting yourself physically. So for my second question, in terms of instructors specifically, Is this a time when you need to take a break? Because I took a break in July. I booked the entire month off with the exception of two or three rides. And I knew that I physically needed the break so that I could also mentally re-engage so understanding whether your symptoms are physical, mental, and how you can build in time. To take like two. Create space, right. Just to get some space from what you're doing. The question that came in was pretty heartbreaking because it was talking about the length of time, like back to question one. Was that this had been going on for two years. They then re-engaged with indoor cycling. They went to a, an event to spin event and they fell in love, but it was, it was elsewhere. And then they came back to their home studio and like, could not get that magic back. And basically were like physically in pain during training mentally like crying and just not there just could not do it. And they ended up believing training. And so the second question of being like, is this physical burnout? Symptoms will be for me, they were like consistent migraines. Every single week. I had a migraine sometimes twice a week. And it got to the point where even though I knew I was having a vacation coming up, it's like, I couldn't, there's nothing I could do. To avoid this physical stress that kept coming up. And it was, it was like, my body was screaming at me. And my advice to this person was, it sounds like your body's trying to tell you something. So do you have a physical symptom, like a migraine or another stress response? Do you feel like physically sick when you are. In this space consistently, whether it's a studio, whether it's your job. What physical manifestations are coming up and then mentally the stress, you know, that is one of the worst things for your body cortisol. I mean, This is going on a tangent. I'll let ADHD, but two of my dogs, while one, for sure the second one maybe has Cushing's disease. And this is where there's a tumor on the pituitary gland, which then increases the level of cortisol. In their body and they need daily medication to reduce it. I see the effects of cortisol on an animal, which is like shaking, weight, loss, hair loss, like skin. Um, rash. And of course, this is super exaggeration because this is not something that's happening in humans, but underneath the surface, stress can cause so many different things and it's can exacerbate diseases. It can really like accentuate and speed up things that are happening. So if you are stressed mentally, you're probably going to see physical symptoms too. Um, and just understanding where that line is for you, of how. How serious. This is starting to be for me. Those weekly migraines, the tension, the just feeling. Like physically and mentally, like I couldn't, I was not into it. Um, Was, and, and more than just being, not being into it. I was actually sick or I was starting to get sick, was a huge indicator for me that I needed to take some time off. Now. Three is, do you like the person that you are when you're in this group of people or in this is a really honest question that requires a lot of self-awareness and self-reflection. There's a point where you will probably not be excited by this version of yourself when you were edging on burnout or you're living in burnout or your. Lee or you're in a misaligned place. So you might not even be in burnout, but let's just say it's like, you're not in alignment with your goals and you're working. Uh, some place that really does not let you up in a job that did not lay you up or in a studio that does not let you up. And you do not love this version of you that could, that could, uh, manifest in. You are like the worst version of yourself. You're toxic. You're gossiping. You are not positive. You might be having unhealthy habits. You might. Um, generally just not feel as, as shiny and bright and optimistic. And if you believe in any grams and your star signs and all of this sort of stuff, there's all these different limits or these like. I don't want to say limits, but like, there's these different spectrums of who you are as a person. And when you're at your best, you are one version. And when you're at your worst, you're another version. For me when I'm at my worst, I am usually in a misaligned job or I have clients that are completely out of alignment. And I feel like I, there no matter what I do, I can't get back to that positive version because my environment is not conducive to me being creative and supportive and excited, and energetic and all this sorts of stuff. So for me, knowing what I needed to take a break from teaching consistently is also, I'm not really a fan of the person I am. I'm not doing my playlists in advance. And of course, you know how I feel about playlisting, like. Do not spend hours and hours on it. But when I was getting to the point where I was like doing it at the studio before I taught, I'm like, wow, I'm really not showing up as the vest version of the coach that I would be excited to learn from. And am I giving a great product? Am I giving a great class? Absolutely. I can do it with my eyes closed, but there's so much more potential that I have as a coach that I'm not tapping into because I'm just not the best version of myself. Um, other ways you could be like the greatest version when you're in alignment, as you feel creatively inspired, you feel like you have this boundless energy. We talk about. Uh, working in years. Zone of genius versus your zone of excellence. A book I highly recommend everybody read or listen to. I love the audio book because his voice is super soothing. Is the big leap by gay Hendricks. And he talks about being in your zone of genius is when you are completely aligned with your purpose and you feel this boundless energy, and you're just. You like. It's it's like you're so in-sync, you're so aligned in your purpose and your passion and your skills and your ability and your interests. And everything is just coming together. A lot of people never experienced this by the way. So don't, if you've never experienced this, you know, there's still a lot of potential for you to, especially if you're listening to personal development podcasts like this. Your zone of excellence is something you're great at. And you can do probably better than the average person, but you are not in a place where your interests and your ability completely line up. And so some people, the external observer will be like, you're amazing at this. Oh my gosh. You're so wonderful. And they'll give you lots of praise and you're like, okay, I should love this. So for those who work in a full-time job, this is often where you sort of get stuck because you you're really good at it. You make okay. Money and still, like, why would you leave that comfortable place? Right. Well, because you're not in your zone of genius and there's more potential. So if you find yourself consistently being in a zone of accents or worse, less than that, Then it's, it's an indicator that maybe you need to shift. What you're doing, how you're doing it and your environment usually. So finding a new modality, you might not want to stop coaching, but you might be interested in a new type of movement, just like our writers and clients get interested in new types of movements. Right. You might decide you want to take on one-on-one coaches, our clients, instead of coaching group exercise classes. You might want to host your own workshops around wellness and that's something that's lighting you up right now. And have going to teach on a podium in front of other people. So figuring out what lights you up on, where your zone of geniuses is a really good question to ask yourself, to figure out. Is this time for me to move on time, to take a break or, um, or reduce my schedule. So those are sort of the three outcomes I see sort of happening with people. Another indication that you might want to quit or take a break or reduce your schedule is you are simply working in so more than like being misaligned with your purpose or working in your zone of excellence instead of your zone of genius. You could be in a really place. I look back and I think about this probably. More frequently than anybody would expect. I was in a really toxic environment as a senior leader, and I was let go from that position during COVID, after having been promoted into it. And then really not. Set up for success and kind of Gaslight and kind of, I mean, there's so many things that went on there that I actually cannot legally speak about. But I was really taken for a ride and it rocked my confidence to my core. I have never been fired. I have never been let go from a position up until this point. And the way in which it would have happened was felt like a horrible breakup. It was so confusing. It was. Uh, it felt like I had just lost my sense of self and I took a lot of that blame on, and if you're in a toxic environment, you're probably. Feeling a lot of those same feelings where it's like, you used to be amazing and you're not currently operating at your highest self and your performance is starting to really suck because you were confidence is low. So it's this cycle thing that happens where a vicious cycle that happens where. Your leadership is toxic. It's making you feel terrible about yourself. You aren't getting the feedback you need. You aren't then getting the confidence you need because you aren't getting any validation or a good feedback. That's bleeding into the way that you coach or the way that you perform at work. And it's like around and round and round, it goes. So if you're in a toxic workplace, my unequivocal recommendation is to find something else as quickly as you can, even if it's temporary, just get out of there because. The effect it can have on your confidence is so detrimental. I'm still dealing with this and, you know, three years later of how it has shaken me now, in hindsight, that was one of the greatest blessings of my life was to let go be let go from this environment, because I don't know that I would have personally. Got up and left. I felt really, um, I felt really. Proud of the position I had been promoted into. I felt proud of the organization. I didn't love it, but I sort of was trying to convince myself that this is what everybody wanted and everybody. Um, it was aspiring to, and so I stayed, I was, I'm very, I'm not a quitter. I don't like to quit easily on things. And so I was determined to sort of prove everybody. That I could do this position that I had been promoted into. And, um, it was completely misaligned with who I am, what I want, my purpose, my passion, everything. It was just something I was really good at. And then I became terrible at, because I had such a loss of confidence and it felt like by the end, nothing I could do was right. I couldn't. I truly couldn't do anything right. And was a scapegoat for a lot of different things. And. It's hard when you are a person who doesn't want to be the victim. So even me saying that feels really uncomfortable, but it truly like facts on facts. This is what happened. So it can really, when you stay in a place for way too long, it can do horrible things to your confidence and your sense of self and your self worth and all of that. And so my recommendation is to get out as soon as you possibly can, if you are feeling this way. Um, there is a difference between toxicity and, you know, you may be needing feedback, needing resources and having great leadership, but you're just not getting that support. And so there's conversations you can have, and there's going to be some recommendations in the show notes. Crucial conversations is one. Uh, as one book, I definitely recommend you can find the audio books for free on YouTube. Um, any of the Bernie brown stuff is fantastic too, but it can be really challenging to manage upwards. So again, If you are in a place where you are losing your confidence completely, and as a result of toxic leadership or toxic teams or something, that's just not working for you. I recommend. I'm recommend getting out of there. Now. Sometimes we just take on too much and all you need is. It is a reduction in the schedule. So we talked about taking a break. Understanding that you might need to proactively take a break. If you feel like you're on the edge of burnout and you just need some time away to get creatively inspired, to give your body a break, to take in other modalities of movement to maybe read, listen to podcasts, just like freeing up your schedule with a bit of a break. But a reduction in schedule is something that I have felt super liberating this year. And one of the reasons I didn't want to do it before was because. I had such a sense of like, I want to say ego attached to different ride times different, like having so much real estate on the schedule. And I'm really aware of myself. I'm. You know, fully. Being open about the fact that I loved the fact that I had these great ride times. I love the fact that I had so many rides. It was to me really important. Especially after coming back from that loss of confidence to feel confident in having wait-listed rides and like across the schedule and. And. And it really. Like that was the purpose of like leading so many rides was to impact so many people and feel that validation. And now taking your word. Do schedule as I go into a new phase and a new opportunity, um, a part time opportunity in the fall, but I am going to be. Reducing my spins schedule teaching schedule there. I am really excited about the rides I do have. I'm also excited about the fact that it's going to give me more opportunity to coach more people through instruct magic. And that I don't need personally to be on the podium every day to feel like I am great at this thing. So taking a reduced schedule, if you need to cut a ride from your schedule, even if it's for a temporary amount of time and just like. Like break up your day, um, by not having to rush to the studio, you, especially multiple jobs or just giving yourself a break. You can still pick up subs and still jump in more. But if you are teaching, you know, four times a week, Three times a week would be just like, just as good. For your riders. And I have found, which was really cool. And July that the few times I did teach my rights were like completely full and that's a hard thing in the middle of the summer. Um, I teach about wait lists, of course, inside instructor magic. My six week. Signature course for instructors who want to get to waitlist of classes by talking about musicality, marketing, coaching, motivation, and mindset. But there's a point in the summer when it's just like crickets. Right? And so it was cool to, to only have a few rides and really have people miss me and show up and want to come and ride with me. So taking a reduced schedule could be something that's in your future. Now this is a little less applicable to people who are in a job that they're thinking about quitting, but could you. Could you find another thing that is a bit of a side hustle that allows you like that kind of takes up some time that's low energy, but is going to creatively, light you up and maybe there's a great. Script and the four hour workweek by Tim Ferris. That it's like, you kind of proposed your job, that you take a step down. So maybe you're in a leadership position and you want to take a step down into a different role. Now this is like, there's a lot of things that would prevent somebody from doing this, not the least of which their ego. And you know, if you're especially in your director role and like leadership is hard to leave once you're in a company, but I there's a person I know, and really respect in the city who was a director recently. And she took a step down to join another organization. and become a, an officer instead of a director. And so she really like took that reduction in leadership so that she can free up. I think her time to do more things on the side and work on her passions and side hustles and things that she sort of had to park before, because she was so invested in her career. Now the cool thing about that is like, If you are an, a word. You know, if you're in a position where your salary obviously matters to you, you can still make that salary up by doing different things that interest you, and they might be more successful because you're more passionate about it. Case in point. For me watching instructor magic. I could do that in when I was working full-time because I had the mental space to do it. The job was great, but it didn't take up all my energy. It wasn't like. You know, sucking me dry in terms of, um, things I needed to think about. It was, it was really easy for me. The job I had was easy for me to do. And so I had the space. Would mentally to be able to launch this course at the same time and not be completely burnt out. For instructors, there's going to be a point where you are, you will know when it's time and I encourage you to make these decisions or try and be proactive before you get to the point where. You are. Really showing up to your classes out of obligation and you are not giving even, you know, 60% of the effort you used to. And you are maybe having classes taken away from you and, you know, it's sort of like a relationship that needs to end, but somebody just needs to needs to make the decision. I encourage you to take some of these proactive steps before guests to that point. Because ultimately you've built an amazing community. You probably have writers who love you. And want the best for you. And leaving on a high or leaving on a, you know, drive that high when you feel like you. Um, have done all that you've accomplished and you, you are proud of the community you've built, you've built, but you just know it's time internally for something else. Make that decision proactively to take that break, reduce your schedule or quit completely. You just want to have that positive closure. And I think it's something that people don't really. Take a put enough weight on like positive closure. If you think about an example of this, it's like when. A professional athlete refuses to sort of quit and you're like, oh God, it's like, it's hard to watch them. When they were used to being in their prime when they used to be so amazing. And now they're sort of like performing at a mediocre level and everybody sort of feels bad for them. It's not that like, that's the purpose, but it's. Uh, an example of, of how to think about this, because if you deep down know that it's time and you just don't want to make that decision. Leaving on a high note, we'll take care of all that FOMO that you might feel. When you're looking at the schedule when you're watching rides. And I think one of the ways to know if you're truly done. Is, if you do take a bit of a break and people are posting about classes posting about rides and you have no twinge of jealousy, no twinge of like, oh, I wish that was me. Or I can't wait to get back to the studio if you leave. And there's no feelings of that, then it's probably time to say goodbye, at least for now. The cool thing about coaching and instructing is that. You can take long hiatuses. You don't need to say this is forever. You can say I'm going back to school and I need to take a semester off. I'm doing this thing and I want to take a few months off. Usually studios are a metal to that, and they would love to have you on the sub roster. Um, to, to be around. Even if you're not going to be on the schedule full-time or even part-time. So there's lots of options to you, but these are, I hope these questions do help you. Going through the thought process and knowing when a situation might be too toxic to stay. Knowing when you might be experiencing physical or mental symptoms of burnout. And an understanding that, you know, this. Quitting isn't. Leaving something, um, It, isn't something to be ashamed about. And if you leave on a high and make that decision to make that proactive decision, that it's just not for you right now. You're not doing the best work for yourself or for your riders or for your clients that maybe there's something better for you on the horizon. And I fully believe that to be true. I hope that this was helpful. A lot of things packed into one episode again, zone of excellence versus zone of genius. Burnout understanding mental and physical symptoms of stress. Maybe time to take a break and get creatively inspired. Maybe it's time to take a reduced schedule, or maybe it's time to take a bit of a hiatus, um, and, and leave. And then finally, if you want to toxic environment, please make that decision to leave because it can kill your confidence. And that is going to be the thing that helps you become super successful in this industry. If you have not joined my email list, I would really encourage you to do so. I send out playlists. I'm going to be sending out this episode to my email list. With, with download. So those local file downloads. This is something that does help me become creatively inspired again. And maybe I'll do another whole other episode on like how to find that magic again. But finding music, finding new music is one of the hardest things we do as instructors, because it happens. We need to consistently do it. So I send out my, my local follow remixes, my playlists, my free resources, my webinars, all to my email list. So, if you are on Instagram, you can DM me the word, um, P 60 and I will send you a playlist with my. Um, with my Google file folder with downloads there, my playlist. And then I'll sign you up for my email list. Or you could go to the show notes too, in this episode. Thanks so much for listening friends and have a great day i will see you on the next episode thanks for listening all the way to the end of the yes, you can podcast if you loved this one, I would so appreciate a rating and a review on apple podcasts. That lets others know that hey this is a good podcast and it's worthwhile to listen to you if you really loved it make sure to share with somebody you love who could benefit from a little magic and motivation in their lives thanks so much friends and have a great day