Steven Bartlett

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I used to think that "burnout" was a badge of honour. If you weren't exhausted, you weren't trying.

But then I had a conversation that changed everything.

I was sitting with a founder who had just exited his third company for nine figures. He looked... rested. Not stressed. Not frantic. Just calm.

I asked him: "How are you not burnt out?"

He said: "Steven, burnout isn't caused by hard work. It's caused by 'OPEN LOOPS'—the things you know you should be doing, but aren't."

I realized he was right. It wasn't the 16-hour days that were killing me. It was the 10-minute phone call I kept avoiding. The difficult conversation with a director I kept pushing back. The "I'll do it tomorrow" list that never ends.

I call this the ANXIETY ACCUMULATOR.

Every time you delay a difficult task, you aren't saving energy. You're actually leaking it. Your brain has to keep that "loop" open in the background, like a tab on a laptop that's draining the battery.

I started a new rule: The 2-Minute Rule for difficult things.

If a task is uncomfortable but takes less than 2 minutes (sending that "we need to talk" text, checking the bank balance, apologizing), I do it immediately. No exceptions.

The result?

More mental clarity.

Better sleep.

Higher output with less "effort."

We think we need a holiday to recover from work. Usually, we just need to close the loops that are draining our battery in the background.

What’s the one "open loop" you’ve been avoiding this week?

Close it today. 👊🏾

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