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Episode 235: On the Edge of Burnout? 7 Practical Tips to Reclaim Your Peace
Host: Faith Hanan
Date: December 11, 2025
Overview: Episode Theme & Purpose
In this candid solo episode, Faith Hanan shares hard-won, practical advice to recognize, avoid, or recover from burnout—especially as a busy entrepreneur, parent, and business owner. Speaking from her own “busiest season,” she weaves in faith-based encouragement and actionable steps. Her aim is to help listeners reclaim peace, realign their priorities, and pursue business growth without sacrificing well-being or spiritual purpose.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Hold Tightly to Your Calling, Loosely to the Methodology (04:33)
- Faith encourages listeners to remember their God-given calling, while allowing the way they pursue it to change with seasons.
- Quote:
“You are called and created by God to know Him and make Him known…The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable…But the methodology…might change over time, and that’s okay.” (05:19)
- Illustration: Like someone who believes their calling is to design phone books—when the world changes, the calling (bringing order) remains, but the medium shifts.
2. Check Your Pace: Are You Sprinting Through a Marathon? (09:09)
- Analogy to athletics: Faith, a natural sprinter, had to learn a marathoner’s endurance when running cross country.
- Encourages entrepreneurs to recognize when their current intense pace is unsustainable and to adjust accordingly.
- Quote:
“You cannot run at that sprinting 100-meter dash pace for 3 to 5 miles…We have to look at our lives like that a little bit.” (10:56)
- Emphasizes the difference between temporary “sprint seasons” and sustainable rhythms.
3. Examine Your Priorities: Theory vs. Practice (12:34)
- Challenges listeners to write down their theoretical priorities, then honestly assess if their daily lives reflect those values.
- Anecdote: Youth group exercise where teens listed priorities, then were asked if those matched their real actions.
- Quote:
“Are your priorities in order in theory alone, or just in real life?” (13:05)
- Suggestion: Periodically check whether actions and schedules align with what truly matters.
4. Don’t Confuse Busyness with Productivity (15:55)
- Warns against mistaking hustle and packed schedules for real productivity.
- Social media “doom scroll” cited as a major time-waster.
- Recommends the book Addicted to Busy by Brady Boyd for deeper evaluation of meaningful work versus busyness.
- Quote:
“Busyness makes you feel like you’re doing something…But you’re not always going somewhere and actually accomplishing the things that you need to accomplish.” (16:37)
- Suggests outsourcing tasks or using timers to avoid unnecessary digital distractions.
5. The Importance of Sabbath Rest (19:02)
- Advocates for reserving a true Sabbath—a period of rest from work and striving.
- Shares personal experience of Sabbathing on Saturdays and its positive impact on her mental and spiritual well-being.
- Acknowledges resistance (“I could never do that!”) and challenges listeners to reclaim rest.
- Quote:
“When was the last time you had a Sabbath? A true Sabbath, a stop and rest, a Shabbat Shalom, the Jewish people call it—stop, cease from working.” (19:26)
6. Let Go of What You Can: Choose Your Suck (22:18)
- Inspired by John Acuff, Faith explains the necessity of “choosing your suck”—intentionally deciding what areas to not excel in during busy or demanding seasons.
- Examples: Her own relaxed attitude toward folding/ironing laundry, Acuff’s lawn.
- Quote:
“Nobody can be an expert in all of the things all of the time for very long. You will burn out.” (23:47)
- Suggests evaluating and releasing non-essential responsibilities.
7. Delegate and Hand Off Tasks (25:00)
- Encourages delegation at work and home to reduce overwhelm.
- Recommends considering handing off business tasks like content marketing (offering her own services as an example), or household chores to capable family members.
- Quote:
“There are probably some things that you can hand off and take off of your plate and the world will still spin, okay? And you won’t get so burnt out so quickly.” (26:07)
8. The Spiritual Non-Negotiable: Prayer (27:07)
- Faith emphasizes that prayer is essential when facing burnout—“not skippable.”
- Reads from 1 Peter 5:6-9, explaining the Greek term merimna: anxieties that divide the mind.
- Spiritual angle: Recognize the enemy’s attempts to distract; seek God’s wisdom and peace through intentional, reflective prayer.
- Quote:
“We are at war…There is an enemy, Satan, who hates our guts because we are…made in the image of God…Ask God, what would you have me do with this? Help me with this…Because I can promise you that God wants to help you with it.” (27:36, 29:45)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “Hold tightly to the calling, but loosely to the methodology.” (05:40)
- “Are your priorities in order in theory alone, or just in real life?” (13:05)
- “Busyness makes you feel like you’re doing something…But you’re not always going somewhere and actually accomplishing the things that you need to accomplish.” (16:37)
- “Nobody can be an expert in all of the things all of the time for very long. You will burn out.” (23:47)
- “There are probably some things that you can hand off and take off of your plate and the world will still spin, okay?” (26:07)
- “We are at war…The enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (27:36)
- Reads 1 Peter 5:6-9, expands on the Greek word merimna for “worries and cares” and its implications for anxiety and distraction. (28:12-29:15)
Timestamps for Key Segments
- 00:00 — Introduction & context: Faith’s current “busy season”
- 04:33 — #1: Hold Tightly to Your Calling
- 09:09 — #2: Are You Running at an Unsustainable Pace?
- 12:34 — #3: Are Your Priorities in Order in Theory or in Practice?
- 15:55 — #4: Stop Confusing Busyness with Productivity
- 19:02 — #5: When Was Your Last True Sabbath?
- 22:18 — #6: Let Go of What You Can (“Choose Your Suck”)
- 25:00 — #7: Hand Off and Delegate What You Can
- 27:07 — Essential: Prioritize Prayer & Seek Spiritual Perspective
- 31:00 — Conclusion and closing prayer
Faith’s Tone & Style
Throughout the episode, Faith balances warmth and encouragement with unapologetic truth-telling. She is conversational, frequently humorous and relatable, while not shying away from faith-centered “real talk.” Her approach is deeply empathetic, rooted in her Christian worldview, and always pragmatic: “Big ol’ hug included” and “Let’s call a spade a spade and fix it.”
Final Takeaways
Faith urges listeners to face burnout with both practical and spiritual tools—realigning with calling, adjusting pace, seeking true rest, letting go of unnecessary perfectionism, delegating, and consistently turning to God in prayer. The message is reassuring: you’re not alone, you are not meant to be superhuman, and God is always ready to help you restore peace and clarity, both for your sake and your business.
