Several years ago, my brother, who is a software developer, changed jobs and went to work for a different company.

A pioneer in the work-from-home movement, he would still be coding from amidst the tangle of cables and blinking lights in his basement. But he’d be collaborating on an all-new project with all-new people.

I felt a pang of jealousy. “That’s not fair,” I thought. “He gets to work somewhere new, and I’m stuck doing the same thing.”

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In 1997, Alanis Morrissette went to India.

After touring behind her super-duper-smash hit album Jagged Little Pill, she took some time off. She returned with a sense of gratitude and bliss.

And of course, she never had another album that reached the same heights as her 1995 breakthrough. (Hardly anyone has.)

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The thing I appreciate most about being “the boss” is that I don’t have to spend a ton of time worrying about what “the boss” wants.

Sure, I try to do good work for clients. But I get to decide what that “good work” looks like and feels like. If the client and I have a mismatch, that’s not the right client for me.

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Obviously, sleep well. Eat well. Get exercise. 

And if you’re doing all of that and you still feel awful, what then? 

My hypothesis is that burnout comes from a mismatch of our expectations and our choices. 

To fix that, we can adjust our expectations, or we can adjust our choices. 

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Would you walk away from multiple social media accounts with over 10,000 followers?

This is the story of my friend Whitney who did just that.

She started doing nail art back in 2012 and quickly got really good at it, which is how she does most things. She has an obsessive attention to detail and the ability to focus intensely — plus, she works very quickly and has excellent fine motor skills. The combination is powerful.

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