How I Manage my Adrenal Fatigue with the Design Roadmap System

Friends are often surprised to hear that I have adrenal fatigue.  “But you always seem so upbeat!”  And yes, while my natural personality is to be upbeat, chronic exhaustion is something that I have to manage every day of my life. How did this happen?  When I asked my doctor, her answer was chronic stress.  When your body is constantly pumping out cortisol to respond to the stress you’re under for years on end, eventually things can get disrupted to the point where you can no longer make enough.  And when that happens - flat out exhaustion.

Let’s back up a bit.  Adrenal fatigue isn’t something you just wake up with one morning, like a cold.  It’s something that builds slowly over years of constant stress.  Before I got those test results back, I had been living in fire-fighting stress-mode for years in my design business.  And over time, I found that I was more and more exhausted, less and less able to bounce back after a stressful week, less and less able to rise to the occasion and pull out the amazing presentation at the last minute.  I had been seeking treatment and different strategies to try and raise my energy level, but there were no magic pills to fix my low energy.  Treatment can be a long, slow process.  I had to learn how to manage the low energy level I was faced with in the meantime.  That’s where the Design Roadmap came in.  Faced with the reality of daily exhaustion, I HAD to find a better way to manage my stressful projects.  Coming up with the System wasn’t just a fun thing I did in my free time with all my extra energy.  It was just the opposite in fact - I came up with it as a matter of survival.  I could no longer function under the stress level I had been under, and I had to find another way to do things or I was going to fall apart. 

So how does the Design Roadmap help me manage my adrenal fatigue?  Three ways:

1. It PREVENTS stress.  By planning all of my projects out in advance, we and our clients and associates follow the plan.  This prevents last minute phone calls asking for things, and surprises in general.  We are no longer in constant fire-fighting mode. 
2. It puts me back in control of my time.  I decide how much time and energy I have to devote to work each week, and plan my work out accordingly.  I control my schedule, my schedule does not control me.  That means if I need more time to rest, I can give myself that. 
3. It has allowed me to hire help.  Without the Design Roadmap, I didn’t know if I had enough work to keep an assistant busy, let alone what I would have them do if I hired them.  With the Design Roadmap I know exactly how far out I’m booked, what my future income is expected to be, and exactly what to have my staff do each week.  Delegating is HUGE with adrenal fatigue, because it means the work still gets done even when I’m too exhausted to do it.  It’s how I multiply my time and energy.  

What about you?  I know if you’re a designer, you’re managing a ton of stress in your business alone, let alone all of the other factors in your life that are contributing to your exhaustion.  You may not have adrenal fatigue, but you probably have a bunch of other things that are also wreaking havoc on your energy - a health challenge, a new baby, aging parents, modern life in general, the list goes on.  There are a ton of tools out there to help you manage the stress in your life, but what is helping to prevent and manage the stress in your design business? Can you even imagine having all of your projects under control so you can work just the amount you want to work, manage your energy level, and enjoy your business again?  

That’s why I’m sharing this story today.  It’s not for pity or to get tips on how to treat adrenal fatigue.  I’m sharing it because I know you’re dealing with something too, and I’m guessing you may be on the edge of losing it as I have been.  More than anything, I want you to know that choosing to be a designer does not mean you have to suffer from chronic stress and burnout.  There is another way.  I know all too well the cost of living with constant stress in my design business, and my mission is to save as many other designers from that fate as I can - it’s just not worth it.  Your health and sanity are too precious.  

With my Design Roadmap System you will take back your time, plan your projects and control your calendar so you can let go of the stress that’s currently wreaking havoc on your health and your sanity.  There is a better way.  

I’ll be teaching the Design Roadmap System early next year so you can start 2022 off on a new foot.  Click below to learn more about the Design Roadmap Course and get on the waitlist!  I can’t wait to see you there!

And in the meantime, if you’re losing your mind from stress this week, you’re going to want to check out my free workbook: To Do List 911.  It will help you stop spinning and make an actionable plan to get your work done this week.