In case you're new here, this is not a hustle harder kind of newsletter.

But in the midst of our modern busy lives, even despite our best efforts, sometimes we get caught in the hamster wheel and wonder, how’d I get here?

As I've been reflecting on my own journey, I continue to come back to this notion of sprinting and resting.

It’s not an either/or proposition. We need to hold space for both.

Ahead of Summer, I wanted to set myself up for more focus and yes, time for leisure too.

Summer is a prime season for slowing it down, and taking a beat after the first few busy months of the year. For me, it’s making space for the warmer days, reading, longer-runs outside and enjoying nature, while still making progress on my business goals.

Here’s how I spent May reigning it in, with 3 stress-management takeways that you can apply as you’re (hopefully) getting ready to slow it down this Summer.

1. Hyper-Focused = Fewer Tabs Open in My Brain

In May, kept myself in check by trying to make most decisions with the question: is this helping me maintain focus or is this distracting me from it? Not racing after every potential idea or opportunity that popped up.

Stress Management Takeaway: When I cut the busy-work that I "think" I need to be doing, I create more space to think and reset before the next set of high-value work I want to dig in to.

2. Re-building the unBurnt Model from scratch

To get more clear about ideas I want to test in the back half of this year, I worked this month on a new forecast.

Sitting down with the spreadsheet gave me the ability to to get clear, and even more importantly, get more realistic about where I need to focus. I've gotten sharper on some near-term priorities and feel aligned with how I’ll spend my time.

Stress Management Takeaway: A solid model forces clarity. Getting clear on goals and working to back in to a plan to get there, was a form of stress management this month.

3. Website Cleanup and SEO Optimizing

I restructured my website copy to emphasize results over vibes. I’ve started weaving more language around Performance + Operational Resilience, and how it ties back to outcomes and less stress, based on what I'm learning, hearing and researching.

Bonus: I also used AI to help me optimize SEO on the backend of my site 🙌

Stress Management Takeaway: Not only was this an exercise in clarity, it also gave me more confidence in how I'm positioning the company and my solutions. This clean up was a good form of mental decluttering + confidence boosting.

This month wasn't perfect, but it did include walks and runs, limiting screen time, making time for a classroom field trip with my son, and holding myself to a weekly wrap-up ritual (that includes asking: what did I accomplish and how am I making room for rest this weekend).

If I can’t protect space for recovery, rest, and some of my favorite way to destress (like running) while building unBurnt, what am I even doing?

Above all the goal remains the same: build a resilient business by being a resilient founder. Not every day is smooth, and that's OK too. Because even the moments of imperfection and setbacks have taught me something.

As this month wraps up, I invite you to check in how it’s going and to get ready for incorporating rest this summer.

Alison