Create the Conditions for Growth
Why and how creating the right conditions encourages people's growth and decreases the likelihood of burnout
Welcome! I’m Rachael Gaibel, a career, life + wellbeing coach, consultant and content strategist/writer. Find Possibility is a monthly newsletter focused on: uncovering possibilities to create meaningful change, personal growth, wellbeing, creative expression, and more. If it resonates, please share with others.
I learned an incredibly important life lesson six years ago when I took a career break after becoming a mother, that only became clear in hindsight. It started when I set out to live differently without cycling in and out of burnout as I had been for years.
To do so, I didn’t have a proven plan. I began with what I deeply knew I needed—the space to recover and purposefully design what a more meaningful and fulfilling life and career meant to me. I focused on addressing inner blocks to find possibilities, connecting with what was important to me, envisioning what I truly wanted next, and nurturing my wellbeing.
The lesson: renewal is built upon creating the right conditions for growth.
Note: Having a career break is not prerequisite for growth, rather the qualities I drew upon from that time support growth.
I have since gone on a quest first for myself and now to support others to create change that matters specifically when dealing with burnout or blocks to growth. Through coaching training, experimenting, and my own learning, I’ve been discovering that creating the right conditions encourages people’s growth. Building off my last post, it is one of the essential nutrients in a Slow Growth approach.
Slow growth means to focus on creating small changes consistently over time to make progress on your dreams and goals.
The Importance of Creating the Right Conditions
In Slow Growth, I shared the metaphor of the entire growth process of a flower starting from when it is a seed. The seed already has the beginnings of the new plant it is meant to grow into—which becomes possible with the right conditions of water, light, temperature and food.
Applying this idea to people, creating the right conditions means:
The seeds are each of our dreams and hold our potential to become more fully ourselves and make our unique contributions for the good.
The conditions are the first steps towards growth. When we nurture the right conditions, we encourage our growth.
Similar to plants that begin growing underground, the right conditions begin with internal growth, before it’s visible externally.
Creating the conditions for growth builds the groundwork to take intentional action from a deeper place. From what we truly want versus what we think we are supposed to do.
Before sharing more about each of the conditions for growth, I’ll explore workplace burnout because burnout restricts growth. It relates to times of dormancy and destruction.
Another main growth inhibitor is the inner blocks of stuckness, self-doubt and/or fear, which I detail in my post Uncover Possibilities for What’s Next.
Three Levels of Burnout
Though the word “burnout” is used constantly, I find it’s not a fully understood concept. This section clarifies what it’s really about, including sharing lesser-known newer research about three levels of burnout.
What is workplace burnout?
In 2019, the WHO classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon. The WHO describes burnout as: “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion
Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job
Reduced professional efficacy”
Chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed describes the full experience of burnout. Nick Petrie, researcher and speaker on leadership, resilience and burnout prevention, gives more nuance by differentiating three levels of burnout in his 2023 burnout research findings.
The key takeaways summarized from How to Avoid Burnout in 2023 Findings:
Many people are working at unsustainable levels and are overloaded and exhausted.
There is no single cause of burnout, which means there is no one-size fits all solution.
There are individual and organizational causes of burnout, with burnout often occurring from a combination of factors. Several of them occurring at once can be the most harmful.
There are three levels of burnout and each level requires different solutions (see more below).
Three levels of burnout explained in the article:
1st level of burnout: a heavy period of stress, feelings of overwhelm, but continues to work effectively
Solutions: self-care & wellbeing
2nd level of burnout: chronic stress, feelings of fatigue along with decreasing motivation and effectiveness. Moving into survival mode.
Solutions: mindset/behavior change: creating boundaries, putting yourself and your wellbeing first sometimes
3rd Level of burnout: the full experience of burnout—the WHO definition.
Solutions: Deep life changes—change of workplace, career, what you value in life, a new vision for the next chapter in your life. I’d add: incorporating a long-term focus on wellbeing.
What this research helped me understand about my own burnout experience in retrospect:
The WHO’s definition and Petrie’s research didn’t exist when I was experiencing burnout on and off from 2014-2018. Both helped me fully comprehend and learn from my entire experience with career burnout, which can apply to others.
With level one and two burnout, I was able to take action within my existing career to improve my situation and make burnout more manageable. I wrote about the personal growth changes I made in How I Found the Good within the Difficult.
With level three burnout, the WHO definition, burnout became detrimental. I felt constantly exhausted and depleted. Increasingly negative towards the career I had once loved. Not operating as effectively as I had previously. As much as I tried to pull myself out of burnout and apply solutions that had previously helped, it was consuming me. I wrote about the peak of my burnout and my later renewal, in Burning from the Inside: A Return to Life After Burnout.
Most importantly, I realized why making deep life changes during and after my career pause ultimately led to my path out of level three burnout.
Why it matters for everyone:
Burnout impacts the vast majority of us. Nearly half of the US working population is currently experiencing some level of workplace burnout, based on 2024 studies from Gallup, Deloitte and SHRM. Additionally, about 75% of the US workforce has experienced burnout previously, And, over 80% globally were considered at risk of experiencing burnout in 2024, according to Mercer.
This means most of us have past/current experience, or future risk of some level of burnout, which as mentioned previously, hampers growth. It’s important to acknowledge the risk of burnout as we aspire to grow.
By grounding in the right conditions, there is less of a likelihood to burnout given we are prioritizing our self-care and wellbeing as part of pursuing our dreams and goals.
The Conditions for Growth:
The conditions for growth provide a broad framework to creating the changes we seek. They are: to dream about what’s possible, connect to your core values, focus on your wellbeing and shift your mindset. These aspects are foundational to my coaching approach.
Your own solutions will be based on your unique situation, such as if you are experiencing one of the three levels of burnout and/or inner blocks. If you believe you are facing level three burnout, I want to acknowledge it can take a long time to recover, which was my experience. The same conditions for growth apply but on a deeper level and with longer-term focus.
1. Dream about what’s possible
What’s your vision for your best possible life and career? What’s important to you about building this?
We must start by giving ourselves the space to envision our dreams and goals. Then, we can begin taking a small steps now to honor them.
Whether journaling, sitting quietly to check-in with ourselves, doing yoga/meditation, or using a program/coach, dreaming involves listening so we can hear our deeper wisdom and truth. In the last section of my post, How I Started Living a Life True to Myself, I give suggestions on exploring your dreams.
2. Connect with your core values
Your core values are what matters to you; they are what’s important and meaningful to you.
Living in alignment with your values lights your way. Your values can help you discern the right path and action steps for you.
If you aren’t clear on your values, start by reflecting on what matters to you and identifying them. If you are, then connect with them on a regular basis to guide you. In my post, What Matters to You? I detail why and how to live your values.
3. Focus on your wellbeing
Focusing on your wellbeing gives us nutrients that support our growth. The SPIRE model for wellbeing* encompasses the whole person, with five perspectives on our overall wellbeing. SPIRE stands for: Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Relational and Emotional:
Spiritual: leading a meaningful life and mindfully savoring the present.
Physical: Caring for the body and tapping into the mind/body connection.
Intellectual: Engaging in deep learning and opening to experience.
Relational: Nurturing a constructive relationship with self and others.
Emotional: Feeling all emotions, reaching towards resilience and positivity.
The model provides a deeper understanding on how to attend to our wellbeing. By doing so, we have the potential to realize our greatest wellbeing. It helps us categorize our wellbeing experience into tangible areas to recognize where we want to sustain versus improve.
4. Shift your Mindset
What stories are you telling yourself about your dreams or goals? Do they involve how they might be possible? Or all the ways they wouldn’t be possible? It’s common to have self-limiting stories and beliefs that hold us back or keep us stuck. These beliefs could be from your inner critic, feel old/outdated, be based on unhelpful external sources or something else.
Recognize these inner narratives are simply stories, not necessarily true. If they aren’t serving you, you don’t have to believe them or let them have control over you. You can shift your mindset to create new more empowering and growth-oriented stories to support your dreams ang goals. Bring curiosity and openness to what could be possible.
Where to start: These are not meant to do all at once, but rather, to choose one place to start to go in the direction of your dreams and goals. And then, to build upon it. When you look at the list above, which one stands out the most right now? Choose one aspect and begin by taking a small step this week.
“I hadn’t anticipated that the wild [i.e. right] conditions would nourish me to grow. The wild stirred me, inviting me more and more into aliveness. My inner creativity burst into bloom in all directions.” ~Me from my personal essay, Burning from the Inside: A Return to Life after Burnout.
The outcomes of my focus on the right conditions were surprising and transformative. I went from experiencing years of dormancy and depletion to reconnecting with aliveness, my inner creativity, and who I deeply am. I completely felt like I returned to life, the subtitle of the above personal essay.
For me, revitalizing my creative self-expression was the gateway towards my next layer of growth. Overall, it was when I uncovered new dreams for my work and life and began to move in a more resonant direction. For others, I have seen the right conditions open up the avenues most ripe for growth for them in their work or life.
If you want support to go deeper with creating the right conditions for growth, contact me for a free exploratory coaching call to learn more about how coaching could help.
I’d love to hear from you: what resonates about the conditions for growth? How might you use this concept this year?
*The SPIRE model for wellbeing was developed by Tal Ben-Shahar, teacher and author in the fields of happiness and leadership. It is the model that was used in my Positive Psychology Coaching Certification program.