The Banana Bread Experiment: How to Develop a System for Deep Work Every Day

In 2021, everything changed.

I won’t bore you with the details of why or how, but the outcome was clear: I was starting to burn out.

I was no longer happy with my work or my life. I started to fall out of my routine, meticulously built on healthy habits.

I felt lost, unfocused, tired, and scared… I just didn’t want to do any of it anymore, which was so unlike me — and that is what scared me most of all.

I took some time and asked myself some difficult questions:

Why was I feeling this way? What changed, and why? What did I want? What would make it better?

Over the course of the year, I’ve had this burning passion inside me to write.

I mean, I already write. A large part of my job is copywriting, but I mean to write for myself and earn an additional lucrative income stream.

However, the constant day-to-day pressure of working with and keeping up with clients in order to keep the lights on and my staff and I paid always won.

Most of the time I just powered through. Everyone has to work hard to earn a living, Julie. Just deal with it. That’s what I would tell myself to get through the tough days. And I would. At the end of the day, I would feel grateful that I do have clients.

Déjà Vu is Real

I think back to what my life and routine looked like before I started my business. My routine was the same for a solid decade. The alarm went off at 4:30 am. I crawled out of bed, got dressed, packed a lunch, and then rushed to catch the train into Boston to spend yet another 9-to-5 workday at my “corporate” job.

Then, one warm spring morning in May 2017, the alarm went off at 4:30 am, and the first thought in my head, clear as day, was, I don’t want to do this anymore.

Less than three hours later, I walked into the office, submitted my resignment letter, started my business full time, and haven’t looked back.

Then, it happened again.

Four and a half years later, on a cool, rainy Tuesday morning in October in the mountains, my alarm went off at…