Meet Anne Karber

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Anne Karber. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Anne, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout

I didn’t avoid burnout at all—I ran straight into it at full speed.

For years, I was high-performing, highly capable, and wildly overextended. On paper, everything looked successful. In reality, I was operating on empty and convincing myself that exhaustion was just the cost of ambition. Burnout didn’t show up as one dramatic moment—it showed up as a slow erosion of energy, clarity, and joy until I finally couldn’t ignore it anymore.

What changed everything wasn’t rest alone—it was radical self-awareness.

I realized that the problem wasn’t motivation, discipline, or grit. The problem was that I had never been taught how to manage my energy, which is our most finite and valuable resource. That realization sent me into deep personal work—examining where my energy was leaking, what I was over-giving to, what I was tolerating, and which “yeses” were quietly bankrupting me.

That work became the foundation for The Life Hack Playbook.

In the book, I introduce a simple but powerful concept: treat your energy like currency. If you don’t budget it intentionally, someone or something else will spend it for you. Burnout happens when we live as if our energy is unlimited—when it’s not.

I didn’t overcome burnout by slowing down my life; I overcame it by redesigning how I live inside it. I stopped glorifying depletion, started honoring capacity, and built systems that support sustainability instead of survival.

Today, burnout isn’t something I fear—it’s something I recognize early, because I know the signals. The work I did to recover didn’t just heal me; it gave me a framework I now teach so others don’t have to crash as hard as I did to learn the lesson.

Burnout wasn’t the end of my story.
It was the catalyst for everything I do now.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I build tools for people who are tired of being busy, capable, and exhausted at the same time.

I’m an entrepreneur and author, and my work lives at the intersection of real life and sustainability. After building multiple businesses and pushing myself past every reasonable limit, I hit burnout hard—and instead of pretending it didn’t happen, I got curious about why. What I uncovered changed everything: most burnout isn’t caused by lack of discipline or drive, it’s caused by energy mismanagement.

That realization became The Life Hack Playbook.

My work is different because it’s honest. I don’t sell hustle, motivation, or mindset fluff. I teach people how to stop leaking energy, make intentional decisions, and build lives that don’t require recovery from. I give language to what people feel but can’t articulate—and systems to fix it.

Right now, I’m focused on expanding this work through media, events, and collaborations so more people can recognize burnout before it runs their life.

If your life looks fine on the outside but feels exhausting on the inside, The Life Hack Playbook is your wake-up call.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Self-awareness.
I stopped lying to myself about what was working and what wasn’t. Burnout thrives in denial.
Advice: Pay attention to what drains you. If something keeps costing you energy, it’s trying to teach you something.

Boundaries.
I learned that being capable doesn’t mean being available. That belief nearly broke me.
Advice: Every yes is a withdrawal. If you wouldn’t spend your money that way, don’t spend your energy that way.

Energy literacy.
Once I understood that energy—not time or effort—is the real currency, my decisions changed fast.
Advice: Assume your energy is limited. Build a life that fits inside it instead of constantly overrunning it.

Bottom line: You don’t need more discipline or hustle. You need better awareness. Burnout isn’t inevitable—it’s informational.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Yes—but alignment is non-negotiable.

I collaborate with people and brands who are done glorifying burnout and ready to have real conversations about energy, self-awareness, and sustainable success. That includes media platforms, companies, creators, and organizations who value honesty over hustle and depth over noise.

Many of those conversations happen on my podcast, Let’s Get Naked, where we strip away the performative version of success and talk about what’s actually happening behind the scenes. If your work lives in that truth, there’s probably room to collaborate.

If this resonates, connect with me through my website or social platforms. If it’s aligned, it’ll be obvious—and we’ll take it from there.

Contact Info:

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