Your professional and personal life begin to blur. You hit a creative wall. Your passion begins to falter. Sound familiar? These are all common symptoms of entrepreneurial burnout. Avoiding burnout is essential to your health, wellness, continued growth and success.
There are a number of challenges entrepreneurs experience throughout the course of success and failure: juggling client and talent retention, partner disputes, vendor acquisition issues and more.
Depression and anxiety are familiar burnout symptoms. However, entrepreneurs are speaking out about how our Type-A personalities and passion have led us down the burnout rabbit hole. “Running a startup is like chewing glass and staring into the abyss," said Elon Musk. "After a while, you stop staring, but the glass-chewing never ends.”
Here are some ways to avoid entrepreneurial burnout:
1. Seek Out And Destroy Stress Triggers
Stress is a common side effect of high-intensity business and a symptom of burnout. Identifying the daily and weekly triggers can help you avoid full-blown burnout. To identify these stress triggers, note down when stress arises and the tasks you're doing at that specific moment.
After a few days, look at these stressful moments and ask yourself if these tasks are that important. You can eliminate them by changing the process of how you go about these tasks, delegating them to others and automating parts of the task.
Eliminating stress from your workflow will keep burnout at bay and improve your long-term mental and physical health.
2. Get Rid Of Entrepreneurial Guilt
Entrepreneurs will work from sunrise to sunset without stopping. Food, fun, relationships and other basic, important human needs are normally neglected as a result. It’s not that we don’t want to have fun every so often; it’s the guilt of not working that keeps us disengaged.
One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to schedule time for yourself. Many of the most successful entrepreneurs take breaks and spend time doing something non-work-related. “Ditch any guilt you might feel about stopping work,” said Richard Branson in a blog post. “Make this relaxation time a priority.”
3. Exercise
One of the best ways to battle burnout is to get active. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “Scientists have found that regular participation in aerobic exercise has been shown to decrease overall levels of tension, elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep, and improve self-esteem.”
You certainly don’t need to start training for a marathon. But carving out 30 minutes a day for fitness can help you avoid burnout. Yoga, running, spinning, kickboxing or even a brisk 20-minute walk around the neighborhood can have a positive impact on your daily mood and energy.
4. Meditate
Meditation is a very powerful way to avoid burnout. In fact, a number of highly successful entrepreneurs swear by meditation. Marc Benioff, Bob Stiller, Jeff Weiner and others all meditate to stay sharp and avoid burnout.
Health benefits of meditation include:
• Decreased blood pressure
• Lower heart rate
• Less anxiety
• Decreased stress
Meditation is a fantastic way to avoid burnout because you can do it anywhere at anytime. Gym membership, weights or classes are not needed. You simply sit somewhere, straighten your back and concentrate on each deep inhale and exhale.
There are also a variety of apps and YouTube videos you can employ to guide you in meditation.
5. Restart From The Beginning
Why did you become an entrepreneur? Maybe it was to make your own schedule or be more innovative. Whatever the reason, reminding yourself why you became an entrepreneur in the first place can help you avoid burnout.
If you started your entrepreneurial journey somewhere other than where you live now, think about taking a trip back to where it all began. Visit where you had your first office or even the first startup you invested in.
Take in the sights, smells and visit those favorite haunts, like that bustling coffee shop with free internet you once sat in searching for inspiration during the salad days. Restarting from the beginning could rekindle the spark burnout is trying to bury inside you.
6. Give Back
There's no better way to put your professional life into perspective than philanthropy. Giving back comes in many forms and, to avoid burnout, you should give time rather than money.
Donating money to your favorite charity is wonderful, but it doesn't compare to being in the true philanthropic moment. The main aim is to simply step away from work and truly feel the good you're doing in real-time.
A few unique ways you can give back are:
• Teaching a skill at a junior or community college
• Mentoring up-and-coming entrepreneurs in your community
• Volunteering to read weekly at a children’s cancer clinic
• Donating your time and supplies to build something in your neighborhood
Philanthropy is powerful for those who receive and for those who give. You get a glimpse into lives other than your own.
There are several ways you can avoid burnout. However, in order to be saved from this common entrepreneurial pitfall, you’ll need to save yourself. Implement a few of the above tactics and see if it helps you get your personal and professional groove back. Do you have a unique way to avoid burnout? Please share it, because we all need more ways to keep our passion, drive and edge.
