Many busy working individuals can experience burnout, due to feeling overworked and under pressure. Studies consistently show that this is particularly common for entrepreneurs and professionals working within a startup.
In this weeks guest post by blogger Leon Collier, we explore the rising issue of burnout and three tips on how to prevent burnout from being a feature in your life.
Signs of burnout
The entrepreneur lifestyle can lead to a mass amount of pressure and stress, and according to a 2018 study by Harvard Business Review, 25% of entrepreneurs felt moderately burned out by their working life.
Symptoms of burnout include feeling stressed, anxious, and demotivated. Some individuals experience low energy levels and a lack of passion, as well as decreasing productivity levels and a sense of detachment from their business.
Burnout has many stages and often begins with a low amount of stress that might seem natural and even normal. However, when stress levels continue to increase to the point of overwhelm, preventing you from enjoying life and experiences that were once pleasant, this is where burnout can start to build.
While it is common among professionals and many entrepreneurs to feel this way, the good news is there are ways to deal with and overcome burnout. Here I’ll share three burnout-prevention methods that aim to help nurture your mindset and wellbeing, and enable you to adopt healthy strategies, behaviours, and thinking patterns.
1. Set realistic expectations
Burnout commonly appears in situations where there are high expectations. However, there is only so much you can do as an individual.
Building and running a business not only depends on your productivity levels and perseverance, it’s also about your customers needs, the evolution of the market, your competitors, and many other external factors.
In the world of startups, hard work is often seen as the key to success. While there is truth in this, constantly trying to exceed your limits and expand your working time can negatively impact your health and lifestyle. Professionals can often end up stretching their nerves, putting a lot of resources and time into one or two tasks, only to develop chronic stress and burnout.
Setting realistic expectations with a reasonable timeline is a solution that will help you deal with burnout. When doing this, always take into consideration that you need time to rest and relax in order to nurture a positive mental state.
2. Change your perspective on failure
It’s natural that entrepreneurs will want to succeed in their business, and it can be difficult to embrace the concept of failure.
While as an entrepreneur success is your destination, the road and the journey towards it can be full of challenges, obstacles, and quite naturally and inevitably, failures - yet this can be viewed as a positive. Changing your perspective on failure will help you alleviate the symptoms of stress and foster empowering emotions regarding your business’ growth.
Failure does not mean that you go a few steps behind - on the contrary, you stop for a few moments to reflect, learn and readjust your strategy. Try thinking of failure as a form of honest feedback, and this can help you to nurture a healthy perspective for developing your business.
3. Take time to rest
Society and the media share many successful stories about entrepreneurs, showing the the positive highlights of their journey where they were motivated, perseverant, and committed to their dream. However, few of these stories talk about the importance of rest among entrepreneurs.
It is common for entrepreneurs to believe they are the only capable of doing certain tasks and adding to their to do list, as opposed to delegating. While it’s inevitable you’ll wear many different business hats in the early stages of business growth, there comes a time when it’ll be unrealistic to maintain this level of multitasking. As a result, it can leave you with less time to rest which can then lead to chronic stress and burnout.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to know that it’s not necessary to mix your personal and professional lives to the point where the boundaries are blurred. Rest and quality sleep help you to relax and restore your energy levels, enhancing your productivity and ensuring you’re functioning at your best - for yourself, for your business and for others around you.
Getting enough sleep is important as sleep has vital functions that can be saving for entrepreneurs who are suffering with burnout. Sleep reduces stress, boosts your immune system, improves your memory and increases your knowledge retention. These positive effects of sleep are important in your professional life, helping you to be in a productive and good mental state.
There is always hope
Dealing with burnout and its symptoms can be challenging, but not impossible.
Connect with yourself and the others around you to build a community of support. Choose to reshape your mindset and take care of your wellbeing by changing your perspective on failure, taking the time you need to relax and rest, and setting realistic expectations.
If you’re an entrepreneur, or a busy professional working as part of a growing team, take the time to look after your mental wellbeing and prevent burnout, so it doesn’t takes its toll.
You can get started today by signing up to The Reignite Project and receive a 10-week free e-course full of burnout prevention strategies.
Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK who has experienced burnout himself. Leon now shares guidance to help entrepreneurs from all over the world who are experiencing stress and burnout through writing articles on related subjects. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends.