Are You On Your Way to Burnout?

How’s it going in your business?

Are you stressed? anxious? nervous? excited? tired? BUSY?

When we are asked this question, often the answer is BUSY. We don’t ever mind sharing that, but we would probably be less inclined to use any of those other words to describe how things are going if someone asks.

Why is that?

Isn’t it normal to be stressed or excited in business?

The point of being an entrepreneur is that we have a fire lit in our bellies that we want to work towards every day.

But the truth is, we often just keep those feelings inside and share that we are ‘busy’.

To me, when you filter the response you give people, that could be a sign that you are in over your head. Burnout approaching.

There are lots of things that can lead you down the path to doing too much in too little time.

Here are a few signs that you may be on your way there:

1. You wake up tired. If you didn’t used to wake up tired, chances are you have too much on your mind now to sleep well. What can you do about it? I find that making a list of all the things that need to get done – writing it down – really helps. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to see the whole list, but look at it from the perspective that you are doing yourself a favour by getting it out of your head and on paper. And if you are always tired in the morning, try to set an earlier bed time. Or grab a nap, it’s a new trend in business!

2. You don’t know where to start in the morning. If the first thing you do in the morning is check email, you need to stop. The idea of being your own boss is that you are in charge of what you are supposed to do first thing in the morning. So the night before, decide what it is you will start with, and then when you get up to start work, begin with that thing, whatever it is. Check email only after you have completed your most important first task. And then prioritize whatever else is ‘new’ too! You are the boss, so you need to determine what’s most important.

3. You don’t take breaks during the day. If you work straight through for hours, because you think you have to, I bet you are even getting less done than you could be. Breaks are important to refresh the brain cells, your mood and your general well-being. Set a timer if you must to make yourself get up, stretch, go for a short walk (5 minutes makes a world of difference), or even just sit on the porch and just close your eyes and breathe deeply. It really does help – try it!

4. You eat your meals at your desk. Burnout shows up in the ‘always working’ mode. Sometimes the frustration of taking the time to make a meal makes you feel like you don’t have time to sit down to eat it, so you take your ‘break time’ to make something to eat and then you go back to your desk to eat it. But really it doesn’t take 30 minutes to eat a sandwich or a bowl of soup. It probably takes 5. Do yourself a kindness and sit down, at the table, napkin and cutlery set at your place, and enjoy your meal.

5. You constantly work late at night after everyone has gone to bed. If you are working all day and still have to work at night, it’s probably time to admit that you need some help in your business. Whether that means subcontractors to help you get client work done, or outsourcing some of the business stuff you are doing for your own business. And if it’s not your workload that is making you work at night (are you running errands all day so you have to work at night?) – then you need to adjust your business hours and push yourself to work inside them. Errands are okay, but if you are out all day getting groceries and washing the car, then you have to make up that time somewhere. It’s sometimes better to do the groceries after hours, like everyone who works in the corporate world does.

There are so many other things that can lead to burnout. But these five things are signs that you may have a tendency to go there. They are super simple to fix and they really do make a difference in your everyday habits, if you change them.

It’s important to check in with yourself often – especially when you work alone. If you are experiencing even one of these symptoms, make the change and see how it helps. You have to take care of you – also another responsibility of the CEO of your business (you!).

If you want some more tips on how to manage your task list and time, check out these other blog posts.