Entrepreneurial Burnout
Do you feel a sense of failure or sometimes feel trapped, alone in the world and unhappy in your business and your life? Are you overworked, under-appreciated and constantly worried about your pipeline and paying your bills? Do you feel guilty about taking time away from the office to do something fun or engage with family and friends?
As we embark on another year where COVID is still a large part of our existence, we are seeing more people experiencing burnout. A loss of motivation and a lack of satisfaction with your work are tell-tale signs.
We all need to experience a sense of accomplishment and COVID has created many roadblocks for creatives. The negative outlook, positive case numbers and variants do not help us to stay positive but it is critical that we do so.
When experiencing burnout, many people feel a complete sense of overwhelm, major anxiety and even depression. This is sometimes accompanied by a sense of complete exhaustion and no amount of rest will remedy this feeling.
Recognizing the signs of burnout is the first step in affecting change. If you are not eating well, sleeping well, see changes in your behavior such as cynicism, aggravation and aggression, reduced passion for your work and a lack of creativity, it is time to look at the situation and address the issues at hand.
I like to think of myself as someone continuously in search of the silver lining. While COVID has wreaked havoc on supply chains, delivery schedules and even quality control, I am still so grateful for my health and sense of well-being.
As an entrepreneur, I share many characteristics with my colleagues and coaching/strategy clients. I am a planner, passionate about design, always “on” and thinking about the next step, and I never give up.
I have signed five new Letters of Engagement for projects both here in the tri-state area and in Florida. This may sound awesome, and I am truly grateful, but the first few weeks of managing the new business put me into overdrive. I was not following my routines and the advice I share with clients. I had no boundaries, and I was working an insane amount of hours, not sure how I would accomplish all of my goals. Thankfully, this only lasted for a short period of time. I was quick to realize that I had to amplify my team presence, get hyper-organized (even for an organizational guru) and set clear expectations and boundaries for the team, myself and our clients about deliverables and workflow.
Many of you have heard me discuss the value of wins and learns. This truly was a learn for me and as I write this note, I feel empowered with the new additions to our team and yet two more projects in our pipeline.
Moving forward, the goal will be to reinforce good habits, healthy workflow and mindfulness and a sense of harmonious passion. In a recent article from the Harvard Business Review, “researchers found that the entrepreneurs who reported high scores of obsessive passion, were more likely to say they experienced burnout than those who reported high scores of harmonious passion. The obsessively passionate entrepreneurs reported feeling that work was more emotionally draining and that working all day required a great deal of effort. They also found that among entrepreneurs with obsessive passion, those with a fixed mindset were even more prone to burnout.” So, how do we define harmonious passion? It is more of an even keel, job motivation and satisfaction and a sense of peace and knowing. Being a creative type places many of us in situations where our obsessive passion takes over and supersedes rational thought. While passion drives our work, we need to be mindful to balance this with our responsibilities to self, team and clients. We cannot feel guilty about enjoying the fruits of our labor.
I believe this quote has profoundly influenced my life and I want to share it with you.
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
I recently came across a great article on burnout that I believe is worth a read. Even if you are not a business owner, you can still experience the symptoms mentioned above and you will find some great tools and advice on how to tackle the issues. Click here to read more.