4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout!
Nearly every successful entrepreneur I know has gone through or has grappled with burnout. I think by nature entrepreneurs are inspired, passionate and many-times a bit (or a lot ADHD) and all of this contributes to a feeling of malaise or burnout.
I’ve personally gone through it and come out the other side several times and many of these 4 techniques have helped me. (Note: This is a highlight of the 9 ways that I just shared with Maverick Business Insider members.)
1. Truly Disconnect – In a world where we are constantly tethered to our blackberries and ‘Always-On’ connections there’s something magical about truly disconnecting.
That doesn’t mean I’ll ONLY check emails in the morning – but truly and totally being out of touch. On a recent trip to Baja I did something that might seem a bit over-the-top. I completely ‘black holed’ all my emails during that week. Meaning – I had them all deleted with a note directing people emailing me who to contact for help or support while I was gone and then asking them to email me again after my return if they needed. Most people would be scared to death to do this in case something incredibly urgent comes through and is missed. Oh well.
How many times do you come back from vacation even more stressed out because you’ve got 2,313 emails sitting in your inbox? As you are sorta disconnecting there’s always a tiny voice in the back of your head replaying over and over again, “Wow! I wonder how much email I’ll have to catch up on. I wonder what’s going on?” By totally cutting this off you free up more “Psychic RAM” in your head.
2. Refocus on your successes – Many times the feeling of burnout occurs because things are NOT going “right”. And right is a relative term in relation to what we believe it should be. (Now I have my own crazy notion that everything ends up ‘right’ – for whatever that means – in the end anyway.)
Instead of focusing our energy on what’s wrong – which only creates an endless spiral of more and more negativity – I believe it’s important to change the focus. Take out a piece of paper and start making a list of every “victory” you’ve had during a certain time point. It could be this quarter, this month, this day, etc. Once you adjust your focus your selective perception kicks in and you’ll see there is significantly more that’s good than bad going on. (You might or might not have noticed this is a variation on being grateful. Your gratitude connects you back to the source of your original success.)
3. Set a big vision that you cannot achieve on your own – I admit, I’ve only just started doing this but it leads to a real powerful change of direction, intention and motivation.
Perhaps you’ve heard of a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” or BHAG coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. This is the kind of goal that gets teams rallying around it and lets people transcend what they thought was possible. One famous example is Microsoft’s original goal of “A computer on every desk and in every home.” When you create a big vision or goal like that – you’ll find people getting on your team to help achieve it. My friend, Tellman Knudson, has set the goal of raising $100M by running across the country barefoot. I think that fits the bill.
Our company’s 2020 goal is 3-fold:
1) Motivate, inspire and educate 1M young entrepreneurs to start their own ventures.
2) ‘Mavericktize’ 1M successful entrepreneurs to ‘buy-in’ to the philosophy of making more, more fun and giving more.
3) Have 1M cumulative items checked off entrepreneurs BIG life lists.
And the ultimate goal is to “Change the Way Business is Played”. To me that means bringing more fun into business and never doing things the same way it’s been done. It’s something that can inspire me (and our team) out of funks.
4. Get back to the fun – Think back to when you were a kid and what activities or interests got you really jazzed and excited. Somehow as ‘adults’ many of us have lost that sense of fun and inspiration. What did you like to do? For me, it was playing sports, drawing and making people laugh. That’s why I still play ice hockey and beach volleyball. Why I’ve taken art classes and stand-up comedy classes. I make sure to incorporate what gives me enjoyment into my life by actually making it a priority.
How many times have you heard yourself saying, “I’d love to ___ BUT I can’t because I’m too busy.” That’s total bullshit. What you’re really saying is that activity does not have enough priority in my life. Or I feel guilt around having fun.
Quite frankly for most entrepreneurs work is our default unless there is something else scheduled. Don’t just settle for enjoying life when you squeeze it in between your business. Here’s a great quote from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, New-York Times Best-Seller “The Power of Full Engagement”:
“…the richer and deeper the source of emotional recovery, the more we refill our reserves and the more resilient we become.”
Put fun activities, rewarding experiences and exceptional adventures on your calendar and protect them like you would any ‘real’ appointment.
Quite frankly, the inspiration for Maverick Business Adventures came from a period of my personal burnout and ironically the unique nature around it can help other entrepreneurs avoid or recover from burnout. I hope you’ll give some of these ideas a try when you’re feeling burnout occurring or when you attempt to break free from it.
June 21st, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Thank You Yanik, this is well timed.
June 21st, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Great post Yanik, something to keep in mind, it might be good to apply these principles before you get burnt out, I think the feeling is there long before it happens. Take action quickly, avoiding major trauma. I’m going to schedule some fun into my life, starting today! Thanks for the reminder:)
June 21st, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Dear Yanik
I completely agree about disconnecting with the world. Well I think sometimes just turning phones off and creating silence in the house and in our head is so important to replenish our energy.
I even made a post on my blog about the Power of Silence and how it is important! I hear you! People are afraid that they would miss some important email. Well I believe if someone really wants to work with us they will call again. We all deserve time for ourselves in order to serve better!
Love for you to stop by my blog and give your feedback!
Sincerely
Tatyana Gann
June 21st, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Sooo true! Just finished an exam week. Time for some personal time.
June 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Yanik, I really resonate with No. 2 – Refocus On Your Successes. It’s all too easy to get into that spiral of negativity, when with just a simple shift of your mindset, you can step into the “spiral of positivity” instead. This can make all the difference.
June 21st, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Great post Yanik!
RE: Item #3 above- I like your BHAGs; thanks for sharing them sir. I find hearing other peoples’ BHAGs often inspires me to think bigger too.
I plan to build a $400M ($120M net) company the next 3 years and be able to give $40M/yr to charity while putting $40M/yr into a trust to support them when I’m gone. When sell company for $1B, will be able to give $100M/yr to charity which gets me very excited. I’m a big fan of microfinance, so I think you should have a vision that inspires you to push beyond any inconveniences you encounter along your journey.
Also I know this post only covers 4 of 9 points you shared with MavBiz Insiders; re #4 above I wouldn’t be surprised if you mention that implementing and supervising good systems in your biz is key to focusing on only the activities you enjoy in your biz and keeping it fun.
Good input as always, sir.
David Newby
P.S. To help you hit your goals from #3 above, I’d love to interview you for a book I’m co-authoring on diff types of businesses you can do. (for making $ on the internet) My co-author Jeff is a big beach volleyball guy like you and has played in several pro-am tournaments also. Ferris and a couple of your other friends should be in the book also. Let me know at my email address how to set up 1 hr call for the book; we’ll send readers to one of your sites in the chapter you’re featured in. Thx!
June 21st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Amen! Every time I read your blog or emails I remember that the reason Im working so hard is to have fun…so quit working for a bit and GO HAVE FUN! thanks Yanik
June 21st, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Hi Yanik,
This could not have come at a more perfect time! I’ve started to realize how important it is to unplug! I end up on information overload and then don’t want to do anything.
And I couldn’t agree more – adding fun activities and adventure are necessary!
Thanks,
Kim Doyal
June 21st, 2009 at 10:10 pm
This is awesome. I guess I will have to spend some time tonight perusing your site. I am considering ways to improve my business and make it more fun. Thanx for this post!
June 21st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
You’re absolutely correct. Nothing like a heart attack and quad bypass surgery to cause one to refocus on what’s important!!
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:46 am
[...] 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout!… [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:56 am
Thank you, Yanik. I think these ideas
let you regroup whatever your problems.
Just take one step back and apply them.
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:27 am
[...] 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout!… [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 6:58 am
Great post. I strongly agree and know that re-charging for me is an important part of having a successful balanced life. When times are tough it is easy to deny oneself the essential breaks you need to recharge and that potentially makes it worse. I am very guilty but can say, try to remember not to sacrifice you family life for tomorrow’s vision or some day you will arrive and realize your focus was at their expense. There are hundreds of roads to success, so plan yours wisely. I wish there was a magic solution, but we are all different and so is everybody’s plan. I guess I am trying to say, “Just don’t forget to enjoy whatever one you choose”.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:47 am
im feeling you “big list”. word
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Hello Yanik,
Thanks very much for the post. I’ve been grapping with exhaustion and burnout lately, as well. I never imagined it would be something that other entrepreneurs would have to deal with, so seeing your words is helpful. In my case, part of the burnout come from possibility and expansion. In one project I worked on, every time I thought I was finished, another door would open and I’d have to stop my marketing, revisit the product and update it. I hope I’m in the last round of this because it’s happened many times. It’s been both gratifying and mind expanding but also very tiring and many times (including recently), I’ve had to stop and rest. There’s been no other choice because if I push myself past my exhaustion, I risk getting really sick – and it’s happened several times. Again, thanks for the post.
Nathan
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Great post!
Although all the points mentioned above are very inspiring, but I like point#2 “Refocus on your successes”.
Thanks for sharing.
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Awesome post and an excellent reminder.
In my biased opinion, the main reason for starting your own business is so that you can trade time and money.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
PhD(c)
Extreme Human Performance
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I agree with “get back with the fun”. We started playing board games EVERY FRIDAY night like we used to do when we were in our teens. It’s one of those moments that was most memorable with lots of fun. We make it a point to put this on our schedule and rarely do we break it (unless of course we are closing a deal making us big bucks or something even more fun!) What ends up happening sometimes is we go overboard, play all night, play the next day and sometimes the next…WOW so much fun and exhausting. But, in the end, it completely recharges the batteries to get to work the next week so we can play games again the next Friday! We are doing this right when our business is starting to exploded and the “train is almost over the hill”.
I’ve converted half my house to a home office and running a real estate company from it (3 partners, several interns, misc contractors etc) . With my IT background and remote access technologies, we truly do not need a ‘real office’. What ends up happening is that you end up working even more hours than normal because everything is right there (this is good and bad – bad for interns who live with us!, ha).
So, with all the crazy things that go with being an entrepreneur working from home and distractions included, we truly need time to “get back with the fun.” It works.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I love your post! It’s a reminder that no matter how busy we are and how tough our work is, we should not forget to have time for ourselves and have FUN.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
GREAT POST! In a world filled with negativity #2 is right on
It’s good to look back on sucesses it makes you feel good and provides more fuel for the fire entrepreneurs have inside,Also detaching with fun and good times allows your batteries to charge up for the spark.
SO GO OUT ENJOY,COME BACK WITH VENEGEANCE FOR THE FLAME1
June 28th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Great post. It is hard to constantly keep pushing a businss forward without gettting burnt out. Focusing on the success really works. I have tried many things that did not work. Rather than trying to make those things work do the things that did work before.
August 19th, 2009 at 2:31 am
I’m still trying to recover from a burnout, be it mentally and financially. Really keep me going peers. Thanks!
December 29th, 2009 at 4:52 am
nice posting…