#071: How to Cope with Entrepreneur Burnout

Jun 5, 2019

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Today I have Paula Rollo back on the show to talk about burnout.

If you are an entrepreneur, burnout is part of everyday life. In this episode, we're going to talk about how to cope with entrepreneur burnout.

We’re going to share personal stories and tips to help you know how to think about burnout, how to live with burnout, and how to overcome burnout.

We want you to know how to use burnout as a guide.

What Causes Burnout as an Online Entrepreneur?

One thing that causes burnout for me is when I work very hard on something and then don’t see the results I want.

I teach that we need to put ourselves out there, try new things, and that 95% of our ventures will fail, but even so, it is still demoralizing to me.

It is hard to not begin thinking that everything you try is going to fail.

It throws me into an irrational tailspin of imposter syndrome and thinking I am only a failure.

We almost never take stock of our successes; we focus in on the failures.

You have to focus on how far you’ve come because if you only focus on how far you have to go, you’ll never get there. You’ll always be falling short.

Ways To Work Through Burnout

There are a couple of things I do to try and get myself out of burnout:

I remind myself that burnout is temporary. I will eventually come out of it.
I try to get curious about something that may be causing my burnout and see if I can fix that situation
I try to touch myself with kindness, even if it's hard, and I don't think I deserve it

Burnout can be a good indication that you’re doing too much.

Take a look at different areas of your life that may be causing burnout, (I’m looking at you, social media!) and either hire help, or decide if you want to continue doing that thing, whatever it is.

Taking A Break

Burnout may mean that you need to take a break. You may need to step away for a time.

The world will not stop turning if you take a break to recover.

You might feel like you’re letting everyone down if you take time off, but that is not the case.

Doing the bare minimum can help you see what things are actually needed, and what things are unnecessary that you can stop doing altogether.

Being Satisfied with B- Work

I believe in doing B+ work, not A+, and when I am burned out, I allow myself to do B- work.

I never say to go for A+ work because if you do that, you’re setting yourself up for failure. No one can be perfect all the time.

So strive for B+ work but be okay with whatever you can do.

Allow yourself to let things go, to use the content you have, and to be proud of your work.

Stepping Out of the Box

When Paula was struggling with depression, she could not reach into her creative space to write blog posts about her children for her parenting blog.

Instead, she sat down and wrote about her burnout. She wrote a five hundred word post about how she couldn’t write words.

Paula felt that she wasn’t creative because she couldn’t write about parenting.

What she really needed to do was reach her creativity from a different angle.

If you’re feeling that you’re not creative, go create in a way you might not normally do and see how that feels.

Working With Burnout

I love using the Pomodoro technique; if you go to tomato-timer.com, you will get a timer for twenty-five minutes.

Tell yourself that you only have to work for twenty-five minutes and you will consider it a success. Then if you’re feeling up to it, you can do it again.

Another thing I do is set a small goal. Maybe the goal is to do one email for the day. Or pin one pin on Pinterest.

When I accomplish that goal, I can congratulate myself on getting it done.

I don't make myself do more and I try to feel that I'm a success!

Listening To Your Burnout

If you are experiencing a lot of burnout, there comes a time when you might want to listen to that.

Your burnout might be showing you that you’re going in the wrong direction.

It might have been the right direction at one point, but maybe it’s not anymore.

If you’ve tried everything else...

Getting back in touch with your creativity
Finding new passions
Taking a break

...and it’s still not working, and you don’t want to continue doing what you’re doing, you need to do something new.

If the reason you are doing your work is different than when you started, you need to find something else to do.

Have you struggled with burnout? Tell me about it in the comments.

I’d love to hear your ideas on how you overcome burnout, what causes you to experience burnout, and your best tips for getting through it without throwing your business out the window.

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Timestamp

Intro
3:20 What Causes Burnout?
8:05 Ways To Work Through Burnout
14:17 Taking A Break
18:55 Being Satisfied with B- Work
20:07 Stepping Out of the Box
24:14 Working With Burnout
27:07 Listening To Your Burnout

Read the podcast transcript HERE:

TOP 4 TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

Burnout can be caused by working really hard at something and seeing little or no results, or by needing to move in a different direction in your business without seeing it.
Focus on how far you’ve come, and not just how far you have to go because you'll never get there.
When you’re experiencing burnout, settle for putting out B- work instead of A+ work. The goal is to be kind to yourself. Your business is not going to die if you step away from social media for awhile.
Find a hobby that you have no intentioned of monetizing but that gets your creative juices flowing again. *Btw, Netflix is not a hobby.

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