5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Prevent Burnout

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Burnout is one of the biggest killers to entrepreneurship and small business success. Working incredibly long hours and wearing a ton of hats weighs down on your body and mind. It can leave you fatigued and disinterested, affecting performance and eventually your long-term health. It’s important to recognize the real threat burnout poses to you and your business, and start doing things to prevent it. Use these guidelines to prioritize what’s most important and keep yourself from burning out, you’ll be much happier and you’ll help your business along the way:

Celebrate small wins

Being your own boss can be lucrative, but almost never overnight. Having big expectations is good but can plague your outlook. Think about small victories, did you hire a new employee? Good, your company is growing. Got your 10th, 100th, 1000th customer? Big time. Keep celebrating the small stuff and it feels more and more worth it each day.

Set hours for yourself

As a busy entrepreneur, it’s easy to lose sight of the basics most people need to be happy at work. Decent hours are one of them. Chances are when you first decided to be your own boss you wanted flexible hours. As hard as that may sound when you’re in the thick of things, you need to create rules for how many hours you work. Everybody has a breaking point and everybody else understands. It’s ok to not work on Sundays and it’s also ok to take the morning off when you’ve worked 16 hours the day before.

Take a break

Tying in with the first point, not only do you need time during the week to not work, you need a break, a real vacation. Just as others understand when you can’t work certain hours, they also understand when you need some time. Shutting off for even a week will improve your life, and motivate you to get back on track. Even pro athletes get an off-season.  

Exercise

Stress is the number one contributor to burnout. Some people have a terrible time coping with it. Add double time to your workload with employees to oversee and it becomes much harder to cope with. Exercise is, and will always be, one of the best ways to deal with stress. Try and exercise first thing in the morning. It will start your day with a clear mind and will actually give you more energy.

Maintain Relationships

When it comes to ensuring time off, your number one priority outside of work should be spending time with loved ones; parents, significant others, children. It’s important to not let work destroy your relationships. Sure, it will impact them, but you must make an effort to maintain them because studies indicate strength in relationships has a more significant impact on health and happiness than success does. A good support system could be your biggest help in preventing burnout.

The biggest problem busy entrepreneurs not prioritizing any of the stuff mentioned above without even realizing. The days just kind of blend together and then it’s too late, they’re burnt-out and unhappy. Even if you feel like you can maintain what you’ve been doing, it will catch up. Start with these guidelines and you and your business will reap long-term benefits.

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