We all love to be our own boss. However, not everyone has the capacity to become an entrepreneur and achieve great success at it because entrepreneurship is a stressful occupation.
The responsibility and uncertainty of being your own boss isn’t for everyone, and those who have the ability to forge ahead sometimes experience what is known as entrepreneurial burnout.
Burnout is a state of complete mental, physical and emotional exhaustion while entrepreneurial burnout is a particular type of long-term stress that’s related to work.
It usually happens when you’ve been stressed out for an extended period as an entrepreneur.
While it is almost impossible to avoid stress as an entrepreneur, it is quite possible to prevent oneself from experiencing burnout.
Entrepreneurial burnout comes with a lot of signs and according to entrepreneur.com, below are signs of entrepreneurial burnout:
- Consistent dread to go to work
- Noticed change in mood and personality by others around you
- Headaches
- Trouble sleeping or not getting enough sleep
- Tiredness
- Physical and mental exhaustion
Since the possibility of getting burned out as an entrepreneur cannot be overlooked, discussed in this article are ways for you to get rid of entrepreneurial burnout.
1. Ask for help
The fact that you are the owner or founder of a business doesn’t mean you have to shoulder all the responsibilities and tasks. Even as the boss, learn to ask for help.
Trying to do things all by yourself will not only lead you to get burned out but it may also have an adverse effect on your health.
You shouldn’t get to the sick bed before you know that there is nothing wrong with asking for help either from your employees or partners as the case may be.
Do not allow pride, fear or lack of resources to trick you into feeling that you can do everything on your own.
To prevent yourself from getting burned out as an entrepreneur and to also rid yourself of burnout, learn to ask for help.
2. Take time off work
As an entrepreneur, a major reason you might get burned out is when you refuse to take time off work to relax and rest. Know that you are not a machine and even a machine that is not allowed to rest gets faulty on time, so learn to take time off work.
The life span of that work is longer than yours, so why not pay attention to yourself? Resist the urge to work all round the clock.
To get rid of burnout as an entrepreneur, learn to take breaks and maintain a good work-life balance.
Your ability to resist the urge of working all through the day and week will give your body adequate time to rest and ultimately help you be in a better frame of mind to be productive as you should.
3. Take care of yourself
It is common to find workers and entrepreneurs most especially bragging about how less they sleep on a daily basis and I am just wondering is there any price for an entrepreneur who sleeps less?
Sleeping less doesn’t increase your productivity as an entrepreneur rather it is causing great harm to your body because an average adult needs between 7-8hours sleep at night.
Learn to take care of yourself as an entrepreneur. Don’t ignore your body and its needs because it is the engine that will determine if you will achieve your goals and aspirations as an entrepreneur.
Use your body wisely, take care of it as you can only become more competent and productive when you do.
4. Get a life outside work
When you have a life outside your work, you tend to recover from burnout quickly. As an entrepreneur, all your life should not just be centred around your work, get a life outside work.
Create time to mingle with friends and family.
When you feel burned out from work, just take a break and shift your focus to other aspects of your life.
5. Be flexible
The last and not the least way for you to get rid of burnout as an entrepreneur is for you to be flexible. Rigidity doesn’t really help as an entrepreneur because you have to be able to change even as times and things are changing in your industry.
You should be flexible with your goals because If you have a flexible mindset about your entrepreneurial career, then every twist and turn has its own rewards and lessons — which means less stress and consequently no burnout for you.
It is great if you choose to be your own boss but always remember that entrepreneurship has its pros and cons.
It is a stressful occupation but when you are able to navigate wisely by being flexible, asking for help, taking care of yourself, taking time off work and eventually getting a life outside work then you will prevent yourself from getting burned out as an entrepreneur.
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