Entrepreneurs Are Not Robots: How to Prevent Burnout and Not Harm Your Business

The frenzied pace of life, the constant risks we face, and overwork might lead entrepreneurs to burnout and mental disorders. However, when you're fully invested in the deed of your life, it may feel that mental health is not that important.

But the truth is that it's impossible to run a business properly and succeed when you can't work at all.

I’m not a psychologist, but being a serial entrepreneur myself, I have faced this condition several times. When it happens, I wake up already feeling exhausted, and it takes me twice as much energy to do the usual tasks. Of course, I try to work as usual, but it only gets worse.

When it happened for the first time, I blamed myself for it, got angry, snapped at colleagues and loved ones, and almost lost interest in my business.

However, only early diagnosis and previous experience help me get out of this state.

Entrepreneurs should accept the fact that something is going wrong and that they need help. Here's a brief guide on how to get out of the state of burnout without harming your business.

Step 1: Determine Your Mental State

In practice, a little stress can be beneficial. It increases productivity and gives the body a good shake. But chronic stress is different. It disrupts the endocrine system and eventually leads to burnout.

This term has become popular despite the fact that constant fatigue is a serious problem that requires medical attention. How does one detect burnout early?

Psychologists distinguish 12 signs of burnout according to the degree of danger. Here are the most common characteristics:

• Deprivation - for example, lack of sleep or communication

• Rejection of habitual values - from social life, for example

• Depersonalization - denial of one's value or the importance of colleagues

• Inner emptiness - a feeling of an internal void which leads to exaggerated activities

  
  

Burnout is terrifying. You try to get yourself together and work like you always do, but you no longer have the strength — everything just stops working out. As a result, a sense of guilt arises — and guilt provokes aggression.

Another problem is you make disgusting decisions based on random emotions at the moment. And this makes you unbearable for people close to you. For example, I snapped at any advice and almost all the time behaved at home like a little child.

I am very grateful to my beloved, who somehow tolerated me in this state and provided understanding and support.

Step 2: Understand and Forgive Yourself

Entrepreneurship is typically associated with workaholicism, competition, and perfectionism. I myself, am sure that these qualities should be encouraged: you cannot be better than others if you don’t work better than they do.

However, it’s not about burnout and mental disorder to which such a lifestyle leads. Failures and conflicts can be discussed, but burnout remains a taboo topic, a stigma of a person who cannot succeed in his business.

But to get rid of chronic stress, you first need to admit that there is a problem.

In general, I believe that every entrepreneur needs therapy, even if they don't experience burnout. This helps work out the blocks and problems that come from childhood, which affect a person's decisions in adulthood. Yes, the result will be seen after a long time, but it's worth it.

Now, I’ve noticed that the aggression is gone, and my decisions have become more objective.

In therapy, I realized one thing: my most important asset is myself. Therefore, by investing in myself and my health, I also pump up my business.

I stopped blaming myself for burnout and perceiving it as a career failure. I have invested in what helps me: I not only work with a psychotherapist but also meditate, practice yoga, take classes on the game of “Go,” and undergo “family therapy” with the co-founders of my company, Refocus.

And it turned out to be my best investment last year. Instead of a constant feeling of guilt and impostor syndrome, strength and joy began to emerge.

Step 3: Build an Identity Outside of Work

The business’s profitability should not define us and our interests. Ambitious career goals are useful, but not until they become the only meaning and fulfillment of life. But how can a company founder live if the business’s success is their whole life?

An entrepreneur is a human being – not a robot programmed for financial success. I like to practice vocals in my free time; I also write rap and draw.

Parenting, art collecting, volunteering, rowing — the list is limited only by your desires. Discovering life outside of work is an important step in the fight against burnout.

Moreover, one shouldn’t underestimate sports – studies show that even five minutes of outside activity will make you feel better. Yoga classes, mantras, and breathing practices work even better. Breathing exercises help unload your RAM, which is very important for an entrepreneur.

Tasks that are constantly in my head go away, allowing me to make room for new, creative, and important ideas. Meditation also helped me a lot: every morning, I verbalize my goals for the day and tune in to a positive wave.

The most important thing is to remember to apply these practices every day for the first two months. According to some studies, this is how long it takes to form a habit.

Step 4: Get to Know Yourself Better

To avoid burnout, you need to be able to take care of yourself. A psychotherapist helped me a lot here. Together, we found something that replenished my energy reserves and inspired me.

We determined how to balance the working week for the period of recovery from burnout and after the full recovery so as not to fall into the same pit again.

Walking alone, meditating, doing breathing exercises, communicating with people, and reading books are my sources of happiness and inspiration.

To know how to recover better, it is important to understand what drives you right now. American psychologist Stephen Reiss identified 16 types of deep motivation that affect our behavior and mood.

Among them are strength, independence, order, curiosity, acceptance, peace, and the desire for love. If you are driven by the desire to know the world better, spend your free time learning a new language or skill.

For those who care about order, home rearrangements or small cleaning tasks are suitable.

Step 5: Learn to Accept and Appreciate Your Work

Heavy workload is just one of the six main causes of burnout. Others include a lack of reward, constant monitoring, injustice, value misalignment, and a hostile team. In an ideal world, you can adjust to the reality around you — or you can simply change jobs.

For international business leaders, this is often a luxury. But, although it's not always easy to change what you don't like about your work or the industry you’re in, you can always work on your perception of yourself, attitude toward life, and motivation.

Moreover, as a founder, you should ensure that the people you hire share the same values. I’m sure that this will not only increase your business indicators, but it will also surround you with people you would want to spend time with.

A Checklist for Beating Burnout

• Evaluate your psychological and emotional state. Determine how many signs of burnout can be attributed to you. If most of them illustrate your relationship with work, tell yourself that you are faced with a mental problem that has nothing to do with weakness or your professional aptitude.

• Do not be afraid to seek the help of professionals. A psychologist will help you return to your normal life, but guilt and attempts to keep pushing won’t.

• Cherish social contacts and personal communication. Business should not affect communication with loved ones and the quality of your relationships. Entrepreneurs are not robots. So don't even try to become one. Don't limit your life and value system to work matters, and figure out what brings you pleasure outside of work.

• Learn which activities help you recover, and invest more time in them. For example, an extrovert may need to relax with friends or family after work, while an introvert may need an evening alone with a book. Take restorative classes as seriously as you take work meetings.

  
  

  And if someone asks to call you during non-working hours, instead of the usual workout – refuse. Learn to say "no" more often when there really is no opportunity or strength. Choose your mental health over your job.

• Figure out the possible causes of burnout, and assess whether or not you often encounter them in life. If something is present, try to reduce the risks associated with the situation.

  
  

  If you do not receive enough support from the team, learn to appreciate the resources the team is ready to give or find an activity that will allow you to fill in the missing work. For example, become a mentor.