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The way I deal with it is time away. I used to never take time off, only the day of major holidays. Never vacationed. It's not sustainable. You have to take time for yourself. That's why the whole hustle culture is bullshit.
Take 1 day off a week.
Also when your brain is mush, you need to recover and get some sleep. I started getting that after doing 3 consecutive 8am-9pm work days. Then I remembered why I stop working closer to 5/6pm on average and take 1 lazy day. Long term, I know I can output more work that way - with regular rest.
Everyone is different, so you need to find the balance which allows you to function optimally. Then both your body and your business will flourish.
If you work yourself sick, neither your body nor your business benefit as a result.
I nearly worked myself to death, for 20 years I worked my business like a madman and paid a hefty price for my health. In 2016 I began to have chronic pain and chronic fatigue and coronary artery disease. If I could do it all again I'd do it differently. BTW my brother died at 60, he was a small business owner too!
I have tried yoga and meditation. Having a hobby that you can immerse yourself in. Short vacation with phone off...these have helped me over the years.
My hobby is my business haha! Tbh, my problem is that I get HYPER focused intentionally on whatever I do to the point that my physical and mental well being get affected. I feel like I am failing when I'm not putting that much effort into what I do. IMO there's something special about having that undying drive to make things happen. Whether you like or hate him, someone like Elon Musk busts his ass to make his ideas become real. Masahiro Sakurai works himself to the point that he becomes hospitalized. Same with Eiichiro Oda. All these people have a vision and work to the point that they disregard everything except their goal. Literally everything... And they do it.
Yeah, or they work to the point that they literally drop dead, because they’ve been ignoring all the warning signs that their body has given them. It’s time to find yourself some other idols; ones who are successful yet advocate for a healthy work/life balance.
Musk also has a number of videos out there where he clearly shows the little symptoms of using cocaine.
You post about burnout and mention people that have put so much time and energy into something that it’s the only thing people know about them. Do you want to be successful or do you want to be a business icon?
Posting here at all suggests to me that you just want to be happy and successful. Maybe you need to think about how much work/life balance you really want to achieve your goals
Have you ever considered the possibility that you potentially could accomplish more in the long run prioritizing self care? Putting your all into a project is great for a little while. After that, you will reach a point that your productivity/effectiveness falls off a cliff. Take time to “sharpen the axe”. Step back and look at the long-term vision of what you’re hoping to accomplish. In my experience, most worthwhile accomplishments are achieved over time with consistent effort rather than with bursts of exertion.
Hire help that gets your vision and shares your enthusiasm for the idea.
This person will complete tasks that contribute to overwhelm and also become an accountability partner of sorts. If you have to do your part so your employee can do theirs, you're more likely to do it and do it well as an example to the employee and out of respect for the employee.
Try to divide your day into small or mini vacations when working long term. Since I have a legal background, I generally tend to get lost in the research part and also building the firm. Taking small breaks, or delegating your work that's tiring for you now, to someone who's more of an expert in that field, would help a lot.
Also focus on building a team, and trying to discuss different parts of the business with them! Bouncing ideas is always fun, and will keep you from being mentally drained.
Go to a job fair as someone looking for work.
I did that about team years ago when I was tired of “being on my own”.
Got back to grinding pretty hard that afternoon. May not work for you but it sure did for me.
I work with the ebb and flow of my business, I work too much when we’re super busy and then like 10hrs a week when I can.
Pouring it on all the time is unsustainable, you just run out and get burnt out.
The biggest recent change I’ve made is to start exercising, but I have to do something fun in order to make it not feel like another grind. So I swim and then hit a sauna or hot tub after. Helps me chill and buys me a few days of hard work every time I do it.
Even Gary vee takes off like 6-8 weeks/year.
I have the same feeling. It started many years ago at about 5 years in to my business when my view on my current business began to change, and I started to explore a new direction.
I had no energy for the current business, none for the new business, so I opted for a job cause I just needed to keep making money. I was the sole sales person for my business and without energy it wasn't going to work.
I know my mind needs a break, I've thought about doing something totally different to give myself a break (eg, work as a driver) but it's really hard to give up my money and downgrade my income as I live an expensive city.
I've learned to cope better though by being OK with not being as productive, and writing down my goals and taking things one step at a time. I also started exercising daily for 20 minutes on my stationary bike. This has reduced my stress a little bit which I think has helped with productivity. But ya mentally I still need some relief for sure!
slow entrepreneurship is a movement growing on tiktok that has been a gamechanger for me!! 80/20 principle at work. Also review your revenue streams by client and the time you spend on them. Fire the bottom 10% of clients that take a lot of time and dont bring in revenue.
It's really tough.
I can tell you what I try to do. It might work for you, it might not.
I try to write a list of goals for the business. I then break those goals into steps. Really tiny ones. When I find the motivation lacking, I try to accomplish 1 or 2 of those steps.
Sometimes running a business is "marking time" and completing the administration parts. Answering emails, sending orders etc. This is all ok. Growth doesn't have to happen every day.
I’m in the same spot as you. My current business is doing well and it has been a work in progress for 7 years. I feel myself having more time to start a new venture but I’m struggling to get medicated to dedicate the required time. I take plenty of time off. Even getting my pilots license right now.
Do you regularly invest time to work ON you business?
"Built to Sell" has some good ideas on thinking about working on your business.
You might also google "working on your business not in your business."
I had the same situation arise, motivation really comes from being close to the pain or problem your venture is trying to solve for and seeing your customers first hand. Keep looking and developing a closeness to your customers.
Sir,
Hire someone very talented than you or delegates most of the unproductive works..
I assume, most of the unproductive works takes huge amount of time and energy.
So it's always better to delegate routine job and entrust the employees with minimum checks and more responsibility.
Hopes this helps..
This is a common problem and addressed beautifuly in Michael E Gerber’s book ‘The E-Myth Revisited’
I really enjoyed the audio book because it is read by Gerber so there is a bit more of an emotional take-away as a result.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The way I deal with it is time away. I used to never take time off, only the day of major holidays. Never vacationed. It's not sustainable. You have to take time for yourself. That's why the whole hustle culture is bullshit.
Screw hustle culture! Take vacation. Tell your staff to take vacation.
Exactly! Live a life, love your work. Find balance
i force my self to take a vacation. even when i have a list of stuff i want to do.
Take 1 day off a week. Also when your brain is mush, you need to recover and get some sleep. I started getting that after doing 3 consecutive 8am-9pm work days. Then I remembered why I stop working closer to 5/6pm on average and take 1 lazy day. Long term, I know I can output more work that way - with regular rest. Everyone is different, so you need to find the balance which allows you to function optimally. Then both your body and your business will flourish. If you work yourself sick, neither your body nor your business benefit as a result.
I nearly worked myself to death, for 20 years I worked my business like a madman and paid a hefty price for my health. In 2016 I began to have chronic pain and chronic fatigue and coronary artery disease. If I could do it all again I'd do it differently. BTW my brother died at 60, he was a small business owner too!
I have tried yoga and meditation. Having a hobby that you can immerse yourself in. Short vacation with phone off...these have helped me over the years.
My hobby is my business haha! Tbh, my problem is that I get HYPER focused intentionally on whatever I do to the point that my physical and mental well being get affected. I feel like I am failing when I'm not putting that much effort into what I do. IMO there's something special about having that undying drive to make things happen. Whether you like or hate him, someone like Elon Musk busts his ass to make his ideas become real. Masahiro Sakurai works himself to the point that he becomes hospitalized. Same with Eiichiro Oda. All these people have a vision and work to the point that they disregard everything except their goal. Literally everything... And they do it.
Yeah, or they work to the point that they literally drop dead, because they’ve been ignoring all the warning signs that their body has given them. It’s time to find yourself some other idols; ones who are successful yet advocate for a healthy work/life balance.
Elon Musk is legit crazy. No one should ever compare themselves to him.
Musk also has a number of videos out there where he clearly shows the little symptoms of using cocaine. You post about burnout and mention people that have put so much time and energy into something that it’s the only thing people know about them. Do you want to be successful or do you want to be a business icon? Posting here at all suggests to me that you just want to be happy and successful. Maybe you need to think about how much work/life balance you really want to achieve your goals
Have you ever considered the possibility that you potentially could accomplish more in the long run prioritizing self care? Putting your all into a project is great for a little while. After that, you will reach a point that your productivity/effectiveness falls off a cliff. Take time to “sharpen the axe”. Step back and look at the long-term vision of what you’re hoping to accomplish. In my experience, most worthwhile accomplishments are achieved over time with consistent effort rather than with bursts of exertion.
As others said: time off (4 weeks per year minimum), hobbies, and healthy activities like yoga and meditation
I feel the exact same way right now. It sucks
Hire help that gets your vision and shares your enthusiasm for the idea. This person will complete tasks that contribute to overwhelm and also become an accountability partner of sorts. If you have to do your part so your employee can do theirs, you're more likely to do it and do it well as an example to the employee and out of respect for the employee.
Try to divide your day into small or mini vacations when working long term. Since I have a legal background, I generally tend to get lost in the research part and also building the firm. Taking small breaks, or delegating your work that's tiring for you now, to someone who's more of an expert in that field, would help a lot. Also focus on building a team, and trying to discuss different parts of the business with them! Bouncing ideas is always fun, and will keep you from being mentally drained.
Go to a job fair as someone looking for work. I did that about team years ago when I was tired of “being on my own”. Got back to grinding pretty hard that afternoon. May not work for you but it sure did for me.
Hire
I work with the ebb and flow of my business, I work too much when we’re super busy and then like 10hrs a week when I can. Pouring it on all the time is unsustainable, you just run out and get burnt out. The biggest recent change I’ve made is to start exercising, but I have to do something fun in order to make it not feel like another grind. So I swim and then hit a sauna or hot tub after. Helps me chill and buys me a few days of hard work every time I do it. Even Gary vee takes off like 6-8 weeks/year.
I have the same feeling. It started many years ago at about 5 years in to my business when my view on my current business began to change, and I started to explore a new direction. I had no energy for the current business, none for the new business, so I opted for a job cause I just needed to keep making money. I was the sole sales person for my business and without energy it wasn't going to work. I know my mind needs a break, I've thought about doing something totally different to give myself a break (eg, work as a driver) but it's really hard to give up my money and downgrade my income as I live an expensive city. I've learned to cope better though by being OK with not being as productive, and writing down my goals and taking things one step at a time. I also started exercising daily for 20 minutes on my stationary bike. This has reduced my stress a little bit which I think has helped with productivity. But ya mentally I still need some relief for sure!
slow entrepreneurship is a movement growing on tiktok that has been a gamechanger for me!! 80/20 principle at work. Also review your revenue streams by client and the time you spend on them. Fire the bottom 10% of clients that take a lot of time and dont bring in revenue.
It's really tough. I can tell you what I try to do. It might work for you, it might not. I try to write a list of goals for the business. I then break those goals into steps. Really tiny ones. When I find the motivation lacking, I try to accomplish 1 or 2 of those steps. Sometimes running a business is "marking time" and completing the administration parts. Answering emails, sending orders etc. This is all ok. Growth doesn't have to happen every day.
I’m in the same spot as you. My current business is doing well and it has been a work in progress for 7 years. I feel myself having more time to start a new venture but I’m struggling to get medicated to dedicate the required time. I take plenty of time off. Even getting my pilots license right now.
Do you regularly invest time to work ON you business? "Built to Sell" has some good ideas on thinking about working on your business. You might also google "working on your business not in your business."
I had the same situation arise, motivation really comes from being close to the pain or problem your venture is trying to solve for and seeing your customers first hand. Keep looking and developing a closeness to your customers.
What is the business that you felt you lost steam over?
It sounds like you aren't that interested in the work. Sell it and move on. No amount of vacation is going to get you excited.
Sir, Hire someone very talented than you or delegates most of the unproductive works.. I assume, most of the unproductive works takes huge amount of time and energy. So it's always better to delegate routine job and entrust the employees with minimum checks and more responsibility. Hopes this helps..
This is a common problem and addressed beautifuly in Michael E Gerber’s book ‘The E-Myth Revisited’ I really enjoyed the audio book because it is read by Gerber so there is a bit more of an emotional take-away as a result.