As a small business owner, you are constantly trying to balance your professional and personal life. This can be quite difficult because it often feels like there is never enough time in the day to get everything done. How do you avoid burnout? How do you find motivation when what we are doing isn’t working?
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How to Avoid Burnout
One of the fastest ways to prevent burnout is to avoid it proactively. Sometimes that isn’t possible, but a lot of times, we ignore the warning signs. Understanding your triggers and taking action is important.
Here are a couple things you can do to help you avoid burnout:
- Create a Daily Planner: This will help you stay on track and make sure that you spend your time wisely. How much of the day do you want to spend working? How much time should be spent with family/relationships, taking care of personal hygiene needs, eating healthy meals, etc.? Take an hour or so each morning to plan out how this can work in a balanced way.
- Self Care: This is such a buzz phrase and is more than taking a bath while the kids are screaming at the door and the dog is scratching at the edge of the tub. Self-care is an overused term to get away and reflect through something you enjoy. For me, this involves a glass of wine and a massage. That may look different for you.
Take Care Of Yourself and Balance Work and Personal Life
Focus on one thing at a time.
Knowing what your priorities are will help you know when and where to focus your efforts. There are several time management techniques (Pomodoro, Rock Pebbles Sand, etc) that you can use to decide what you should be doing right now.
- Email Management: How many emails do you get each day? How often are these checked in the morning, afternoon, and evening? How much of your workday is spent reading and responding to emails? It may be helpful to schedule email times so that they don’t distract from other tasks.
- Create Systems for Tasks You Have Repeatedly: This can include scheduling blog posts or social media updates and adding ‘to-dos into your calendar when possible if this task does not need immediate attention but will take some time (i.e., marketing research). Psst – Trello can help you with this!
- Social Media: The right way to use social media for your business is critical. Social media can be destructive if you spend too much time on it and not enough time building up your network or working on your business to make a difference.
- Consider your family: How do you spend time with your family? How often can they come into the office or visit you on-site? What is important to them that you attend?
Balance your time always to complete the most important priorities first. Then find a balance between the medium and lower priority items will make you feel more accomplished.
Figuring out what tasks are actually priorities will help you manage your time most effectively. This is harder than it sounds. That is why I’ve created a workbook to help you figure this all out. Let’s get your actual business and life priorities straightened out.
Be Realistic With Your Goals
Don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself or others. Realistic expectations can be a bridge between your goals and the day-to-day reality of life. It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as “business as usual.”
Have you set up the right goals to ensure that you will get what you want both in business and your personal life?
Saying you want a castle in the mountains and on an island won’t work. Not only do you need the right goals, but you also need realistic ones too.
It would be best if you had the right expectations for yourself and those around you. Understanding that there will always be obstacles and surprises in business life. If you are getting what you want in life personally and professionally, it can help prevent burnout.
Know When to Stop Working and Delegate
You need to know when enough is enough.
It’s important that you don’t over-work yourself. You can easily do most of the work, but sometimes it would take too much time. This will impact your business by decreasing productivity as you try to navigate the MUST GET DONE list.
I know it’s hard, but you need to know when to delegate some of your tasks. If you don’t have employees, then outsourcing those tasks serves the same purpose. Delegation is not failure. It’s the ability to know when you need to focus on your business and not in your business.
Some of the first a candidates for delegation are:
- Social Media
- Checking Email & General Responses
- Scheduling Posts across Social and Pinterest
Give yourself downtime to recharge and enjoy life outside work.
Finding Motivation
You can’t fight the battle of burnout alone.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it most. People trust honest people, and the fastest way to find motivation again is to get help with your issues.
Sharing what’s going on with someone close is important-it doesn’t have to be personal or intimate. Just share what has been happening in your life and, if needed, ask a group of people to help you brainstorm solutions to an issue.
Another way to stay motivated is to break from the things that cause you to feel burned out. How are your mental and emotional health? It’s important to take care of yourself because if you don’t, no one else will be able to do it for you. their situation?
The final tip I have on motivation to prevent being burnt out is to take advantage of business mentors. Seek out opportunities and those who may have tips they can give you, looking at things from a different angle. These new perspectives will motivate you in ways you don’t even understand yet.
Burnout Conclusion
If you’ve been feeling burnt out in your small business, it might be time to take a break and get back on top of your game. You may not need more hours in the day or even more responsibilities- what you really need is an opportunity to recharge so that you can feel energized about all aspects of life again.
I specialize in business coaching for small business owners looking for strategies that will help them avoid burnout. I am here so that entrepreneurs don’t have to go through their business struggles alone.
