Prevention is the Better Option for Burnout
I’ve been in the entrepreneurial space for over a decade now, and I’ve noticed a pattern. But before I begin, I want to note that the information I have gathered here is from newsletters and social media posts publicly available (and I try not to spend too much time on social media!). I do not know these people personally and as always, there is more to the story than what is posted or shared publicly. So with that caveat…
What do Marie Forelo, Amy Porterfield, Jenna Kutcher, Mindy Pelz, Jordan Dooley, and Hilary Rushford have in common?
They are all kick-ass entrepreneurs
They are all passionate about what they do and their message
They all offer valuable information on entrepreneurship and/or health
I have paid for their classes, courses, webinars, and books
I have learned a lot from them
They have all reported some flavor of burnout, needing to slow down, health crises due to being hard-driving entrepreneurs
After achieving success in their field, financially and in terms of impact and reach, many of these amazing women have since gone on to talk publicly about how burnt out they became in the process of achieving their great success. Some have even created products for sale that teach strategies to heal from burnout. It’s a bit of a paradox…follow them and do as they say and do to create wealth and success, burn out with all of that hustle, then use the wealth and resources to fund healing from the burnout created in the hustle to create wealth. But WHY?? Why do we have to push so hard to burn out in the first place? Is the only path to success paved with eventual physical, emotional, and cognitive burn out?
I sure hope not!
I am passionate about my work and teaching others simple tools and mindset shifts to optimize health. When I have felt the urge to go “all-in” with one or more of the strategies suggested by the above entrepreneurs, I could not maintain the pace. Let me correct that, I chose not to skimp on sleep, not to eat fast food, not to post everything that I was eating an doing to social media, and to spend downtime with my family. Many of these women didn’t have children at the beginning of their journey, and some don’t which is totally a fine choice…just changes the equation a bit!
I have many clients who feel as if they are doing something wrong because when they push and hustle as they percieve to be the path to “success,” their well-being falters. Sometimes in a big way.
But here’s the truth of the matter…they are not doing anything wrong. It isn’t possible to do all the things all the time. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to understand that message, but now that I know it, I want to share it. The hustle, you-can-do-it-all-and-still-feel-great idea is a myth. Let’s not wait for burnout to understand that. I promise you it’s the truth. Ask yourself what success really means. Like many of my clients, you might find that it means more downtime, more time outside, more time away from technology, and more being rather than doing.
So, what can we do? In addition to the lifestyle tools that you know to be important:
sleep
whole foods including adequate protein
social connection with people who support you
boundaries
fun!
movement
checking and changing your self-talk
strategies to reduce nervous system activation
We also need to believe that:
It’s okay not to do it all.
It’s okay to live a simple life.
It’s okay not to be busy.
It’s okay not to post daily life updates to social media.
Success has many definitions.
Tune in. Listen to your body. It will tell you what is true for you.