A Business Owner’s Guide to Avoiding Burnout

As a small business owner, it’s common to wear many different hats and feel like you’re constantly juggling duties. A lot of people are depending on you, and it may feel like one small slip-up could bring everything crashing to the ground.

While many of us enjoy the challenge, and some even thrive on it, there comes a point when it can get to be too much. We’ve all had those days when we feel so frazzled and overworked that we just don’t care anymore. However, if you find yourself feeling like this more often than not, you may be suffering from burnout.

Even if you’re not there yet, without consciously taking steps to avoid it, it’s easy to find yourself slipping into this state without even noticing. Since burnout can affect your work, your physical health, and your home life, it’s important to understand the signs and know what to do if it starts happening to you. 

The difference between stress and burnout

It’s normal to experience a bit of stress, but once burnout hits, you’re dealing with a completely different animal. When you’re stressed, you can typically pinpoint the person or situation that’s causing it. You’ll feel the struggle of trying to get past the stress and know that you’ll feel better once it’s under control. Stress also typically comes and goes depending on what’s going on in your life.

Burnout can be harder to recognize because it tends to be insidious. It comes on subtly and progresses gradually. When you’re burned out, you no longer care about finding a solution. You might start to feel hopeless, apathetic, and expect that things will never get better, no matter what you do.

What to look for: The warning signs of burnout

Since burnout tends to sneak up on you, it’s important to pay attention to the physical, mental, and emotional signs. Staying vigilant will help you recognize that there’s a problem and make proactive changes to address it. Here are some of the things you’ll want to watch out for.

• Feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted
• Experiencing muscle aches, body pains, headaches, and/or nausea
• Change in appetite and/or weight change
• Feeling distracted, irritable, incompetent, or inadequate
• Poor concentration, indecisiveness, muddled thinking
• Feeling hopeless, depressed, and/or trapped
• Lowered immune system/ frequent illnesses
• Feeling emotionally detached
• Withdrawing from other people and social situations

In the workplace, these feelings can often manifest as:

• Showing up late, leaving early, or missing work
• Making careless mistakes
• Uncooperative behavior and/or treating others poorly
• Increased cynicism and apathy
• Loss of commitment to your goals and aspirations

At home, you may experience:

• Relationship difficulties
• Increase in smoking and/or alcohol consumption
• Overspending
• Difficulty sleeping

If you feel like you’ve lost your passion, you’re constantly frustrated, and chronically exhausted, you might be burned out. Procrastinating, frequently forgetting things, and feeling a loss of focus are also telltale signs to watch out for.

Once burnout takes hold, your business will suffer from low productivity, poor customer service, lower profits, and the effects could cause long-term damage to your reputation.

Common causes of burnout in the workplace

While burnout can be a real problem, making changes in your work environment can help you turn things around. First, it’s important to understand the early indicators of burnout. You and/or your employees are likely to suffer from burnout if any of the following factors apply:

• The demands of the job seem relentless and/or exceed human limits
• There’s a feeling of unappreciation, lack of recognition, or insufficient rewards for the work that is done
• There’s a lack of support from superiors or your team, which leads to ongoing stress and exhaustion
• The workload is or is perceived to be unfair or inequitable
• You feel like no matter how hard you work, the workload will never let up

You may not realize it, but it’s possible that you’ve inadvertently created a “burnout culture” within your business. If you’ve noticed any of the signs of burnout in yourself or your staff, the time to take action is now.

Long-term strategies to combat workplace burnout

To avoid burnout (or start to recover from it), it’s important to take a step back and re-evaluate your work environment. Here are a few tips to help you get started.

1. Understand Your limits

Your clients or customers might think you’re a superhero, but it’s critical to remember that you’re not superhuman. It’s fine to work hard and push yourself once in a while, but if you’re constantly putting unreasonable demands on yourself, you will burn out.

Make sure to set hard limits on how many hours per day you’re willing to work and commit to sticking to it. If you feel like you can’t possibly do this, then you absolutely must look for reasonable ways to lighten your workload.

2. Re-evaluate your goals

When you feel like you aren’t accomplishing the things you set out to do, it’s easy for hopelessness and burnout to set in. This makes now a great time to re-evaluate your goals. There’s a chance that they’re unrealistic, too broad, or even nonexistent.

Start with some longer-term, big-picture goals, then break them down into smaller, more achievable ones. As you start to accomplish your smaller objectives, you’ll feel a jolt of endorphins that will help you fight off your negative emotions.

3. Recognize the value of your time

When you’re running a business, it seems like there’s always a long list of people and tasks that are waiting for your attention. If you let every distraction pull you away as soon as it pops up, you’ll constantly feel overworked and overwhelmed.

Take some time to list out all the things in your business that only you can do. When things come up that aren’t on that list, find ways to delegate them or block off a few hours of time each day to address them all at once so they aren’t constantly pulling you away from more important work.

4. Give Yourself a Break

No matter how busy the day gets, make sure you take at least a few minutes every couple of hours to get up and walk around. Walking away from your work for even a few minutes will give your brain enough of a break to help you feel refreshed.

At the time you’ve designated to stop working, make sure you log off your computer and leave the office. Take some time to decompress, turn off your phone, and spend some time doing an activity you truly enjoy.

5. Reduce Your Workload

There are many different ways that you can take some work off your plate. Hiring an employee might seem like the most obvious answer, but for many business owners, this simply isn’t an option. However, don’t let that keep you from exploring other possibilities.

For example, you may be able to outsource tasks like accounting, shipping and logistics, or your social media marketing. You may also consider hiring a virtual assistant or using technology to automate some of your daily tasks.

6. Put Yourself First

Lastly, don’t be afraid to be a little bit selfish. You may feel like going to the gym, taking that yoga class, or recommitting to your book club is ridiculous when you’re so busy, but taking some time for yourself is critical for your physical and mental well-being.

Not only will regularly stepping away from your work allow you to decompress and recharge, but it will also fuel your creativity, fight off burnout, and make you a happier, healthier business owner.