How to Recover From Burnout & Make your Business Work for You

I find it funny that a lot of people equate being self-employed and owning a business to having ample amounts of freedom in their finances and time to live their best lives. Now don’t get me wrong — I know heaps of entrepreneurs who are truly living in the fruits of their hard work. But in most cases (if not all), the freedom and flexibility in their lifestyle didn’t come overnight.

A lot of entrepreneurs start off by siding a side hustle alongside their other commitments (i.e. work, or study) — people on the outside may think that they’re leaving the 9-5 to be free from the daily grind. But in most cases, running a small business or a startup can feel like 24/7. Particularly in the early days.

Your business can morph to feel like it’s a part of your identity. It can be all-consuming, incredibly demanding, and absolutely exhausting. Burnout is not pretty, it is psychologically, physically, mentally and emotionally debilitating.

If you’re a small business owner, and you’re feeling burnt out, you’re not alone. It’s a horrible place to be — but sometimes our bodies know best. If you’ve been operating at full-steam without much support, rest, rewards, and cashflow, it can have a detrimental long-term effect on your wellbeing.

Burnout is your body’s way of telling you that you’ve reached your limits (probably a long time ago), and you’ve pushed through. But you need (note the emphasis): you need to take care of yourself. Not just as an emergency resort, (if you’re currently burnt out, it is an emergency, and you need to listen to your body) — but consistently. Consistent self-care is the key for us to thrive in our business, relationships, homes, etc. Prevention is always better than cure.

If you’re feeling at the end of yourself mentally and physically, here are some things I tried to put into practice to bring myself back to equilibrium.

1) Rest

Book in a massage. Book in a few massages. Or better yet, book a solo trip away from home.

What are the benefits of taking a solo trip?

There are many benefits to travelling somewhere alone. Even if it’s only a short trip away, for only a short amount of time. Taking time off in an unfamiliar place on your own can provide you the opportunity to truly switch off. It might take a couple of days to wind down from a state of prolonged distress, but when you leave the familiar routine of home and work, it can give you the space to rest.

Going somewhere alone can ignite deeper self-discovery. Without anyone else to speak with, or accommodate to, travelling solo travel will give you an opportunity to get to know yourself better. It might feel awkward at first, but being alone will undoubtedly push you out of your comfort zone to confront new situations alone. You may find that you are more capable than you thought, and connect with your mental resilience and strength.

Solo travel can be an incredibly rewarding and empowering experience as leaving the familiar behind can help you disconnect from the stresses of everyday life and prioritise rest by reconnecting with yourself mentally and emotionally.

2) reflect

Whether you’re able to take a trip alone, or whether it’s just sitting on the couch at home — reflection can be a game changer. Setting aside time for introspection just as you’d set aside time to catch up with a friend — is incredibly valuable as it help you gain perspective on your life.

Sometimes it can feel really difficult to properly reflect if your thoughts are cloudy. If that’s the case for you, I want to encourage you to try and take a journal to a local cafe, or perhaps even go for a walk to process things outside of the four walls of your familiar home.

When you spend time reflecting on your experiences, goals, and priorities, it’s important to be honest. Honest reflections can be tricky to first accept, but that’s where you can tap into your wisdom and insight.

Here are a few questions that might help you reassess and realign your life to feel like you’re actually in the driver’s seat.

• What’s working?

What are some things you’ve implemented that have yielded great, productive and sustainable results? What systems are easy to navigate and have helped streamline your processes? Which team members are performing well? What services and products are bringing in the most cashflow?

• What’s not working?

Sometimes the way we’ve operated in the past no longer serves our current business challenges as we’ve outgrown the systems we’d once had in place. Are there staff members or programs that are creating extra work for you? Which services or products aren’t performing well? Are there areas of your business that you’re spending time on that you shouldn’t actually be spending time on? Do you need your mornings off?

• If the rest of this year could run perfectly, what would your business look like?

I know that it’s not always the best to be idealistic as setting stupidly high standards can lead to unhealthy levels of distress and a deterioration in your confidence. But sometimes it can be incredibly empowering to dream big and think outside the box. If your business was thriving, what would it look like? What people do you envision in the picture? How will you be spending your time and energy?

• What would your business ideally look like in 5 years? What about in 10 years?

  When you’re at the point of burn out, it’s likely that you’ll be wanting to quit. Pull the plug. It’s hard to see things clearly when your mental state feels like it’s deteriorating. Leading on from the previous point, it’s important that you take a step back from the everyday operations of your business and thinking about the bigger picture. Why did you start, and how did you first envision your business growing to in the years to come? Once you’ve had a bit of time to rest, it could be a great time to realign. Re-visiting your initial business plan, or consider re-writing one could be a good idea.

3) realign

Sometimes, getting to breaking point can be a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t wish the pain, weight, distress and apathy of burnout on my worst enemy. But I know that for myself personally, getting to breaking point previously had given me the wakeup call. The detrimental wakeup call (which was, indeed, a blessing in disguise). As it forced me to reassess how I’ve been running things, how I truly feel, and habits that really wouldn’t be sustainable if continued in the long run.

Burnout for myself gave me the opportunity to make important changes in both my personal life to take care of myself whilst also setting up systems and processes in my business operations that would allow it to thrive in different ways.

So my tip for you, is to realign. Consider what changes you may need to introduce. For example,

• Pricing

  Do you need to make any changes in your pricing structure? With all the hours business owners put in, their gross profit may seem impressive on paper, but the net profit can be a big cause of stress. When you’re at a place of physical and mental burnout, it might be time to consider revisiting your profit and loss, balance sheets and cash-flow statements. Is your business profitable? Do you need to raise your prices so that you can take on less clients and produce higher quality work?

• Workload

  How’s your workload currently? What are you good at? What comes naturally to you? What are the tasks that only you can do? Reassessing your workload — whether it be the hours you choose to work, the nature of the jobs you take on, and learning to set strong boundaries around these things is an incredible form of selfcare. If you’re not a night person, it might be a good idea to set a firm boundary around what time you would clock off.

If you’re in business and you’re feeling like you’re at your limits, know that it’s okay to slow down. Your health, wellbeing, clarity and motivation are much more important than the performance of your business. The quality of your thoughts and energy are indispensable. It’s okay to prioritise yourself. In fact, it’s crucial.

Take time away to rest, reconnect and realign. And take as long as you need. Sometimes you need to strip back to grow. Your aim should be to bring yourself back to homeostasis. No matter how long it takes. The process doesn’t need to be rushed. Prioritse your health, because healthy things will grow.

You are more important than your busines.