How to Address Burnout

In our last newsletter, we broached the topic of burnout for business owners: 

In many respects, burnout is just a new term for mid-life crisis. But in some ways, it’s on a much bigger scale. Whereas you might buy a Corvette to quench a mid-life crisis, burnout can sap your energy to the point where nothing can motivate you. This, in turn, can have negative effects on business performance. 

When you grow a successful business, you may feel the effects of burnout. Even worse, you may feel them before you’re in a position to retire on your terms. Worse still, by the time you’re in the throes of burnout, you may not have the energy to address it! 

Today, we’ll present a process for addressing burnout within the context of planning for a successful future before it hits you. 

1. Reduce job-related stressors  

According to Harvard Business Review, a key element of addressing burnout is to reduce job-related stressors.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Easier said than done,” you’re not wrong. For successful business owners, it may seem that job-related stressors are at the very core of running a successful business. 

However, one strong strategy for reducing job-related stressors is to seek out and install next-level managers. 

Next-level managers are people who have the skill and experience to take your business to the next level. In doing so, they take on some of your responsibilities, which can help reduce job-related stressors. 

Additionally, having next-level management is a core element of planning for a successful future. As they take on more of your responsibilities, the business begins to rely less on you. When your business no longer relies on you for success, you have more pathways to leaving it on your terms.  

This applies even if you never intend to leave your business, as next-level management can give you more freedom to do what you do best in your business. 

2. Reassess and realign goals, skills, and work passions  

As the business evolves, so too will your goals, skills, and passions.  

For instance, you may have started your business with a goal of achieving financial security and retiring to Barbados by age 45. But then maybe you learned you loved the work itself, or met someone special and had kids, which inevitably changed your calculus. 

Regardless of the details, things change. But when your plans don’t change with reality, it can make you feel like you’re spinning your tires in Mississippi mud.  

Another core element of planning for a successful future is establishing goals along with strategies to help you achieve them. A huge benefit of planning with an Advisor Team is that as your goals and realities change, so too can your strategies.  

When your planning evolves with you, it could reignite the fire you had when your first started the business, giving you more energy to pursue success on your terms. 

Conclusion 

One of the most difficult parts of addressing burnout is beginning the process before it hits. While it’s certainly possible to address burnout even when you’re in the middle of it—especially when using the strategies above—prevention is much easier to manage than finding the cure. 

Fortunately, an inherent benefit of planning for a successful future is that such plans address many of the causes of burnout. From installing a next-level management team to assuring that your plans align with your goals (even as they evolve), planning for a successful future, with help from an Advisor Team, can help you keep burnout at bay. 

We strive to help business owners identify and prioritize their objectives with respect to their businesses, their employees, and their families. If you are ready to talk about your goals for the future and get insights into how you might achieve those goals, we’d be happy to sit down and talk with you. Please feel free to contact us at your convenience.