What is Entrepreneur Burnout and How Do We Manage It?

If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you have experienced burnout.

While many adults can relate, business owners are particularly prone to burnout.

That is because, left to our own devices, we run the risk of never allowing ourselves to leave work.

When you’re the owner of the company, and everything weighs on the success or failure of your business, it hits a bit differently than when you’re an employee.

So, as business owners, we need to be extra mindful – especially now, in a post-pandemic era.

First of all, burnout isn’t what most people think it is.

We often think burnout has to do with over-working, not getting enough rest, and multi-tasking.

We tend to equate burnout with stress. This is a popular misconception.

Burnout is the result of prolonged stress. You get to a point where even if you do less or have less on your plate, you feel like you have nothing left to give.

“Burnout reduces productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical, and resentful. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give”, according to HelpGuide.org

Burnout actually has more to do with a languishing mental state than it does with being busy all the time.

You can be sleeping all the time and still feel burnt out.

You can punch out from work at 5pm every night and still feel burnt out.

You can watch Netflix for 6 hours and still feel burnt out.

You can be watching a baby all day, every day and definitely experience burnout.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant talks about the state of “languishing” – a mental state that isn’t as severe as depression but it isn’t thriving or flourishing, either.

It’s that “meh” feeling – like all the joy and excitement has gone out of your life.

You might be productive (or not), but you have no drive. You’ve lost that sense of passion or motivation.

Life is monotonous.

Every day looks and feels the same as the day before.

Bleh.

So how do we go from a state of languishing, or burnout, to a state of feeling energized again?

It might seem counter-intuitive, but the answer lies in doing more.

Not less.

“The irony is, if we put more fun into our lives then we wind up becoming more productive,” says Laurie Santos, Yale’s “happiness professor”, “because fun makes you feel alive by definition, gives you a little bit more energy. It allows you to take a real break.”

Professor Santos stresses that you not only need to inject more fun into your life but it needs to be an active form of fun. In other words, you need to go out and play sports or hang out at a karaoke bar, not just watch more Netflix.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant’s recent Ted Talk delves into this as well, emphasizing the need to be actively engaged in a state of peak flow.

Grant stresses that post-pandemic, he no longer sees fun as a reward for his hard work but instead, it is a vital part of his life that he needs to schedule into his day-to-day.

So now, you must be wondering, “How can I add more activities (fun or otherwise) into my life when I am already feeling so drained?”

While it might seem counter-intuitive, adding more fun into your life will give you MORE energy and make you more productive.

You will suddenly be able to get more done in a day.

Your focus will improve.

And you’ll be happier.

Have you been feeling uninspired, lately? How can you actively inject more fun into your day?