The Problem With Burnout (And Why It’s Not Actually The Problem)
If you’ve been following Boss Project for a while then you know we like to reclaim words and then redefine their meanings to what aligns with us AND for you (business owners). We’re at it again and this time we want to take back the word “burnout”.
Burnout has been given a negative reputation and business owners are running away from it as fast as possible. However, we’ve come to find out that burnout isn’t this big, bad thing everyone makes it out to be. In fact, burnout has helped change our business for the better.
In this blog, we’re going to tell you what burnout means to us and how you can reclaim it into something productive and powerful in your business.
The Actual Problem With Burnout
To us it’s the ignored, underlying parts of burnout that make it so negative. Burnout in itself is not bad, but when you start ignoring why you’re feeling this way, then it can start becoming problematic.
For example, when you get into burnout there’s something in your business that is either happening or not happening that is making you want to throw in the towel. What is that underlying thing? It’s important to ask yourself questions like why and how did I get here? What am I feeling? What is the root cause of this burnout?
When you start asking yourself those questions, you start seeing areas of your business that could use some change. Like do you need to raise your prices, do you need better systems, more support, etc?
The moment you start asking yourself why you’re feeling burnout some clearer action steps start to show up and you can begin to move forward.
Burnout Gives You Growth
The growth that comes from burnout is why burnout is NOT bad. Sometimes, getting into burnout forces us to start making changes in our business. And change isn’t bad! It might even mean growth and new opportunities. When burnout shows up, it forces you to take a step back and see what changes you need to start making.
In those moments you might decide it’s time to raise your prices so you can take on less clients and still get paid. Or you might look into hiring your first employee for more support! Burnout can also mean implementing new systems so you can worry less about the day to day stuff.
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Burnout will tell you to get your booty into gear so you can start making some changes. Those changes could lead to amazing new growth for your business. So embrace the burnout, give yourself time to take a step back and figure out what’s making you feel this way so you can take some action.
What Not to Do When Burnout Shows Up
In these moments of burnout, we want to remind you that going backwards is not the solution. Going forward is! We’ve seen too many business owners reach burnout and then want to burn their business to the ground. The solution to burnout is not to create something but to instead figure out the underlying causes of what is currently happening and then make changes there instead.
Our advice? Don’t dread burnout and definitely don’t run from it. Take it for what it is, do some digging, and then make those changes. We don’t hate burnout here, at Boss Project, we embrace it and grow from it. The key difference is that when we are feeling the feels of burnout we pause. We ask ourselves what is the actual cause of these burnout feelings? And then we take action to remove or create efficiencies around those causes.
If this resonated with you, we want to know! We encourage you to continue this conversation over in our Instagram DMs. When was a time you felt burnout and what did you do about it?
In the Incubator, we teach our clients how to look at their business and find areas they can improve and change. We quickly address the typical underlying causes of burnout and encourage our clients to set their business up to a Life-first approach. We find that when you run your business, instead of your business running you it improves your business and quality of life. That's what we want for you too! We encourage you to go ahead and apply here, then DM us on Instagram @bossproject telling us you applied!
