How To Avoid Burnout When Starting New Startup

Do you know which is the perfect recipe for burnout?

When you put your brain on the “how am I going to get this all done?” anxiety mode!

Your brain is programmed to find solutions. So let it focus on that.

Why reprogram your brain to spin worries and anxieties? That will consume all your energy.

Save it because starting or running a startup requires all of your energy and more.

It is true entrepreneurship is not as glamorous a job as it sounds. The perks are quite tempting though – you get to be your boss, right?

But have you tried to step into the shoes of your boss? Ever? Never?

Then, you might not know what it takes to become the boss of everyone.

The role is not quite easy and can be daunting for many. In addition, juggling different roles simultaneously while keeping your focus on your objectives can lead to mental blockage, exhaustion, and burnout.

Doesn’t it sound too easy now?

A survey showed that “nearly half of entrepreneurs work more than 50 hours a week. Some work as much as 80 hours at a stretch. Over 40% of them reported feeling stressed and burned out every day.”

This is not hard to imagine considering the fact that owners had to put all their energy into launching and growing their new businesses.

How else do you think they can cover the cost of starting up?

Especially the initial days might feel nothing short of a nightmare. They do not have enough funds to hire second help. But, because they need all the pennies, they could find to invest back into their businesses.

They have to work 24 hours a day.

If they don’t, they will worry about not doing enough. So their brain will start painting depressing pictures instead, thereby burning their energy and motivation down.

The question, however, is – is it helping you anyway?

Working too hard for too long will hurt your venture in the long run. So stop now and try to be the human that you are.

#Trick 1: Don’t be the Superhero: Be Human

All we are suggesting is that you do not need to take care of every single task yourself.

Find some help instead. People whom you can trust with delegating a few responsibilities and expect positive results from them.

The delegation will reduce your shoulders’ burden and help you channelize your energy for more important tasks.

For example, hiring talents can be easily delegated to a competent and experienced HR. Or the developing and designing part to an experienced IT guy. Guide them accordingly and bestow your faith in their capabilities.

Things will fall into place without you having to break your brain over every single thing.

Then, you will not feel exhausted, and you can happily cater to tasks that suit you the most.

The question of feeling burned out – that will no longer bother you.

#Trick 2: Take Some Time Off

Even God took Sunday off when He was creating the beautiful world for us.

You are no God. You are just a human, and you deserve to take some time off from your busy schedule to focus on your health and mental well-being, as well as your family.

These small breaks will help your body to rebound and rechannelize the lost energy. The breaks will clear your mind off numerous negative thoughts and unnecessary worries.

So the next time you return to your job, you will feel refreshed and energized.

No time for burnouts eventually!

#Trick 3: Stay Out of the Many Hows and Ifs

The many ‘hows and ifs’ can make you uncomfortable and raise doubts about your capabilities.

‘How am I going to get all these tasks done on time?’

‘How am I going to convince the investors?’

‘What if the idea fails to work out?’

‘What if I lose everything before I can save something?’ and so on

These questions can increase your anxiety level and steer your focus away from the objectives.

They will fill your brain with scary pictures and give you serious nightmares.

Suffering from prolonged sleepless nights will not help either. And, before you realize it, you will commit yourself to irreplaceable blunders.

So stop your brain right there.

Instead, focus your energy on things like – ‘what else can be done?’ or ‘what should be the next course of action?’

Give your brain a different perspective to focus on and a new challenge to consider. That will prevent all those negative ‘hows and ifs’ from clouding your judgment.

Like we mentioned before, exhausting your energy on negative things will burn you down faster than you realize. But focusing on positive aspects and challenging your grey cells will create a fresh surge of energy in you.

#Trick 4: Gift Yourself a ‘Think-Week’ like Bill Gates

Bill Gates had ‘think week’ in his calendar. He used to give himself week-long breaks occasionally to think and reconnect with himself. Cutting himself from all forms of communications and hiding away from civilization helped him channel his energy and plot a road to success for Microsoft.

It worked for him.

Of course, we are not suggesting you immediately follow in his footsteps. Because every entrepreneur has their ways to rebound and reconnect with themselves.

But this ‘think week’ idea might work for you. You can plan it according to your convenience. If not a week, you can give yourself occasional breaks to enjoy a good ‘me-time.’

It will help you to introspect. And, with less disturbance or deviation, ideas will start flowing.

#Trick 5: Avoid Negative Self-Talk

Sarah Blakely, founder of Spanx and self-made billionaire, once stated that “negative self-talk is the No. 1 barrier to success.”

If you are more focused on comparing your business with others or finding negative things about yourself, your emotions will turn into a downward spiral.

That’s the last thing you want for yourself – to have a complete nervous breakdown.

Instead of comparing yourself to other successful entrepreneurs, you should appreciate their success and learn a thing or two from them.

Get inspired, feel motivated but not threatened.

If you fail at your current endeavor, don’t criticize or rebuke yourself with statements like ‘I am good at nothing,’ or ‘I can never achieve this.’

Instead, you should stay mission-driven and learn from your failures. Evaluate your mistakes, work on them, and try again. Keep trying till you hit ‘Jackpot!’

That will keep all those negative self-doubt thoughts away from your brain for a while.

The bottomline is…

You cannot perfect the art of entrepreneurship by reading big, fat, dusty, and dirty textbooks.

Yes! You can draw inspiration from successful entrepreneurs, but you have to decide the course of your entrepreneurial journey all by yourself.

Most importantly, it would help if you stayed far away from the self-sabotaging attitude – that will draw all your energy out of you and leave you drained and burnt out.

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