Could you be suffering from Business Burn-out?

As an entrepreneur you probably work long hours and have little work-life balance. Did you know that as a result you could be on the verge of business burn-out? Take this quick test and see if you’re heading down that path.

1)     Do you work ten to twelve hour days?

2)     Do you have a hard time getting your brain to slow down at night?

3)     Do you find your passion for your business waning?

4)     Are you starting to think it would be easier to work for some else instead?

5)     Are you dreaming of taking a holiday and getting away from it all?

Do any of these symptoms sound familiar? If they do, then you could be headed for business burn-out.

Business burn-out is like overtraining your body except it’s overtraining your mind. When we over train our body our performance suffers, we feel tired and worn out. We lose our appetite and may even fall into a bit of a depression. Sleep patterns are disrupted and where you were once passionate about working out you just don’t have the same enthusiasm.

When you work too much you could actually be experiencing some of the same symptoms as if you were overtraining your body. The remedy for both is the same.

• Take time off to recharge your batteries. Maybe it would be a good idea to go on holiday or take four to five days off.
• Restrict the number of hours you work in a day and take lots of breaks.
• Set aside time for yourself. Do something you enjoy doing.
• Make time for friends and family. Get out and be social.
• Get some help. Hire a virtual assistant to ease the burden of tasks you probably don’t need to be doing.
• Get more help. Hire a business coach to help you with difficult projects. There’s no need for you to do everything on your own.
• Set realistic goals about what you can accomplish in a day.
• Focus on tasks that give you the best return for your time and drop any projects that drain your energy.

Running a business is not easy. There’s always work to be done, processes to tweak and things to worry about. But that doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself to make your business successful. If the business is you and you are the business then you have to take very good care of both. You can start by first recognizing the symptoms of business burn-out and preventing a full blown attack from happening.