The opinions of contributing entrepreneurs are their own. </p><div>
Key Takeaways
- Burnout is not a failure; it is a signal for entrepreneurs to reassess and change direction.
- Recognizing signs of burnout is crucial to recovery and can lead to significant personal and professional breakthroughs.
- Using clarity after burnout can help chart new paths and be the catalyst for sustainable success.
Burnout is a feeling and buzzword that many entrepreneurs recognize. It is often used to describe being overworked, overwhelmed and exhausted in a job, career or in life.
Entrepreneurs often describe burnout as a feeling of failure. Highly ambitious people set high expectations, and when they fail to meet them, the pressure results in disappointment and negative self-talk.
You have not “failed” if you experience burnout. In today’s world it is almost inevitable. When you hit that wall, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the end of the road. It is often an opportunity to ask yourself questions about where you are going and how you can change direction.
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Signs that you are on your way to burnout
If you’re a driven entrepreneur or pursuing a career with ambition, you know what it feels like to put all your energy into your professional goals. It can be satisfying to give so much of yourself to your career because you know what you want, and hard work is usually the way to achieve that goal.
You may be at a point in your career where you recognize the early signs of burnout and have strategies for recovery. But there’s a difference between burnout from a goal you’ve created and planned for, and burnout that feels like a dead end. In one case you know how to recover and in the other case it feels like you’re hitting a brick wall.
When I was 20, I had three or four jobs at the same time. I was young, energetic and felt like I could do it all. I was a nanny for twins, had my own cleaning company and also worked at a friend’s company. I told myself that no one else would do the work for me and that I couldn’t delegate it to anyone. I just kept pushing and persevering.
I didn’t sleep enough and was constantly on the move. Little by little I started to feel completely overwhelmed and suddenly I hit a wall hard.
At the time I didn’t call it burnout. I called it being driven, prioritizing making money and focusing on my ambitions. Looking back, I see it as one of the best “a-ha” moments of my life. It made me realize that I couldn’t keep working like that, with so much energy expended and so little time to recover. It wasn’t sustainable.
The questions that burnout forces you to ask
Burnout normally results in questions that sound like this: Why am I doing this? How did I get here? Is this all there is? When do I get out of this?
The answers to these questions offer opportunities. Once you’ve had time to process being forced to take a breath, you can take some time to think. What are you feeling at that moment and why?
I felt frustrated. I was overworked and poured my heart and soul into working for other people, but it wasn’t working anymore. I was making no progress and felt stuck. When I asked myself why, I saw that I was doing other people’s work for them, trying to be perfect and spreading myself too thin. Once I could see the problems, it was easier to see a solution.
It’s easy to explain away a situation by saying: it’s just a moment of failure or you didn’t meet your own expectations. But use the pause that burnout creates to find the real answers. Ask yourself what you have control over and what you really want.
What serves us at one point in our lives may not serve us at another, and that’s okay. Burnout is not evidence of failure; it is proof that something needs to change.
Burnout is an opportunity for evolution
When it became clear what I wanted, the trajectory of my life changed. I realized that I wanted completely different things than the ambitions I was chasing. I realized I wanted stability and a job that I was passionate about, where I could put my intelligence, hard work and ambition into.
I made the decision to quit the jobs that were exhausting me and focus my resources on what I wanted for myself.
A burnout often occurs because you have evolved. What used to serve you no longer does, and that is the breakthrough. That information is sometimes at the expense of your peace. What you do with that information opens you up to evolution.
Your breakthrough may not appear dramatically. Maybe it starts with a new strategy and a plan that gives you more support. It can grow into something you pursue alongside your 9-5. Maybe you’re spending time starting your first business. Maybe you hire an assistant.
Small, intentional shifts can restore clarity, energy, and creativity in powerful ways.
Burnout is not a judgment on your capabilities. It’s feedback about where your strengths are being abused or where your resources are spread too thin. Once you’re charged, use the clarity that comes from reflection to strategize.
There is always something you can do when you feel like you have lost control. Start by looking within and see where the questions lead. You may find yourself heading in a completely new direction.
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