4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout!

4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Avoid (or Recover from) Burnout!
June 21st, 2009 by Yanik Silver


Nearly every successful entrepreneur I know has gone through or has grappled with burnout. I think by nature entrepreneurs are inspired, passionate and many-times a bit (or a lot ADHD) and all of this contributes to a feeling of malaise or burnout.

I’ve personally gone through it and come out the other side several times and many of these 4 techniques have helped me. (Note: This is a highlight of the 9 ways that I just shared with Maverick Business Insider members.)

1. Truly Disconnect - In a world where we are constantly tethered to our blackberries and ‘Always-On’ connections there’s something magical about truly disconnecting.

That doesn’t mean I’ll ONLY check emails in the morning - but truly and totally being out of touch. On a recent trip to Baja I did something that might seem a bit over-the-top. I completely ‘black holed’ all my emails during that week. Meaning - I had them all deleted with a note directing people emailing me who to contact for help or support while I was gone and then asking them to email me again after my return if they needed. Most people would be scared to death to do this in case something incredibly urgent comes through and is missed. Oh well.

How many times do you come back from vacation even more stressed out because you’ve got 2,313 emails sitting in your inbox? As you are sorta disconnecting there’s always a tiny voice in the back of your head replaying over and over again, “Wow! I wonder how much email I’ll have to catch up on. I wonder what’s going on?” By totally cutting this off you free up more “Psychic RAM” in your head.

2. Refocus on your successes - Many times the feeling of burnout occurs because things are NOT going “right”. And right is a relative term in relation to what we believe it should be. (Now I have my own crazy notion that everything ends up ‘right’ - for whatever that means - in the end anyway.)

Instead of focusing our energy on what’s wrong - which only creates an endless spiral of more and more negativity - I believe it’s important to change the focus. Take out a piece of paper and start making a list of every “victory” you’ve had during a certain time point. It could be this quarter, this month, this day, etc. Once you adjust your focus your selective perception kicks in and you’ll see there is significantly more that’s good than bad going on. (You might or might not have noticed this is a variation on being grateful. Your gratitude connects you back to the source of your original success.)

3. Set a big vision that you cannot achieve on your own - I admit, I’ve only just started doing this but it leads to a real powerful change of direction, intention and motivation.

Perhaps you’ve heard of a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” or BHAG coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. This is the kind of goal that gets teams rallying around it and lets people transcend what they thought was possible. One famous example is Microsoft’s original goal of “A computer on every desk and in every home.” When you create a big vision or goal like that - you’ll find people getting on your team to help achieve it. My friend, Tellman Knudson, has set the goal of raising $100M by running across the country barefoot. I think that fits the bill.

Our company’s 2020 goal is 3-fold:

1) Motivate, inspire and educate 1M young entrepreneurs to start their own ventures.

2) ‘Mavericktize’ 1M successful entrepreneurs to ‘buy-in’ to the philosophy of making more, more fun and giving more.

3) Have 1M cumulative items checked off entrepreneurs BIG life lists.

And the ultimate goal is to “Change the Way Business is Played”. To me that means bringing more fun into business and never doing things the same way it’s been done. It’s something that can inspire me (and our team) out of funks.

4. Get back to the fun - Think back to when you were a kid and what activities or interests got you really jazzed and excited. Somehow as ‘adults’ many of us have lost that sense of fun and inspiration. What did you like to do? For me, it was playing sports, drawing and making people laugh. That’s why I still play ice hockey and beach volleyball. Why I’ve taken art classes and stand-up comedy classes. I make sure to incorporate what gives me enjoyment into my life by actually making it a priority.

How many times have you heard yourself saying, “I’d love to ___ BUT I can’t because I’m too busy.” That’s total bullshit. What you’re really saying is that activity does not have enough priority in my life. Or I feel guilt around having fun.

Quite frankly for most entrepreneurs work is our default unless there is something else scheduled. Don’t just settle for enjoying life when you squeeze it in between your business. Here’s a great quote from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, New-York Times Best-Seller “The Power of Full Engagement”:

“…the richer and deeper the source of emotional recovery, the more we refill our reserves and the more resilient we become.”

Put fun activities, rewarding experiences and exceptional adventures on your calendar and protect them like you would any ‘real’ appointment.

Quite frankly, the inspiration for Maverick Business Adventures came from a period of my personal burnout and ironically the unique nature around it can help other entrepreneurs avoid or recover from burnout. I hope you’ll give some of these ideas a try when you’re feeling burnout occurring or when you attempt to break free from it.

Great Blue Heron on Saturday morning - June 20, 2009

 

Friday morning at Shelter Cove Harbour - June 19, 2009

 

How Do Leaders Sustain Their Success?

Success can be fleeting if you don't understand the leadership principles that can help your sustain your success for the long-term.

Here are 6 leadership principles from Brad Hager that will help you and your team meet and exceed all of your objectives.

1. Being able to adapt to change

Adaptive Capacity - How quickly we adapt to the change around us.
Great leaders must adapt in order to lead their teams into the future.

Left Brain Leaders - They primarily use the analytical side of their brain ( they are slower to change; they have to take the engine apart before they get in the car) .
Right Brain Leaders - They primarily use the intuitive side of their brain ( they look at the engine and say, "looks good to me, let’s go!").

***** An affirmation to help you adapt to change *****
I know and believe there are new and better ways to do my business. I love change and I see it as exciting!

2. Honoring your commitments and agreements

Growth covers a multiple of sins. Money simply allows you to be more of what you already are. It won’t make a bad person good, but it will make a good person exceptional.
Going from success to poverty happens when you don’t honor your commitments.
The people you are leading desire for you to honor your agreements.

3. Recognizing and rewarding your team

Love and Recognition are critical to leadership.
If it moves measure it. If you can measure it, then be sure to recognize the person(s) that achieved it.

Reward the behavior you want repeated.

Men die for it and babies cry for it. It’s called love and recognition.

Start a Recognition and Promotion Journal for your team/business. Don’t wait for your company to reward the team you are leading. Always take the initiative when it comes to recognizes the great efforts of your Team Members.

Never leave recognition to someone else.

Manage things; Lead and recognize your people.

Book recommendations:
• Managing with Carrots
• The Carrot Principal

Whether it's a dinner for two, a gift card, a book, or a trip that someone on your team has won, always recognize their accomplishment in front of their peers.

Praise in public; reprimand in private. NEVER embarrass anyone in front of their teammates.

4. Providing encouragement and an environment for growth

Encouragement is oxygen for the soul. The greatest motivation is when someone else believes in you.

5. Having an evolving dream or vision

If your goals and dreams aren’t bigger than mine, you can’t be my leader.

Always let your team know “What's next?"

6. Showing your team that you value personal development

The law of the lid happens in many organizations. This is where the limiting beliefs of the leaders retards the growth of the team. If you aren’t growing personally, you will be overtaken.

Fortune favors and follows a prepared mind.

You can’t out give the giver.


To your health, happiness, and prosperity,

Ben Wardlaw
Mentoring Leaders to Millions
Hilton Head Island, SC USA
http://Mentoring-Leaders.com
(843) 341-5066
Psalm 150:6

The earth is filled with His glory!

T

INSPIRATIONAL LEADERSHIP

Inspiration is critical to the success of your TEAM! Author, lecturer, and business leader Mac Anderson shares some of the quotes that have inspired his success.

Mac Anderson's top 20 Quotes ...

• Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning to dance in the rain.~Vivian Greene
• Sometimes our candle goes out, but is blown into flame by an encounter with another human being.~Albert Schweitzer
• When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace.~J. Lubbock
• Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.~Henry Ford
• Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.~Unknown
• To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?~Katharine Graham
• Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting golden delicious.~Bill Meyer
• You can have anything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.~Zig Ziglar
• Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.~Abraham Lincoln
• A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.~Benjamin Franklin
• We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.~Winston Churchill
• What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.~Ralph Waldo Emerson
• We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.~Aristotle
• You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.~Wayne Gretsky
• Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.~Frederick B. Wilcox
• A journey of a thousand miles begins within a single step.~Chinese Proverb
• The key is not to prioritize what's on the schedule, but to schedule your priorities.~Stephen Covey
• All things are difficult before they are easy.~John Norley
• Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.~Will Rogers
• Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for...~Joseph Addison

Prosperous regards, Ben Wardlaw Mentoring Leaders to Millions Team Hilton Head Island, South Carolina http://Mentoring-Leaders.com (843) 341-5066 Psalm 150:6

What Followers Expect From Their Leaders

Do you aspire to be a leader? If so, you might want to know what the people who will be willing and anxious to follow you are expecting from you. Brad Hager provides us with 6 characteristics that followers look for from their leaders.

1. Trust
2. Competence
3. Vision
4. Inspiration
5. Encouragement/Support
6. Respect

As you assume a leadership role in your family, business, career, or church be sure you reflect on the characteristics with which your followers are measuring you.

Prosperous regards,


Ben Wardlaw
Mentoring Leaders to Millions Team
Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
(843) 341-5066
http://Mentoring-Leaders.com
Psalm 150:6