Business Burnout Is Real

Hey Mompreneur, you know what is so rarely spoken about? The fact that Business Burnout Is Real! The mompreneur life is a busy one, a stressful one, one that has tens of thousands of things that need to be accomplished all while raising tiny intelligent, well-mannered, and productive members of society. I have no doubt that you are caring for your home, you make the appointments, then you run the errands, you tend to your spouse, and you care for all those around you. You have very little time to yourself or to check in on your own sanity. But then you run your own business on top of all of that. With all of that, something is sure to make you crack which is why I want to be very blunt, Business Burnout Is Real!

I mean, I don’t know what you’re doing right now while you’re reading this but I’m sitting in bed, my kiddo and husband both fast asleep, I’m chatting with a client on the other side of the world, I’m finishing up tasks I wasn’t able to make happen today because on top of 8 1:1 client calls that I did today and 15 clients voxer check in’s throughout the day, I had an unexpected task to do for our Church this morning that took way longer than I expected.

Shew, are you tired from reading that?

I’m positive you can relate to the everyday things and THEN you’re running your business. Eventually, something gives and as a mompreneur we typically put our own activities on the back burner. Sometimes that means self-care, maybe a shower, or oftentimes it means putting our business work on the back burner to get all the other “stuff” done. When we put our work off long enough we get anxious because we “should” be working. So we force ourselves to “catch up” and then we burn out. Again, Business Burnout Is Real but there are ways you can help alleviate it when it happens!

Let’s talk about things you can do to help move past the burnout stage when it occurs.

1. Take breaks- I know this might kill you emotionally at first to think about. You’re already beating yourself up because XYZ still hasn’t been done. BUT, if you sit and stare at the screen or scroll aimlessly you won’t be getting anything done either. So, do yourself a favor, close your laptop/tablet/etc, and walk away. Go clean something, cleaning always puts me in a more productive mood. Pause and have a glass of wine, take a bubble bath, read some chapters of your current book, do something you know will help refocus your mind. Maybe take the kiddos out somewhere fun, lunch/park/movie, so that you can all spend time together and you can get your mind off work.

Taking a break gives your mind time to wrap around whatever it is you’re working through. By stopping and coming back to it you have a full fresh slate to work with; yes your mind. We are moms, are moms are on 24/7 whether we want to admit it or not. When it comes to working sometimes we find our minds are even more sketchy. Taking that pause when you are feeling that immense burnout can reset your mind in a positive way and allows you to come back refreshed and ready to go!

2. Put away your devices- When the burnout feeling strikes us we tend to lean into our technology and our social media platforms more because we are desperate for inspiration to strike us. Instead, all we find are others being successful, sharing their wins, and seeing the latest XYZ in someone else's life. All that will do is stress you out more and cause you to waste even more time. You’ll waste valuable work time, but then you’ll say “I still have work to do” when it’s kiddo time and you’ll still be spinning your wheels. Turn off the computer, put down the phone, walk away from your workspace, and distract yourself.

This somewhat goes hand in hand with the first thing, taking a break. But taking a break and then taking a break from your tech can be separate. Taking a break above may mean you’re binging some of your favorite shows on your device. But here I’m saying go be entirely device free. Let your eyes rest, your mind step away from the glow of the screen, and just relax. Allowing your mind time away from the beautiful glow of a screen helps your mind fully rest and reset.

3. Brain dump your ideas- Sometimes we have so much spiraling around in our minds and we’re trying to do it all at once which leads to us doing nothing and feeling stressed about it all. When you are feeling that overwhelming pressure from “it all” I want you to dump everything out of your mind onto paper. Everything that you feel like you need to accomplish needs to be written down. I’m sure you’ll find this list ends up being quite long and that’s ok. What this is doing is taking it out of your overloaded brain and putting in a place where you can create a checklist. Once it’s all down on paper you can order the tasks according to due date or importance. Then, in an organized way, you can tackle one task at a time. The overwhelm will be out of your head and down on paper in an organized fashion.

4. Grab a coffee- You’re a mom, you survive on coffee. Sometimes your brain isn’t working because it needs that nice warm drink that gives you de energy. I rarely have to say this, but if you’re not a coffee person then go grab a tea, water, fresh pressed juice, a glass of wine, fill in the blank, The principle behind the “go grab coffee” is the same. Stepping away from your tasks to provide your body with the beverage it needs to help you refocus and get back to the grind is necessary sometimes.

5. Take the day off - Again, similar to taking a break, put down your device, here I’m saying take the WHOLE day off. YES, the WHOLE day. This point absolutely warranted capitalization because we, as moms, are the WORST of hearing this suggestion. I actually had a client a while back who was super stressed. She was doing all the things, and well, and still feeling stressed. She asked for her “homework” assignment from me. Yes, I give homework to my 1:1 clients to help them take the necessary steps forward. But instead of giving her homework I simply said “Your homework is to take the ENTIRE weekend off and enjoy your family”.

I honestly thought she was going to need the ACME company to come and help her roll her jaw up from the floor. But she was hustling hard, she was in a launch, and she was doing all the things she needed and was feeling the stress that comes with a GOOD first launch. Instead of loading her down and having her exhausted from her live training on the following Monday I simply told her to spend time with her family. She did and had an immensely relaxing weekend with her family picking apples and making apple-related foods. She showed up Monday, happy, bubbly even, and ready to tackle everything with an upbeat spirit.

There are times when we seriously need to just take a whole day away from our businesses in order to be 100% there for our businesses. Now, taking a day or two off shouldn’t make or break your business if your systems are set up properly. You take a few days off should mean that your business is running itself while you’re gone. If it’s not you and I should jump on a free call to talk about how you can get your business to work for you, rather than you working for your business. But a day or two off can do amazing things for the mind and soul. It gives you a whole new level of calm to jump back in full steam ahead in your business.

That’s it, that’s what I’ve got for you today. While this may have taken me way too long to type up and send off for posting here you have it. Business Burnout Is Real and sometimes you truly need to take breaks and step away from your business is natural. While we are seen as wonder women we are still humans at some level. I promise when you’re stressed out and feeling burnt out in your business, giving one or all of these options a try can be a sanity saver!