When Burnout Creeps In
Q: Do you believe that an entrepreneur can suffer from burnout? For 23 years I have owned a successful health and fitness center. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the clients and customers that I have and for the money I make. However, for the past few years I have had a ho-hum attitude about the business. What’s up with this feeling?
A: Sometimes we use “burnout” to describe lack of enthusiasm for something or when we have grown weary of the daily routine.
After you have had a series of medical tests and investigate your wife’s concern of depression and emerge with a clean bill of mental and physical health, it might be time to make a few changes and add a bit of newness to your life. On the other hand, you should remember that every aspect of life has a start and a finish line. Maybe you have reached the completion of your time in the health and fitness business.
The big picture is that there is a possibility that you have run the course with your company and it’s time to move on. However, before you take such a big step, try making some minor changes in how you live your life.
Entrepreneurs tend to place so much emphasis on developing and running their businesses that they make little time for other things. They push far too many enjoyable things aside with a half promise to get back to it later. This deferred happiness and joy is all too common in successful entrepreneurs. When this happens they tend to forget all of the wonderful adventures and experiences that life holds.
If you feel as if your current position holds no excitement, perhaps it’s time to make a list of your own and give yourself the opportunity to enjoy more of life and live more fully.
Photo by MSDesigns.
Andrew on July 11th, 2007 11:04 am
I agree. I’d get burnt out if I ran the same business for that long. If that happened to me I’d get extra help in running the biz, and then start a couple side projects to generate some “newness”..not to mention extra income.
I don’t think I could ever do the same thing that long though.
Bill Hartzer on July 11th, 2007 2:47 pm
Everyone can definitely suffer from burnout, even those who are in what others call the “most interesting” industries.
If you do the same thing long enough it can definitely get boring.
Peter on July 11th, 2007 8:58 pm
Most entrepreneurs do go through this. Over the past two decades I have gone through it at least twice. Those two times it lasted from 6 to 18 months.
It’s part of life.
Shannon Munford M.A. MFT on July 12th, 2007 8:34 am
As an owner of several anger management education centers I receive constant referrals from human resource directors and supervisor because an employee has acted out in verbal or physical aggression due to burn out. Stress management is a critcial component in managing anger and burn out.
http://www.daybreakservices.com
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