Today's Musing: Monday Morning Business Corner (Business Burnout)

Good afternoon everyone! Hope all of you had a great weekend! I guess today's post isn't really a "Monday Morning Business Corner," more like a an evening edition...but I guess that will have to work for today. It is Monday, after all.

So today I wanted to touch base on an area I sometimes struggle with, or at least always have to make a conscience effort to work on, which is keeping the passion, or momentum and avoiding the burnout.

I can always say, "I love what I do, and I never feel like I have to work a day in my life," but really, that would not be true. As business owners, it's only natural, over time to have those feelings go up and down at certain times.

So what does burnout feel like? Well, for me, it's just feeling unusually tired working on projects that would usually get me excited, happy. Working on design mock ups, reaching out to potential clients, networking. I found myself having to work up the energy to complete even the simplest of projects.

And it scared me.

I can't be feeling like this!! I LOVE to keep busy. I LOVE my work.

I took a deep breath at some point and decided I needed to mix things up a bit and make some adjustments in my life. I hate to call these tips, as much as useful things I've learned along the way...

1. Timing your Burnout: When do the feelings seem to creep up? Is there a certain time of year? For me, I find, those feelings creep up when during the slower/off season. Instead of maximizing on the extra, down time, I find myself missing the "busy."

Now that I'm aware of this, I take the slower season in much better stride and come up with definite, monthly goals (directly related to work) that I have to tackle.

I aim to create goals that I wasn't able to accomplish during the busier times (i.e. update project deadlines, cleaning up my inventory, reconnecting with network partners, creating updated blog content, reaching out to potential clients, etc.).

I even make it a point to work on something that is on my "career wish list." This is a big one, but I truly, love being on television and giving viewers great entertaining ideas. Is it crazy to think I can make a career out of it? Sure, maybe. But who cares? I'm working at it and again, it's something to work on during my slower times.

2. Rest: I know. Rest. 

Business owners can't rest. What are you thinking?

But it's true. During the times I felt the most burned out, I realized that lacking rest was a huge component in all of this. And that can be anything--tackling home projects you've had on the back burner for months, spending time with friends, catching up on all those books you've been meaning to read but haven't, going on a vacation....

Today, my hair stylist asked me, "So what do you have planned the rest of the day?"
Me: "Um...really...I don't have any plans the rest of the day."

For somebody that works that works crazy hours during the busy time, that feels very awkward to say, but I truly believe that we are way too programmed to not listen to what our body, our spirit is telling us at times.

So those are my few lessons learned!

Would love to hear about what you do when you find yourself in a work-funk.

Me. After haircut. See--don't I look well rested, now? ;)