Setting Boundaries To Avoid BURNOUT

Welcome to success story the most useful podcast in the world. I'm your host Scott D. Clary the success story podcast It's part of the blue wire podcast network as well as the HubSpot podcast network now the HubSpot podcast network Has other incredible podcasts like the salesman podcast hosted by Will Barron now if you work in sales or you Want to learn how to sell or peek at the latest in sales news check out the salesman podcast where host will Barron help sales professionals learn how to find buyers and win big business in Effective and ethical ways now if some of these topics resonate with you You're going to love the salesman podcast the psychology of the perfect cold call Successful cold email trends for 2022 the four-step process to influencing buying decisions or The digital sales room the future of B2B sales if these topics hit home You're gonna love the salesman podcast listen to the salesman podcast wherever you get your podcasts So today we're gonna be talking about stress. We're gonna be talking about burnout We're gonna be talking about setting boundaries so that you don't get stressed and burnt out Because let's be honest if you've ever worked with an entrepreneur Have you tried to build your own company? You know that it's not always a fun ride like have you ever met a chilled out entrepreneur? Somebody who can simultaneously run a startup and have a great personal life have perfect balance? I haven't well at least not an entrepreneur who's doing this for the first time was fresh off the ground Oh Entrepreneurship is a high stress all Consuming job and it's not for the faint of heart or those without an iron will that's because for the most part You are forging a new path with no model to follow. There is no guarantee and the only Constant that you can always expect is change Now there's no question that this type of work can be highly rewarding But because it is so involved. It's also incredibly easy to get burnt out Entrepreneurial burnout is a real thing and it's not pretty That's why it's so important to set boundaries for yourself both in your professional and your personal life I learned a few great lessons that I'm gonna talk about today and As you know all the guests that I have on my show they inspire me to go into topics and we go a little bit deeper But I had a great interview with the CEO and best-selling author Melissa Urban now Melissa Urban She was a guest on success story She is a woman who is truly reinvented herself after hitting an all-time low after finishing college and recovering from a serious drug addiction Melissa decided she needed to completely append her way of life and she didn't do things by half She really went all in to quote Melissa. She changed her friend group. She got a new job She moved she changed the music. She listened to the clothes she wore and then that's when she started getting into health and fitness To quote her I decided if I was going to reinvent myself as a healthy person with healthy habits What would that healthy person with healthy habits do talk about inspiring amongst many of the pivotal changes in Melissa's life? She started a blog and she began experimenting with healthy eating This eventually led her to develop the whole 30 program now You don't know what this is it's a very popular program But it's a 30-day nutritional reset that's helped countless people change their lives for the better So if you're somebody who is struggling to make a big change in your life Melissa's story is a great reminder that it's never too late and I highly recommend you listening to the entire conversation But let's go back to what I was speaking about at the beginning in this video I want to talk about boundaries and Melissa had a lot to share on boundaries And this is why we're going to take it a step deeper. So burnout hasn't always been recognized as a clinical condition and to my understanding the term first started to emerge in the 70s When people in health care occupations began to experience breakdowns It was originally called occupational burnout now the key symptoms of occupational burnout are emotional exhaustion depersonalization so emotional detachment from others and a lack of personal accomplishment A person might feel like they're constantly running on empty or like they're just going through the motions at work No matter what industry you work in whether it be caring for the physical and emotional needs of others Or working in a leadership position the crux of burnout comes from reaching the end of your emotional tether Sound familiar entrepreneurs in the room Research suggests that entrepreneurs are more prone to burnout than the average worker This is likely due to the many unique challenges and stresses that come with being an entrepreneur such as lack of control Long hours uncertainty Melissa believes it could be due to this thing we call hustle culture the killer of innovation and well-being To quote Melissa. I think entrepreneurs are actually some of the worst at setting boundaries at work It's because of the entrepreneur hustle culture that tells us when you are resting or you're taking a break or you're taking a day off There's somebody else working harder than you This is one of the most insidious things about hustle culture It tricks us into thinking that we're weak or lazy if we're not always grinding away So why are we prone to burnout? Well, hustle culture isn't the only thing at the heart of our burnout problem Although it's a pretty big one. There are a few other key reasons why entrepreneurs are so prone to burning out Let's take a look at five of them First reason we're perfectionists. Come on raise your hand Have you ever redone a project from scratch even though you spent hours on it to begin with You procrastinate and put off tasks for fear of getting them wrong How often do you cringe at the praise you receive because you know you could have done better Entrepreneurs are often perfectionists. They value their work that much Why this word has ever been associated with being a good worker is beyond me It's seriously debilitating and the constant stream of underlying stress leads us down a path of burnout The second reason is that our work is never done There's always more to be done as an entrepreneur you're constantly juggling a million things at once and it never ends The sense of never being done can be really overwhelming and causes to feel like we're constantly behind To quote Melissa It can make you feel like you have to say yes to every person take every call except every job Go the extra mile even when it's completely unreasonable And when we inevitably burn the candle at both ends until the flame meets in the middle we're burned out right to the core Third reason why we're burnt out we're surrounded by competition It's no secret that the entrepreneurial world is competitive. It's probably why you got into it in the first place We're constantly comparing ourselves to others and we love this We want to win all the time But this can lead to feelings of inadequacy or insecurity this sort of thing You can easily be harmful and cause us to overwork ourselves in an attempt to keep up Melissa had a great point you can get so caught up in your competition And what they're doing and where they're going that it can completely derail you off your own path Because there's three more people in the wings waiting to take that client or waiting to take your audience or take that job A bit of healthy competition is one thing But when it becomes all consuming it's definitely not good for your well-being and it's definitely not good for your business The fourth reason is we're juggling too much at once Who decided that multitasking and working ourselves to the bone was going to be the way that we win at business It was going to be the new normal it seems Honestly backwards and yet here we are as a society trying to do it all Everything that we do like you have to understand well everyone takes on too much from time to time Entrepreneurs in particular struggle with this so the issue is that You always want to take on the next thing follow the shiny object another issue is that Parents who are entrepreneurs struggle with this in particular So this is prevalent with women especially mothers who are part of the entrepreneur culture They have to show up at work, but then they have to manage household take care of kids and there is no there is no guidelines for What you should focus on or what you should put more time and attention into so Melissa went through the fact that they can't win either way they focus on their kids They feel like they're not fulfilling their career. They focus on their career They feel like they're not taking care of their kids They're neglecting their kids. There's a lot of pressure there to kill it at everything and to be exceptional at everything now When society tells us that we have to be perfect at everything. It's no wonder we're also burnt out And the fifth reason why entrepreneurs get burnt out is that nobody taught us any different Entrepreneurs often wear their burnt out like a badge of honor We think it means we're working hard and being productive, but in reality It just means we're overworked and exhausted and unfortunately This is the way things have always been done no one ever taught us another way to quote Melissa We're not taught how to set boundaries. We're not taught at school. We're not taught at college It's not part of any workplace curriculum and very often we weren't modeled boundaries at home by our own families So it's really hard to learn how to set them up And I'm really glad Melissa brought this up There is an immense power in the education systems that raise us and the institutions that we work in Sadly in the case of setting boundaries these systems have failed us So we know some of the reasons why we're burnt out the time for changing these habits and these reasons is now We may be prone to burnout, but there's no rule. It says we can't change Just as Melissa changed her entire life and did a full 180 on her nutrition habits We can change how we approach work and entrepreneurship So what's the secret recipe? Well, according to Melissa We need to be able to recognize the signs of burnout first and foremost That way we can pull up barriers as they're needed instead of letting them snowball into a full blown crisis To quote Melissa, I think learning to recognize the signs of burnout early is incredibly important It's the dreading going into the office when you use to love it It's the feeling like work is sucking so much of your time and energy that you can't show up for your partner Or fun things outside of life. It's the physical aspects of being exhausted all the time According to a study published by the FIIB Business Review a few years ago The signs and symptoms of burnout are spread across a few different spectrums So psychological problems and symptoms Of course First, the psychological symptoms of burnout This is when we feel like work is no longer a source of joy or satisfaction We may feel cynical or negative about our careers We might start to doubt our abilities Sadly, among this group of symptoms lies depression and anxiety So if you're feeling particularly low or strung out It's definitely time to take a step back and assess a situation Now after that, we have physiological symptoms So the physical symptoms of burnout are pretty self-explanatory We feel tired all the time We have no energy We might even experience headaches or chest pain Some studies have even observed flu-like symptoms in burnout victims Along with more alarming conditions like hypertension, diabetes, skeletal problems, even heart disease After that, we have behavioral symptoms So if you're suddenly struggling to show up for people who rely on you Or you're considering abandoning your posts altogether at the big sign You might be experiencing burnout You may also find that your work of health tendencies have gotten worse Addictive behaviors might emerge or re-emerge Suddenly, fast food is irresistible And the couch calls your name every five minutes You might also find that your productivity has decreased This is usually a sign that you're working too hard and not taking enough time for yourself So how can we set boundaries? Now that we know the signs of burnout What can we do to set boundaries? Melissa hit the nail on the head in my opinion Quote Melissa, I think the concept of paying yourself first Is one that entrepreneurs need to learn to embrace If your goal is to grow your business and give back to your team Your community, your customers You can't do that if you're pouring from an empty cup And she's spot on A startup venture requires everything you can give it In terms of time, effort and attention That's why it's so important to set boundaries for ourselves So that we can ensure that we always have something left to pour from our cup Here are a few tips to get you started Number one, schedule your time If you don't schedule your time, someone else will This is especially true for entrepreneurs who tend to be go-getters And workaholics by nature We often have this idea that if we're not working We're not doing anything productive But that's simply not the case In fact, if we don't take some time for ourselves We're actually doing more harm than good So start scheduling your day And allotting specific blocks of time for work and for yourself Second thing, set boundaries for and with your clients So this one is especially tough But it's so important If you're feeling overwhelmed with work Set some boundaries with your clients Explain that you have a certain number of hours per day or week That you can commit to the project And anything beyond that will incur additional fees If you don't protect your time, no one will Step three, take regular breaks This one is a no-brainer But it's so important that I need to mention it again If you don't take regular breaks You will quickly find yourself burnt out Get up, move around every hour or so Make sure that you take a full day off at least once a week Number four, say no to new opportunities When you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed The last thing you want to do is say no to new opportunities But trust me, it's necessary If something doesn't fit into your current schedule Or if it requires too much of your time and effort Say no And number five, set rules for yourself and stick to them I'm an entrepreneur, rules don't apply to me Wrong, rules apply to everyone And in order to protect your well-being We need to set some boundaries for ourselves and stick to them So what are your rules? Maybe you decide that you won't work past 7 pm on weekdays Or that you'll take Saturdays off completely It's up to you, but make sure you enforce them At the end of the day, it's up to us to protect our well-being By setting boundaries, we can ensure that we don't fall victim to burnout And that we're always able to give our best selves to our business If you feel like this article spoke to you And if you feel like you're personally attacked by this article I highly doubt you're on your own Burnout is a deadly concoction of our own making We often forget to take care of the number one thing Our selves The guilt we feel as entrepreneurs for not working 24-7 is real But it's important to remember that we can't pour from an empty cup So please take a step back, assess your current state And make the necessary changes to ensure that you're taking care of yourself Only then can you truly give your all to your business Now don't forget to check out my interview with Melissa Urban Especially if you're feeling down in the dumps about your diet or your energy levels She is one of the most insightful people I've met When it comes to diet and lifestyle choices Of course, go check out the interview for a whole bunch of other entrepreneurial Burnout, a health and well-being tips If you enjoyed this, if you're listening to this Please share it with somebody who'd find it useful If you're watching this on YouTube Hit like, hit subscribe, leave a comment below With any other topics you want me to get into Eventually I'll go through all of them Have a great week