5 Ways to Avoid Burnout When Running a Business

In a recent poll by Harvard Business Review, more than a quarter of entrepreneurs said that they felt burned out. This isn’t surprising, as 50% of all startups fail within the first four years. Even when you do succeed, you have to overcome major obstacles along the way, and you’ll usually make countless mistakes.

Being an entrepreneur is stressful and demanding. In times of crisis or opportunity, it’s tempting to think that merely working more will solve a problem or bring about faster growth. Sometimes, it will. Most of the time it just leads to burnout.

You simply can’t do everything. This is a critical lesson every business owner needs to learn if they want to avoid burnout. To fully grasp the idea, you need ways to avoid being consumed by your company.

Here are my five tips for bypassing burnout.

1. Look after your body

Long hours in the office eating takeaway food and snacking on pretzels is an unhealthy way to live. The saying “a healthy mind in a healthy body” dates back to Roman times and remains relevant for modern merchants.

Every morning, I go for an hour-long hike with my dogs. Getting in some exercise first thing is a great way to start the day, and it ensures I don’t allow work to get in the way of keeping fit. I also like to have meetings on the move, so I get fresh air and exercise throughout the day. Eating well is also important to me while promoting health by drinking plenty of water is my company’s mission.

Finding time for exercise, eating well and staying hydrated ensures you’re taking care of yourself as well as your business.

2. Spend time with friends

My company had a pop-up activation at the most recent Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Though I spent some of the weekend helping out at the booth, I also got to hang out with one of my best friends from college. We had a blast catching up, watching bands and laughing a lot.

When you spend your days surrounded by people who work for you or meeting with others connected to your industry, keeping in touch with your friends is important. Hearing their latest news or going to the movies together is a great way to put your work brain on hold.

Always make time for friends and being social. It’ll help you stay grounded.

3. Travel for pleasure

Last year, I went to South America on vacation for a couple of weeks. It was great to spend quality time with my family and see exciting new places. Climbing a mountain in Patagonia is definitely one way to blow off any burnout and refresh your spirit.

I couldn’t completely disconnect from work for the two weeks and don’t know any business owner who could, so I scheduled an hour into each day to check emails and stay on top of things. Knowing that everything was running smoothly back home allowed me to really switch off during the rest of the trip.

Taking time off and traveling to new places is a great way to renew your enthusiasm and leave burnout behind.

4. Have other interests

Having launched a few new product lines over the past couple of years, it’s safe to say that my company keeps me busy. You’d think I wouldn’t want other projects on top of everything going on at hint, but I find that having different interests and passions helps me to stay balanced and not focus every ounce of my attention on my business. Last year I created The Kara Network, a digital resource for entrepreneurs, and launched Unstoppable, a podcast where entrepreneurs and founders tell me their stories.

Though these other interests are business-related, they are not my company. I find them a helpful release from my usual day-to-day. Plus I get to meet interesting people from outside my industry, which is a great way to gain perspective.

Having other significant interests in your life gives your brain other things to focus on and avoid the single-mindedness that can often lead to burnout.

5. Hire great people

The key to all of the above tips is knowing that when you turn your attention elsewhere, your business is in safe hands. Even when you are around, you need to delegate important tasks, so you’re not spinning all the plates. Especially when it’s something someone else might do better than you.  

The key to hiring great people is not to settle for second best. If you’ve found the right person, it’s usually worth paying more than you anticipated or waiting until they’re ready. The wrong person can cost you so much in time, energy and stress that you’re often better not hiring someone at all.

Of course, hiring great people is easier said than done. To help boost your success rate, check out my hiring tips.

Passion doesn’t have to burn out

The consequences of burnout are serious. It can lead to anxiety, depression and physical symptoms like chest pains and headaches. One doctor has even shown that burnout causes changes in the brain.

It’s easy to become so engrossed by your business that you focus on nothing else. That’s the pathway to burnout. Don’t let your passion lead you down that road.

PS - I'm on Instagram now! Are you? If you have any questions, send me a DM on Instagram, and I'll make sure to reply there! I'm @KaraGoldin!

Kara Goldin is the founder and CEO of San Francisco–based hint, a healthy lifestyle brand that produces the leading unsweetened flavored water and a scented sunscreen spray that’s oxybenzone and paraben-free. Listen to her podcast, Unstoppable, where she interviews founders, entrepreneurs, and disruptors across various industries and keep up with her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

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