How to Address Burnout

In our last post, we broached the topic of burnout for business owners:?

In many respects, burnout is just a new term for mid-life crisis. But in some ways, it’s on a much bigger scale. Whereas you might buy a Corvette to quench a mid-life crisis, burnout can sap your energy to the point where nothing can motivate you. This, in turn, can have negative effects on business performance.?

When you grow a successful business, you may feel the effects of burnout. Even worse, you may feel them before you’re in a position to retire on your terms. Worse still, by the time you’re in the throes of burnout, you may not have the energy to address it!?

Today, we’ll present a process for addressing burnout within the context of planning for a successful future before it hits you.?

1. Reduce job-related stressors??

According to Harvard Business Review, a key element of addressing burnout is to reduce job-related stressors.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “Easier said than done,” you’re not wrong. For successful business owners, it may seem that job-related stressors are at the very core of running a successful business.?

However, one strong strategy for reducing job-related stressors is to seek out and install next-level managers.?

Next-level managers are people who have the skill and experience to take your business to the next level. In doing so, they take on some of your responsibilities, which can help reduce job-related stressors.?

Additionally, having next-level management is a core element of planning for a successful future. As they take on more of your responsibilities, the business begins to rely less on you. When your business no longer relies on you for success, you have more pathways to leaving it on your terms.??

This applies even if you never intend to leave your business, as next-level management can give you more freedom to do what you do best in your business.?

2. Reassess and realign goals, skills, and work passions??

As the business evolves, so too will your goals, skills, and passions.??

For instance, you may have started your business with a goal of achieving financial security and retiring to Barbados by age 45. But then maybe you learned you loved the work itself, or met someone special and had kids, which inevitably changed your calculus.?

Regardless of the details, things change. But when your plans don’t change with reality, it can make you feel like you’re spinning your tires in Mississippi mud.??

Another core element of planning for a successful future is establishing goals along with strategies to help you achieve them. A huge benefit of planning with an Advisor Team is that as your goals and realities change, so too can your strategies.??

When your planning evolves with you, it could reignite the fire you had when your first started the business, giving you more energy to pursue success on your terms.?

Conclusion?

One of the most difficult parts of addressing burnout is beginning the process before it hits. While it’s certainly possible to address burnout even when you’re in the middle of it—especially when using the strategies above—prevention is much easier to manage than finding the cure.?

Fortunately, an inherent benefit of planning for a successful future is that such plans address many of the causes of burnout. From installing a next-level management team to assuring that your plans align with your goals (even as they evolve), planning for a successful future, with help from an Advisor Team, can help you keep burnout at bay.?

We strive to help business owners identify and prioritize their objectives with respect to their businesses, their employees, and their families. If you are ready to talk about your goals for the future and get insights into how you might achieve those goals, we’d be happy to sit down and talk with you. Please feel free to contact us at your convenience at (562) 281-1040.?

"Amit Chandel and his team - help business owner clients plan for the single, most critically important financial event of their lives — the transition out of their business. and mitigate taxes upon this transition"

The information contained in this article is general in nature and is not legal, tax or financial advice. For information regarding your particular situation, contact an attorney or a tax or financial professional. The information in this newsletter is provided with the understanding that it does not render legal, accounting, tax or financial advice. In specific cases, clients should consult their legal, accounting, tax or financial professional. This article is not intended to give advice or to represent our firm as being qualified to give advice in all areas of professional services. Exit Planning is a discipline that typically requires the collaboration of multiple professional advisors. To the extent that our firm does not have the expertise required on a particular matter, we will always work closely with you to help you gain access to the resources and professional advice that you need.

Any examples provided are hypothetical and for illustrative purposes only. Examples include fictitious names and do not represent any particular person or entity.

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