How To Avoid Burnout In Business

How many times has a client asked you to do something and it’s prompted an automatic YES from you??

And then you end up readjusting your calendar and wondering where in the world to put the extra work you’ve just agreed to.

I think it’s happened to all of us, but today, I’d like to dive deeper into what this sort of behaviour leads to and how it can be prevented.

The first example that comes to mind is the time leading up to Christmas (but it could be any other holiday or your annual leave for that matter). Before we take that break from work, all projects must come to a close. We all have it planned out, don’t we?

And you probably already know that it is at those exact times, a client or two will come to you with an urgent request. There’s this one extra thing that they need done before the break. You accept their request and add this to your workload (although it’s already full) because it’s your client and you want to leave a good impression.

The results of just blindly saying yes to our clients all of the time will be any or all of the following:

• You work crazy hours just to be able to get everything done.
• The quality of your life during those days/weeks drops significantly.
• More often than not, the quality of the work you provide will also decrease.
• You put more pressure on your team, which may result in them leaving for a better opportunity.
• Once you finally take your time off (holiday or event weekends), you are so burnt out that you can’t really enjoy your free time with your family and friends – and you desperately need time to recuperate.

Three steps to avoid burnout in business

There are three things that I’d recommend everyone does to avoid this kind of burnout.

1) Be smart about structuring your days.

What I want to really emphasise here is that you need to organise your days (and weeks) taking your energy into consideration.

So, if you’re an early bird, you’ll be most productive in the mornings. Set your availability to your clients and team in that part of the day. Or use this time of the day to get good quality work & strategy done. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of person that is slow in the mornings, then you want to use the afternoons or evenings to work.?

The only way that you can achieve maximum efficiency is to work when you are most comfortable working - not your team or your clients. So, set working hours based on your productivity levels only!

2) Take breaks

Allow yourself to breathe. Take breaks when you need them. It’s no use sitting in your chair when concentration levels drop and it’s taking double the time to complete a task.

3) Learn to say ‘NO’.

As much as you might think this is impossible to do, rest assured it can be done.

Whenever that scenario of a client requesting something last-minute plays out, count to three, explain that this would mean changing your work schedule, and then politely ask some open-ended questions.

These can be about why they need it by the certain deadline, what consequences would there be if it wasn’t finished by that day, etc.

You wouldn’t directly be rejecting your client - you’d actually be trying to understand why that something is a priority at the given time. So, it’s really a matter of respectfully discussing the priority of the task with your client.?

Very often, you will find that it can actually be postponed without any consequences to the client’s work dynamics.?

To sum up, you can't lead your team or business if you're tired, burnt out and overwhelmed.?

Therefore, be smart about organising your days and learn to say ‘No’.

Josh 'Avoid Burnout' Stone

PS: If you’re interested, here are 4 ways I can help you right now:

1. Join the Leaders In Engineering community designed specifically for leaders and business owners

It’s our Facebook community where leaders and business owners are learning the strategies and leadership skills to step up and thrive right now – Click Here to join

2. Download our FREE PDF guide – “How To Build A High Performing & Highly Profitable Engineering Team”

Learn the skills to get the most out of the people around you. Build a high performing team that generates incredible profits and allows you to have more fun and to spend more time with the people you love – Click Here

3. Book in a Catch Up

This session is designed for you and I to touch base, to get to know each other a little better and to really look at where you are now, where you want to be and then we’ll make a plan together for how to get you there! – Click Here

4. Work With Us

Join our training program designed to help you focus on the core areas of growing your team, your business and yourself in the process. Together we'll work on winning work, business development & client relationships. We'll look at strategies for team performance, project performance as well as your leadership skills to motivate and get the most from the people around you. We'll also focus on your growth as a leader, effective delegation to those around you and only focusing on the strategic activities that move the needle and make the biggest difference. - Just send me a message with the word “PROGRAM” and I’ll get you some more information.