There are a ton of articles that exist about burnout: How to Avoid It, How to Escape It, How to Overcome It. It’s clearly a real thing but the funny part is, many entrepreneurs don’t even realize they’re dealing with it because we’re all too busy to recognize what’s going on.
I’ll admit, I never thought my business would burn me out. I love what I do, and the life it allows me to live. For the first few years after my co-founder Kris and I started FanSaves, we never stopped. It was meeting, after conference, after startup accelerator, after sporting event, after investor pitch all while working extremely hard to get our business off the ground and into the masses.
We loved it so much though and we were on a constant high. Sure, I would sometimes feel tired from working 12-14 hour days, but I was never tired of the grind. I loved Mondays and I would tell anyone who listened that if you really love what you do, Mondays would be awesome. I worked on weekends for fun because I could never get enough, I was obsessed with the company, the growth, the innovation. Kris and I travelled a ton, whether it was 10-hour road trips or six weeks in the air flying across the continent, and we absolutely relished in it. How did we get so lucky that we could do this for a living, we would ask ourselves. How awesome was it that this startup we created from scratch was bringing to life the vision we had set out for ourselves in 2017?
This year we celebrated seven years of FanSaves. We are extremely proud of everything we have done and the adversity we have overcome. Seven years flew by in the blink of an eye, and we love everything we’ve been able to accomplish. But they say life happens in cycles of seven so perhaps that was why this was the first year when my burnout began to hit. I didn’t read articles about how to avoid it, or escape it because I didn’t even know it was happening. It crept up, slowly but surely, finding its way into my life, unwanted and confusing. To be honest, I didn’t even recognize it as burnout at first.
It didn’t happen immediately and when I say the effects were creeping, I mean they affected other parts of my life long before my business. I can’t pinpoint exactly when it started but if I had to guess, signs began when I no longer had the energy to workout in the mornings. I was a bit more tired than usual and wanted the extra bit of shuteye. Then, my daily morning meditation and manifestations also went to the wayside. But not completely. I was still aware I needed those and tried to sneak it in when I had the willpower to do so. Because I wasn’t working out as much, I let myself slide in the meal department and started eating worse, not paying attention to nutrition as much as I used to. The burnout wasn’t in full swing yet, but it was coming, and looking back the signs were obvious, only I couldn’t see them.
My business is my baby, so I did everything in my power to stay strong for it. I was never one to shut my computer off at 5pm on the dot and end my workday. But soon, that drive to keep going turned to I couldn’t wait until the workday finished. We were in the middle of raising investment and the constant barrage of hearing no after no was weighing on me. We had plans to grow the company even faster but with the economic turmoil, investors liked what we were doing but weren’t writing cheques. There were days when 5pm couldn’t come soon enough so I could escape the beatings I felt like I was taking day in and day out.
Looking back on the other side of burnout, I realize that the no’s felt like beatdowns because my positive mindset had escaped me. I would still repeat my optimistic mantras to myself, but I stopped believing them. This was scary to me, as I am always the most positive person in the room; Shove something negative in my face and I will find a way to spin it to have good meaning. My optimism is my superpower and the more I felt it fading the sadder I became.
Luckily, I started realizing that’s all that burnout is. A mindset problem. A mindset problem that creeps into your thoughts, your actions, and your lifestyle until you’re stuck in a cycle of not knowing how to get off the never-ending loop of doom. You feel tired because you don’t move your body as much and you don’t move your body as much because you feel tired. You get so bogged down by hearing No’s all the time that you begin to question yourself and your business and as you question those things your optimism dwindles and the No’s become harder to hear while the Yes’s seem to be few and far between. It’s like quicksand where the harder you try to get out, the deeper and deeper you get stuck. It’s not depression but it’s the feeling that this is all too much and too hard and it’s taking too long, while at the same time wishing you had a crystal ball to remind yourself that it will all be worth it in the end.
As I began to realize the culprit of my declining mood was burnout, I started to make small changes. This year, while I have still done a lot, I also took time to rest and recharge. I halted much of my travel and learned to say no to things that were not filling my cup. I took some weekends to do absolutely nothing and sometimes I even took a nap once my workday was over. I felt extreme guilt for much of it at the beginning, but soon I started realizing that resting my brain and my body helped me. Soon I had the energy to dig myself out of the burnt-out haze I was so deeply stuck in. I started becoming more productive and my company heard more yes’s when I finally stopped trying to burn both ends of the candle and made time for my own peace of mind.
As I come out on the other side of my bout with burnout, I’ve realized a few things that none of the articles I’ve read seem to touch on. That burnout can happen slowly, over time, and that sometimes burning out is the only way to reignite your spark. Sometimes the flame must dwindle down or completely die out for you to realize just how important that light in your life is and it’s okay to let it. It’s fine to take the necessary time you need to get your thoughts in order and your body back in sync with your mind. It’s okay to take that break you have denied yourself from taking for far too many years. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to acknowledge that what you feel is burnout and admit that you’re going through a difficult time. It’s okay to not be perfect every day because the truth is you never were and never will be. It’s okay to say no, and to nap, and to take a vacation. And it’s okay to NOT feel guilty when you aren’t devoting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to a company you have been building for many years.
My biggest takeaway from overcoming burnout is that our minds and our bodies are smart. They will tell us what we need to know long before we recognize or admit it outwardly and the more we push back against it, the worse it will become. I’ve learned that the fire inside me to succeed still exists and it never really went away but as it flickered, I realized just how important my business is to my overall happiness and for that to continue, it was finally time to start managing my expectations.
We truly can do more and succeed faster with a clear mind and sometimes all it takes to reignite your flame is to take a step away and find a new outlook, a new spark.
by Shannon Ferguson