Burnout Is Not A Badge of Honor
Stop wearing it like one
If you are a business owner, creator, artist, blogger, writer, please read this as many times as you need to.
Burnout is not pretty. It is not a badge of honor and it should not be worn as one. There is no point in sacrificing your sleep, your peace of mind, your health, and the time with your family for the sake of your business.
This was brought into my purview last week when a business owner whom I’ve followed over the last 3 years sent an email to her list. In it, she proudly announced that in order for your business to grow, you must make sacrifices.
In her case, that was sleep. It was why her emails had time stamps of 2.30 AM.
At that moment, all I could feel was an overwhelming wave of sympathy for this person. Yes, she’s incredibly successful and she’s also much younger than I am, but bad sleep habits are not something you can recover from.
The sleep deficits compound and make you feel inexorably worse as you grow older.
I’ve fallen victim to this myth too when people told me ‘Oh, all entrepreneurs must work late, wake up early and survive on 4 hours of sleep a night until their business grows.’ It’s a myth I believed heartily and where did it get me?
Twice, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of burnout. The first time ended pretty badly, leading to clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia between 2001 and 2002.
It took me over a year to get back on my feet and you’d have thought I’d learned my lesson.
Apparently not.
17 years later, I launched my own consulting and coaching business and dove into it with all the rigor and excitement of a child with a new toy.
I burnt the candle at both ends, didn’t make time for myself or my friends/family, and pushed myself beyond what was physically possible to ensure that my business would not only stay afloat but thrive.
*News flash: It didn’t help.
Between 2018 March and 2020 June, it got me into a downward spiral of despair without seeing the possibility of profit or impact. I hit bottom and told myself that it wasn’t worth it and I was ready to chuck my business out the window.
Instead, in July 2020, I made a significant decision. When I started prioritizing sleep, health, meditation, exercise, reading, and family time alongside a sensible business strategy, I noticed that things changed.
✔️I started working fewer hours on my business but with more intention.
✔️I reduced the length of my to-do lists and deepened my time blocks of focus.
✔️I began to make time for what mattered and magically, my business benefited too.
*It’s one of the things I teach clients how to do as well.
Every time you feel tempted to stay up late or sacrifice sleep for your business, ask yourself this: ‘Am I going to be in the best possible shape tomorrow so I can show up for myself, my family and my business?’
That answer is all you need.
