Entrepreneurs have a strong drive to build something and to put something down. The direction behind that drive determines whether you get burned out or whether you get energy. If you are primarily driven by the urge to prove, there is a good chance that you will continue to do so that you will eventually fall. If you are driven by passion then you will not take enough space for yourself and your hobbies. If you just do your thing nicely in flow, you will get energy and you can continue indefinitely (especially if you determine your own time and pace). Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs must first get burned out before they do this. In this article I will show you the background and solutions.
Differences between employees and entrepreneurs
There is a lot of attention for burnout among employees. Even the journal regularly has items about this. RTL has made an interesting video about it that is definitely worth watching. If you look at causes, the differences between employees and young entrepreneurs with burnout symptoms are not that great.
The typical thing is that both groups think that they cannot let go of the work. With an employee we often say that this is nonsense. That all their work is taken care of by others and that they can just go home in the evening and take a distance.
Entrepreneurs must work day and night
We assume that entrepreneurs must be involved day and night with their company. Almost every entrepreneur coach will confirm this. You simply have to work at least 80 hours a week to do everything you want to do. Only then will you be successful.
Everyday practice proves again and again that this is essential. This seems to be true especially when building a business. The problem is that entrepreneurs do not know when they can return to a normal rhythm. That is the point at which they fall over and end up in a burnout.
Accept the taboo of professional help
Many employees who experience burnout symptoms look for help and support. You can see that by the huge number of searches on Google. There is some reading about burnout.
The remarkable thing about entrepreneurs is that they think they should be able to do it themselves. After all, you can manage everything, so you can resolve that stress and fatigue. Moreover, you now have no time for relaxation: So much still needs to be done before you can lean back.
Many SME entrepreneurs with severe burn-out symptoms tell me during an intake that they just want some tips and advice and then they can move forward. That they must learn to cope with that tiredness. That they don't need help. If I speak to them after a year, then the last year gave a 5.6 as a score. I think that's a shame: I think doing business can be fun and it is best to sit on an 8 or a 9.
Research into burnout among entrepreneurs
According to research by insurer Allianz and research agency GfK, 62% of young entrepreneurs appear to suffer from burnout-related complaints. This concerns entrepreneurs between 18 and 34 years old (it will be no coincidence that many of my clients are in their thirties!).
This age group is already susceptible to burnout, but these are extremely high figures. Certainly if you compare it to entrepreneurs over 35 years of age. There, "only" 50% suffer from severe fatigue complaints.
Relaxation is another form of effort
About 37% of the entrepreneurs indicate that they have difficulty releasing work. They do indicate that they work out, relax and go out for a night out. Around 21% even grant themselves vacation days! But the point is that they are still working with the company on vacation.
Although I do not conduct large-scale research myself, I see that at least 90% of my clients do indeed do sports, go out, relax and take a vacation. And yet they have been burned out!
The point is that they exercise in the same performance-driven way that they work. They go out the night the way they run their business. In this way, relaxation is primarily intended to show that they take good care of themselves. They want to stay in high rhythm because they are afraid that they will collapse when they take a rest.
The solution is to tackle your urge to prove
So the solution is not to exercise or relax more. The solution is to tackle the underlying direction of your urge to prove. You need specialist help for that and that is precisely the point:
Many entrepreneurs want to be able to solve this themselves. You can google what you want, but the so-called "blind spots" will ensure that you do not see the solution yourself. You just don't want to see it. If you would only listen to your partner, you would already know what is going on.
It is nonsense to find a better balance
The solution that you often hear would be to find a better balance between exercise and relaxation. However, that is complete nonsense and every entrepreneur immediately gets stressed out of the word "balance":
A young entrepreneur does not want to hear anything about a balance. That's for later. That's for old men. The work is extremely challenging, interesting and fun. So why waste your time relaxing, watching TV, reading a book or relaxing on a sun-drenched beach in Spain.
The solution is to get energy from both the effort and the relaxation. That they are both fun and interesting. You don't learn that in your upbringing and you don't learn that during your studies. That is something that you learn from a specialized coach or that you will discover through your own experience.
Learn from entrepreneurs who have recovered from burnout
For entrepreneurs it is true that they like to tackle, that they want to put their shoulders to the wheel, that they can get by on perseverance and high adrenaline. After all, you have a high sense of responsibility and you have something to prove and put down.
Young entrepreneurs with a start-up, scale-up or SME business in particular have to work. They often have an investor who wants to see results. They have staff that must be paid. There is no solid organization yet. There is no management structure yet and all responsibility lies with the director-owner himself.
You start doing business enthusiastically, but soon you get stuck disappointed in managing your organization. That is not what it was all about, that is not where your passion lies. But yeah; there is nobody to whom you can delegate this and the work must be done.
Practical help from senior entrepreneurs
Startup and scale-up directors often receive free help from older or retired entrepreneurs and sector organizations. This is important for substantive knowledge and for making the right business decisions.
With this guidance, however, there is hardly any attention for the energy of the entrepreneur himself. He himself has no need for this and certainly does not want to admit that he is tired and struggling to keep up.
A personal business coach that focuses on the person and his energy could help enormously, but yes; they cost a lot of money (well, the experienced senior coaches then). Professional coaching is still seen as a cost item for young entrepreneurs. More experienced entrepreneurs have since learned that personal business coaching is an investment in yourself and your company with an extremely high ROI.
Create your own space and do your own thing
You start a company based on your passion. You are super motivated and enthusiastic and the first results are achieved quickly. You hire staff, you invest in your company and you can't do it all.
But then there is a responsibility: you have to manage the business! And that doesn't necessarily have to be your thing. For many entrepreneurs, management tasks quickly get the upper hand and they lose their passion and energy.
For a true entrepreneur, managing is a hopeless situation: it never ends, the same situations keep coming back. You can automate what you want, but it keeps coming back. You are stuck in your own company and especially in your own beliefs about how something should be.
Dare to distance yourself from your company
Then it is important to take some distance. From a distance you can see what it was all about and you can take the steps to regain your strength. If you know what gives you energy and where the energy runs away, you can make the right decisions.
Highly trained professionals in particular are better at thinking than feeling. They are often in the head and forget to involve their feelings. They often respond to unprocessed emotions from the past and get stressed out of them. The body becomes exhausted, so that the emotions play even harder. Hopeless!
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