5 Ways to Prevent Yourself from Burning Out as a New Entrepreneur

As a new entrepreneur, you’re expected to dedicate ample amount of time to building your business. In the beginning, you’ll be handling most if not all tasks on a daily basis and find yourself working around the clock. Motivation, drive and passion will surely fuel you but at what cost? It won’t be long until you find yourself quickly burnt out from all the nonstop work. Preventing yourself from burning out as a new entrepreneur may be difficult at first, but is totally doable! Here’s 5 ways to avoid it altogether.

Start Your Day Off Right

Start your day off right by waking up and having a productive morning routine. This is time allotted to you where prayer, mediation, reading, working out etc. will occur. It’s important to get your mind aligned and start your day off pleasantly, so the rest of your schedule can do as such. A lot of entrepreneurs make the mistake of starting their day off by waking up and checking emails. As soon as you do that, you’ve opened yourself up to be on someone else’s playing ground. You’ll be inclined to reply and once that message is answered, you’re surely likely to move onto the next. This is the same with texts and missed calls; make sure not to check any until after you’ve completed your morning routine.

Work as an Employee

Working as an employee is one clear way to avoid burnout as you’ll be setting the standard for yourself and those around you. It’s extremely easy to work until 1AM, sleep for a few hours and do it all again. If your goal is to become burned out, then you’re sure on your way with those limitless boundaries. Instead, treat yourself like a normal employee or standard business that’s open from 9AM – 5PM. You work within those hours and clock out just as you would if working for someone else. If you’re still working a 9 – 5 while building your business on the side then set your work boundary in hours. Monday – Friday you can allocate 1 hour in the morning before work and 3 hours after work. Additionally, take advantage of your weekends when you can work a full 8 hours and still have hours left to spend time with family or friends.

RELATED: Seven Things Successful Entrepreneurs Do Everyday (& You Should Too!)

Outsource Tasks

Outsourcing tasks is the last thing most entrepreneurs do because we’re oftentimes strapped for cash. We tend to do everything ourselves to save funds and keep our business growing. The problem is, you cannot do it all and if you try, you’ll surely burnout. Therefore, it’s good to find others that are experts to do the things that you aren’t good at or don’t have the time to do. A cost effective way to find great help is by utilizing sites like UpWork or Fiverr, where there’s tons of people ready to take on your job! What I like about both of these sites are, you can pay hourly or in a lump sum and negotiate the rate. Outsourcing is beneficial as it’ll help you to gain back time and get things done in a time effective manner.

Take Time Off

Taking time off is a must for all entrepreneurs as it’s imperative to our health. We all need to recharge and find the healthy balance within our everyday lives. I personally fell into the trap where I would feel bad if I was wasn’t working 24/7. This is terrible thinking and a quick way to find yourself burned out. Adopt the thinking that it’s perfectly fine for you to take time off and enjoy yourself! Finding the balance between work, life and family can be tough if you don’t establish your boundaries. A great way to take time off, is to plan it into your everyday schedule and make it a priority. For example, I like to do my morning routine, spend 1 hour watching TV in the evening and 30 minutes reading a book. Additionally, I schedule at least 1 vacation per year and take Sundays off to recharge and give myself a relaxing day.

Say “NO”

Saying no was a difficult thing for me to do early on as an entrepreneur. I would feel bad telling people no because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings or offend them. On the flip side, I would suffer saying yes to something that I knew I didn’t have time for or didn’t feel like doing. Today, I say no to practically everything and I don’t feel bad about it! As an entrepreneur, you’re a powerhouse that’s juggling multiple plates at once. Your time is literally money and spending it on things that don’t bring value to you is a waste. Understand that you don’t have to agree with everything or do anything that you don’t want to. Be confident with saying no and take pride that you’re putting your overall health first.

It’s important to understand early on that your business doesn’t need you working on it 24/7 to survive. If anything, you need to ensure that your health is good so your business can thrive! Don’t make the mistake of working in your business instead of on it. There’s always a healthy balance that can be established between work and life!

Until next time ASSASSINS. . . Stay Disciplined!

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