Being constantly busy and overworked isn't productive, nor is constantly hustling. Here are some tips for avoiding burnout in online business.

Avoiding Burnout in Online Business

Living in Germany has been enlightening in so many ways. Being here has helped me see how my American mindset around success is focused on “hard work” and “hustle”.

This realization has helped me learn some key factors for avoiding burnout in online business. Germans are known for being dedicated, hard workers, but they’re so much better at creating a healthy work-life balance than the average American. At my husband’s job, he gets 30 days of  vacation each year. This is in addition to paid holidays and sick time.

What’s more, he’s encouraged to actually take the time off and then reminded frequently that he needs to schedule those days as the year progresses.

The Culture of Busy

This is such a strange concept to me that I was flat-out shocked when it first came up. In my last few jobs, I thought two weeks off was rolling high, nevermind the fact that it was never easy to take that time off. So many jobs I’ve had seemed to take perverse pleasure in giving vacation time but making it impossible to actually enjoy.

With these previous experiences, when one transitions to self-employment and then to running a business, it’s easy to fall into the constant hustle mode and never take time off. When you no longer have paid time off in the traditional sense, it becomes just one more excuse to work all the time.

In fact, so often the hustle of overwork becomes a badge of honor business owners wear with pride. This, combined with the culture of being constantly busy, drives us to new heights of overwhelm. Avoiding burnout in online business becomes nearly impossible to do when how much hustle we show and how busy we are seem to be the metrics we measure success by.

But is it at all productive to be constantly hustling, busy, and overworked?

N.O.

Being Busy Doesn’t Equal Being Productive

The cult of busyness makes it easy to confuse doing all the things all the time with doing the right things that’ll actually propel your business towards your next goal.

In reality, though, busy work usually leads to not focusing on the right things, extreme multitasking, focusing on speed, and mindless work without proper planning. None of these things contribute to real, sustained productivity, nor do they help avoid burnout in online business.

Busyness so often prevents us from doing the real work we need to do because it masks the root cause that’s stopping us from making progress. It’s so much easier to point to needing a new website, new branding, or a fancy Facebook funnel as the reason why we’re not successful. We avoid digging deep and identifying the inner work we need to do to get to the next level or deal with the unsexy foundational work our business needs to support growth.

Hustle, Hustle, Hustle Your Way to Success

Similarly, constant hustle mode is often seen as the gateway to more revenue. Hard work translates to success in the American mythology that’s very intertwined with blaming the poor for their difficulties. It’s no wonder that so many entrepreneurs push themselves to exhaustion and beyond in hopes of building their business.

While we’ve all heard the stories of adrenal fatigue and even hospitalization — even these stories are often glorified in the process!

But the reality is that hustling will only get you so far. Hustle can sustain a business for a while, but you’ll eventually hit a wall that more hard work simply can’t fix.

For instance, so many entrepreneurs get caught in a constant cycle of promos and launches as they try to increase revenue. This will work to a point — quite well in many cases — but the draining impact of a constant promo/launch prep on the business means there isn’t time to do the foundational work that’ll truly move the needle forward.

When you’re constantly preparing for the “next big thing,” there isn’t time for tasks like consistent list building, operational upgrades, or team development. The truth is, though, that these are the things that are much more likely to lead to sustainable growth and increased revenue.

Overwhelm Isn’t Strategic

At the end of the day, being in a constant state of overwhelm isn’t healthy for you or your business. It prevents so many essential tasks from being worked on and contributes to many negative outcomes. Avoiding burnout in online business is a much more strategic choice to make when it comes to achieving success.

There are strategies for dealing with overwhelm once it happens that I’ve covered here and here. But, eventually, wouldn’t it be better to focus on preventing it in the first place?

Whether it’s through better planning or growing your team, you can work towards smarter, saner habits that help you grow your business.

Being constantly busy and overworked isn't productive, nor is constantly hustling. Here are some tips for avoiding burnout in online business.