Burnout is not a product of Laziness but of great ideas that are uncoordinated.
Have you ever started a project that you were very optimistic and enthusiastic about only to lose interest in a few days? It could be a new idea you wanted to add on what you are already doing or diversifying your efforts to something totally different. Diversification and innovation is part and parcel of an entrepreneur’s life. However, the more ideas we create the more we risk burning out invaluable life transforming opportunities we have. This death is popularly known as “Burnout.” So how do we generate ideas without burning-out?
First we need to surgically examine the causes of burnout. Most of them do not stem from negative thoughts or ideas that could lead us a stray but from the very fundamental motives with potentials to make us the greatest we can ever be. So how come the spin from ideas that could propel us to greater heights making us plummet in disgrace?
There is a popular adage that states; “more cooks spoiled the broth”. Not necessarily because the cooks were untrained or had bad ideas, but because of uncoordinated great ideas that can be as damaging as the negative ones.
Entrepreneurs are popularly known as idea generators. Most of their thoughts and concerns are on growth and development of the business. It can be a daunting task to plan, execute and maintain the pace of growth your business is having.
Another cause of burnout is not spending enough time with yourself. In my life as a leader, I have learned that the busier we are the more time we need to recharge. Lack of enough rest can lead to lack of focus since juggling ideas not knowing which one to implement first can be damaging to our health.
But what do we need to do to keep the fire burning without burnout?
Put Your Ideas Down
Not all great ideas we get need to be implemented and if they have to be, then they must be scrutinized, analyzed and well thought of to ensure eudaemonia ~ human flourishing. When you get new ideas, write them down. Some ideas sound great when they ring in our mind but keenly analyzed, they are not that beneficial.
Never Overwork Yourself
The reason why we hire employees is because there are pundits out there who are smarter than us. Building a business is not a one man show, it is a team work. We have to learn to assign responsibilities to others for us to succeed without burnout. Give some tasks out to people who can do them efficiently.
Socialize
If you are not meeting at least 2 new people a week, you are probably not learning much. When meeting people, ask them what works for them and how they come out of burnouts or failures. You will learn what you shouldn’t be doing.
Play Games
Rinuu.com is a disruptive Toronto board game business whose objective is to create opportunities for people to meet and hangout and share ideas. They have been successful hosting board game nights, promoting social events for entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs to share ideas. Playing board games is also an easy way to meet new people and expand your social network. The idea of disconnecting from work and daily busy life is one way they are fighting burnouts hence cultivating a culture of relentless entrepreneurship.
Playing board games does not only give you a break from work but also boosts your cerebral cortex abilities to to analyze every winning and losing situations. This higher thought processing part of our brains need continuous cultivation for more accurate analysis. Simply put, our smartness hides in how many games we can play.
Burnout does not come from laziness.
Originally published at medium.com