I\u2019ve got a confession to make. Until very recently, I felt like a failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You wouldn\u2019t have had a clue I was thinking that way if you followed my social media. My company Subbly<\/a> was performing well, everything about my life seemed to be in perfect balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet I felt like a failure. Because I was completely burnt out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout affects far more people than many of us would care to admit. I never thought it would happen to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet here I am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout was a new sensation for me, one which caught me completely off guard thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. So instead of lecturing you about how and what you should do, let me tell you about what happened to me and how you can avoid the mistakes I made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m the founder and CEO of Subbly, a powerful subscription e-commerce platform for entrepreneurs and marketers. Our team is remote and we\u2019re bootstrapped, it\u2019s our lean culture that gives us a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might think that our 100% remote model made us better prepared for the Coronavirus than most. In some ways you\u2019re right, being remote has certainly insulated Subbly from some of the worst effects of the crisis, and our team\u2019s productivity hasn\u2019t been affected at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For myself, however, I need the buzz of the workplace, so I usually base myself at co-working spaces. Coronavirus caused that system to go the way of the dodo. I was suddenly isolated and I had to adapt. This process was tough and it\u2019s what caused my burnout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When burnout started to affect me, the first thing I noticed was fatigue, not just in the physical sense. Psychologically I just felt drained. Everything I did seemed to require more effort, from doing calls to making a cup of coffee. Still, it didn\u2019t matter how many coffees I drank, I still felt exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the anxiety started, healthy doubt and caution turned into fixating and obsessing over the little things, which soon evolved into frenetic energy and fear. All of this experienced by someone who has spent a long time investing in and working on their mental health and well-being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Burnout creeps up on you slowly \u2014 you barely notice it happening until you\u2019re firmly in its grasp, and by the time you understand what\u2019s going on, it\u2019s already too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This time it was different, it was confusing as everything was going great, and I didn\u2019t know how to get out of it due to the lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the psychological symptoms manifested, I began to notice changes beyond the fatigue. I was withdrawn, short-tempered, and behaved unpredictably. Worst of all I felt completely alone, and I couldn\u2019t explain what was happening to me. It was like a silent breakdown of all personal boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What was worse was that I could have seen this coming. When I was 21 I tried working from home, but it didn\u2019t work out \u2014 I was less productive and I felt miserable due to the lack of structure. Lockdown was therefore the perfect recipe for a personal collapse.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does any of this sound familiar to you? Recognising yourself in my experience? Then you may have burnout, and the first step to fixing a problem is accepting it exists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The catch 22 of burnout is that you know you need to be productive, but you feel unable to deal with your growing pile of work. You subsequently feel guilty that you\u2019re not being productive and this makes it worse. Worse still, it makes it harder for you to recognise the symptoms as you begin to experience denial. It\u2019s a negative, self-perpetuating spiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to know the tell-tale symptoms of burnout and to listen to them. Better still, you should implement a plan to avoid getting there in the first place. Identifying a problem in the early stages is always better for you. Now that I know the difficulties of burnout I know how to mitigate or prevent it in the future. The key is to recognise and accept it early on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no one way of doing this as everyone is different, and is in turn affected differently, but if you want to stay productive and mentally healthy you need to prioritise your well-being. We all want to focus on boosting our productivity but it became an unhealthy obsession for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Focusing on your well-being and mental health isn\u2019t a weakness, it\u2019s a sign of mental strength. This needs to be a mantra you repeat every day, as I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there I was stuck in the emotional and professional doldrums. I felt trapped, unable to express how isolated I felt. Luckily, I had a great social network to call on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I reached out to my loved ones and trusted friends, people who I knew would be direct and honest with me, and asked for their help. It wasn\u2019t easy to express myself and I didn\u2019t want to appear vulnerable, but then I realised that it isn\u2019t a sign of weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n It takes strength to admit (even to yourself) you have an issue and to address it by communicating with the people around you.<\/p>\n Tweet this quote<\/a>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Your network reflects who you are as a person, if your contacts are trustworthy and honest you\u2019re doing great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exercise helped me tremendously and that old clich\u00e9 of a \u201chealthy body, healthy mind\u201d really does hold true. I couldn\u2019t go to the gym (my favourite place to retreat and re-balance) during the lockdown, so I took up running instead and continued my resistance band workouts. I\u2019m competitive by nature, so having goals to focus on helped me move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try to think of something that you really enjoy. In my case it was exercise but it could just as easily have been learning a new skill, cooking, anything that \u2018sparks joy\u2019. This will restore your sense of self-worth, improve your mood, and send endorphins running through your body. It\u2019s all about designing a routine that keeps you on course and supports you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to burnout prevention really is the best cure \u2014 believe me, it\u2019s not fun pulling yourself out of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way you can start is by sticking to a solid routine, which, if you\u2019re anything like me, might be difficult at the start. Make sure you get plenty of sleep (eight hours is ideal) and go to sleep at the same time every night. It\u2019s not always easy, I know, there\u2019s always something I have to finish (the classic entrepreneurial drive) but it\u2019s well worth it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can already predict some of you thinking \u2018who needs sleep, I\u2019m young, I\u2019m energetic, I can work all night and still get results.\u2019 Sure, for now, but look at how Coronavirus caught us totally off guard.<\/p>\n\n\n The cost of burnout or poor mental health is much bigger than working a couple of extra hours every day.<\/p>\n Tweet this quote<\/a>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Give yourself time to rest. You\u2019ll feel so much better, and you\u2019ll also find that you\u2019re often more productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep yourself moving, even if it\u2019s just for a brisk walk, and make sure you take yourself out of your home office space regularly. We\u2019re not designed to sit at a desk for eight hours a day, after all. This is about changing your physical environment and perspective as much as it is about your physical health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s okay not to be okay, and it\u2019s especially okay<\/em> to reach out to someone you trust when you experience burnout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The global economy is going to continue to be unpredictable while Coronavirus persists, and that’s why it’s important to be kind to yourself \u2014 I managed to pull myself up out of the hole I found myself in, and you can too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you find yourself on even ground again, remember to be grateful for the blessings you have, whether they be professional success, family, recognition, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Though I was skeptical at first, I started to keep a gratitude journal where I keep track of the things I\u2019m thankful for in my life. It\u2019s easy to lose track of the good things in our lives-journalling brings these things to the top of one\u2019s perceptions, allowing you to maintain gratitude as a state of mind. It\u2019s hard to maintain this through burnout but with patience and practice, you\u2019ll be able to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you ever feel down in the dumps or completely burnt out I\u2019m here to help if you ever need advice. You can find me on Twitter<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>. We’re all in this together, so let\u2019s help look after each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stefan Pretty tells us about his experience with entrepreneurial burnout \u2014 what it took him to recognize the problem and how he ultimately dealt with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":14206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1932,111],"class_list":["post-14200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gtm","tag-burnout","tag-entrepreneur"],"yoast_head":"\nRemote work vs remote work in a pandemic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How burnout affected me<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The first step to dealing with burnout is accepting it exists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do you treat burnout?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Prevention as a cure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Never feel that you\u2019re alone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n