Many business owners find themselves facing burnout. We question our business, our industry, the economy . . . everything seems out of our control. It isn’t.

Think of this. After doing the same thing for five, ten or twenty years, how can we be excited about doing the same ole, same ole? It’s called burnout. Remember when we relished coming to work whether a weekday or a weekend or even a holiday? What happened to that drive? Sure, our industry has changed … more importantly, we have changed …

… but perhaps not in the way you might think.

Behaviorists George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson have a straight-forward answer for “burnout” or “mid-life crisis.” They call it the Self-Doubt Spiral.

We start with goals

We started with clearly defined goals. For many of us, it was simply getting into this business. We plot, plan and dream. We spent hours thinking of our company name and logo. Once into the business, we then focus on getting jobs in, getting jobs out and getting ourselves paid, the hectic basics of business.

We work hard to have more money at month’s end than the beginning. Our goal was to be profitable. And then, perhaps a bigger car or a better house. No room for burnout here.

We fail to replace them

At some point along the path, Dudley and Goodson note; we met our goals but then failed to replace them.

Oh, there’s borrowed goals. We see a friend who gets a boat and so we think to ourselves, “I want a boat, too.” But that’s nothing more than a borrowed goal. When things get rough, the goal doesn’t spur us to take action. We just give up on the goal. “I really didn’t want a boat anyway.” And that leads to burnout.

Values Help Us Avoid Burnout

Really meaningful and personal goals are rooted in our values. Our needs, not our wants.

And without meaningful and personal goals, we ended up accomplishing nothing for if we are going nowhere; any road will do. We end up where we end up; for better or worse.

Then without accomplishment, we begin losing our sense of self-worth. We begin questioning our industry. We blame external events for our lack of actions. After all, what we do won’t make a difference. We end up where we end up. In other words, burnout.

Remarkably, we often begin even questioning our ability.

“I don’t think I was cut out for this business, anyway.”

And that ends up as melancholy which is often self-described as burn out. 

All because we accomplish our goal(s) and then we fail to replace them.

If you find yourself in this burnout spiral, spend time reassessing what you are doing and why.

Set and Accomplish Goals to Avoid Burnout

If you haven’t set goals in forever, start with some short-terms ones and hold yourself accountable. Reward yourself and no, making a profit or building equity isn’t enough. What are you really willing to work for? A weekend retreat or a new set of golf clubs could do the trick for the short term. Only you know and you’ll only know after you spend time on it.

Now, for the really big goal of what you want to be when you grow up: that will take more time.

My Gift to You

And here’s my gift to you to assist you in this quest.

Click over to https://crouser.com/shop/  and then scroll down to the section on Reports/Books to the workbook entitled, “Increase Your Meaningful and Personal Goals” by R. R. Hutzell and Mary D. Eggert. This self-paced 48 page workbook is based on the principle that to create meaningful and personal goals, we must first understand our values.

The workbook is provided to you at no cost or obligation and is delivered immediately in PDF format upon ordering.

So, if you’re feeling a little burnt out, what better time of year to download the workbook and explore what will really make you happy? Again, there’s no cost or obligation.

Want to chat? There’s no cost or obligation. Just email me at tom@cprint.com

Happy Trails.

Tom Crouser