Edition 536 – Burnout

The weight of being in business. The responsibility. The obligations. The worry.

To employees, clients, suppliers, other contacts. To your family. They all rely on you.

To perform. To show up. To be there. Most of all, to not let them down. Letting them down is the greatest perception of failure. You don’t fail. You don’t want to be seen to fail. Failure is unacceptable. Inexcusable.

Everyone else is first. You put yourself last. It’s your mantra: to look after others before looking after yourself.

Until the day arrives. There’s nothing left in the tank. Mentally or physically. Putting yourself last means you’re out of fuel. Run completely dry. It’s noticed. In your actions. Your words. But most of all, in your eyes. To some, they look vacant. To others, they’re bloodshot. Whichever they are, they’re not you. They’re not your eyes.

You have two options. No others.

One of which is to plough through. Soldier on. Just toughen up, say those who think they know better, but truly don’t.

Or the other. To stop. Step back. Recalibrate. Take things off your plate. You can’t fit a main course on a side plate, yet that’s what you’ve been doing, every day, every week, for everyone else, for years. It’s too much.

Whichever option you choose, there are consequences. Most weigh those consequences in terms of dollars. What’s the financial hit likely to be? Can we afford to take that hit? How do we keep up appearances, so that for all and sundry, everything still looks as it should be?

Yet, why not consider the consequences more long-term? What does this mean for those around you? For your health? For your ability to function, in the future, as you would like to?

There are no dollars involved in the second option, yet its value is priceless. To you and those around you that depend on you. Rely on you. Love you.

It’s up to you.

This Week’s Tip

“Some recover. Some don’t. It comes down to acknowledgment by you, and acceptance by others.”