Doing work that you love is fun and rewarding but it’s also easy to go way overboard and turn into a workaholic. What I’ve found is that when work picks up it really picks up. While this is good it can be really hard to tell people no and before you know it you’re working 24/7 and have a higher chance of getting burnt out.
I am trying my hardest not to let this happen to me. (Note that I am mostly preaching to myself in this post.)
Here are a few ways you can continue to grow your business without suffering from a major burnout!
# 1 – Schedule A Work-Free Day
Sometimes it feels good to just be “unplugged.” The majority of the time I am at the beck and call of my inbox constantly clicking refresh to see if I have any new emails. Sometimes my email inbox is full of gems and other days I don’t hear from a soul. Either way the world is not going to end if I don’t check my email.
Since I don’t “uplug” myself very often I am making a commitment to keep my email checking to a bare minimum this Saturday. The day will be spent visiting the Zoo and enjoying my birthday. I may not even check my email at all – we’ll see.
# 2 – Use Your Time Wisely
When you’re working a day job, working on a side business, and taking care of kids your schedule is pretty much plum full. This is why proper time management is so crucial.
Since I plan on making the switch to self-employment in the near future I have been taking on quite a few jobs. I want to make sure that I have enough work to keep me busy when I’m not working a day job. This means I have to use my time very efficiently. I don’t do any work during my kids waking hours but stay busy when they are asleep and when I don’t have them. Right now this is the best that I can do.
# 3 – Learn to Say No
I want to stay busy and I really, really want to make self-employment work, this is why I have such a hard time saying no. I love all the people who I work with right now but in the future I will evaluate job offers much better and only take the ones I really enjoy or that bring the most money for my time.
Right now I pretty much say yes to almost every opportunity that comes my way.
# 4 – Sleep
As I write this post this is day number two where I have stayed up until 1:30 a.m. to write and got up at 6:00 a.m. to get my work done before my day job starts. I need to learn to start arranging my workload in a way in which I don’t have to sacrifice so much sleep.
I feel like I manage my time pretty well but there just has to be a better way. The good thing though is that I have a bunch of work and am closer to being on my own. However, I am looking forward to a full night of sleep tonight. A good night’s sleep means a healthy mind and a healthy mind means more productivity!
Conclusion
Now it’s pretty obvious in which areas I am struggling but I think this can happen to anyone. When you are doing work you enjoy and moving closer to a big goal it’s easy to make a lot of sacrifices. The bad thing is that a lot of sacrifices can lead to burnout that nobody wants.
If you focus some time on yourself instead of just business you will feel more refreshed and in turn work more efficiently and effectively – helping you grow your business.
I am working on fixing the areas in which I am lacking. And, the goal is that when I make the switch from side hustle to full time hustle that some of these problems will resolve themselves.
What are your best tips to prevent burn out?
Oh, I wish I had some tips for you!! I am in the midst of a hugely busy schedule right now too, so if you find a solution, let me know. 🙂
Great tips! I find too that exercise – while taking time initially – actually saves time because it makes me have more endurance and energy. I also get great ideas while walking.
Carrie – I think this is a great idea and one of the more important ones. Going hand in hand with exercise is eating better. If you can incorporate this into your routine, your burnout rates should be reduced.
These are great tips! Lately, I have been trying to enjoy my weekends and I try to make them work-free as much as possible.
As a freelancer, I make a schedule for the week with what I need to accomplish on each day. Then, I focus on the tasks one day at a time. It’s overwhelming if I worry about more than one day’s work at a time.
I think it’s important for me to make a schedule and try to stick it. Otherwise, I just keep working and working!
Hey Alexa and great tips for working on balancing freelance work with living. I especially like #3 and when you get to that point that you need to say NO to clients, maybe look into outsourcing the work you would say no to. This way, you keep channels open with potential long-term clients and you can still make a small “commission” on the overall project by keeping a small percentage of the fee.
Good luck with everything and take care. All the best.
Lyle
Working as a self employed professional means being able to schedule work properly and also knowing WHEN to rest. Many assume that freelancers will be lazy, once they have no more bosses to put them to work, but the truth is we do try to work too much and accomplish as much as possible, so we fall into this other problem. A good schedule and knowing your limits will help with not over-working and still making a good income.
I stole a tip from another blogger about trying to just accomplish 3 significant goals each day, rather than having a huge to-do list. I like the simplicity of it and find that working on the 3 most important tasks gets more “real” stuff done than not. However, with the number of things you are juggling, narrowing it down to just three might be a real stretch.
What is the lead time that you get on new jobs ? Are you trying to turn stuff around in just a day or two ? I really think it is time to say no to the one time jobs. Or, schedule them at least one or two weeks out. Or, take on a limited number of quick jobs. Say, 2 a week. If you’ve done 2, then you can’t do any more that week.
End of lecture.
~ Christie
You sound just like every blogger I’ve know who was about to switch to freelancing only. I bet it’s really hard to keep all the plates spinning, but I think it means you are gettting close to being able to quit your day job:)
Well mine is not saying yes to everything, but I know that’s sort of complicated for you now. Just try to get in breaks when you can and make them count!
Sleep is what I am really bad at. I definitely need to get more of it. Great tips Alexa.
Having a work free day will help a lot as you can spend time for yourself. Unplugging yourself helps you a lot to rejuvenate and get ready for next challenges
I definitely need to schedule a “work free day.” I am always working on my side hustle in my free time and it ends up being pretty much every single day – even the days I vow not to! I have been dangerously close to burnout and I need to be more careful about balancing things.
Sleep is definitely something I’ve been sacrificing recently, and I don’t think that’s the healthiest approach. I think I still waste time on unproductive activities, like checking email way too often, checking out stats, mindlessly reading through online forums, stuff like that. For me, it helps to give myself time limits and deadlines that force me to stay focused on whatever I’ve deemed to be important at the given time.
Sleep is a tough one for me. By the time the kids are all tucked in and I sit down to work I’m already feeling tired and not particularly productive. Staying up late to get work done is part of an entrepreneur’s life but I feel like the quality suffers if I haven’t gotten enough sleep. Taking time off to recharge is key.
I think sleep is very important. Many people like to sacrifice sleep, but it eventually catches up to you and it is unhealthy. Probably become less productive with lack of sleep. I’m still waiting for the little one to sleep through the night so I can get a good night’s sleep!
I so agree. A good night’s sleep provides me with less hours but more productivity.
Alexa- Appreciate the article.
I can relate to a lot of that. I know the other day I got about 3 hours of sleep. So during the hours I was dedicated to writing new posts to my blogs, I just could not because I was too sleep deprived. I’m thinking I need at about 6 to get by.
Also, one thing I do tell a lot of my readers is that they should schedule a time for work but they should also allocate at least one hour per week to reading other blogs or emails from other companies like Copyblogger.com that will give them better insight on how to run their business and ultimately how to be more successful.
People do not equate reading information with doing work. But it is and they need to incorporate it like it is. 🙂
Good tips. I am actually in a lull period right now and I am not complaining. I agree that having a full time job, a side job, and kids is a lot of work. I just do the best I can and don’t stress about stuff much anymore. I already did that once with another business.
I work full-time, am working towards self-employment and a single mom. I found picking a time like 7 or 8 pm I stop everything and just hang with my daughter until her bedtime. Sometimes that means leaving the laundry or kitchen unfinished. It makes me and my daughter satisfied and I don’t end up with that guilt that I’m ignoring her. When she goes to bed, back to work. It’s a little thing but one less stress makes a big difference.
I love all of these advises especially #4! #1 & #3 are very hard to follow through for most but very essential for our well-being. Thanks for a great article!
Pretty soon, when you’re self employed… you’ll be able to get this all done during the day!!! then you can sleep. 🙂 Keep it up!
I am working my day job and I am blogging in part time basis. I like the idea of observing your time wisely. Time management is essential to balance your time with your jobs, blogging and with your family.
Now, I spend more time teaching my daughter. I spend less time on blogging but I want to become full time bloggers.
I’ve been feeling this way lately. I cut my posts down by one a week to try and help. And I try not to stress about commenting until I have time to do it (which is becoming less and less these days.) But if I don’t get it done, I stress about it, which kind of defeats the purpose. I need to work on that sleep thing, too. I think I’d be much more efficient if I were giving myself more rest.
I really enjoyed this post, Alexa! I could never survive on 5 hours’ sleep. I usually get about 8 and I’m still tired at times 😛 Have a lovely day at the Zoo!
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