7 Effective Strategies To Avoid Mompreneur Burnout

Are you feeling burnt out from working too hard on your business?

Are you a woman?

It may be part of your problem…

Here are some interesting facts to consider (according to McKinsey research today):

• 53% of corporate entry-level jobs are held by women
• Women hold 37% of mid-management roles
• Women make up 26% of the vice presidents and senior managers

YET:

• Men still advance at twice the rate of women in each career transition stage.

Here are some solid lifestyle strategies to help you turn around your endless days to avoid burnout for busy mompreneurs!

Why & How Men Avoid Burnout Over Women

According to the Captivate Network, men are more likely than women to do things that help their personal wellbeing at work, thus negating burnout. Here are some statistics found about men:

• Men are 25% more likely to take breaks
• Men are 25% more likely than women to engage in personal activities throughout the day,
• Men are 7% more likely to take a walk, 5% more likely to go out to lunch, and 35% more likely to take breaks “just to relax.”

Burnout Is A Real Problem

There have been countless studies that link burnout, time management, stress, and problems related to health. Those who struggle with burnout also struggle in the areas of low energy, lack of or poor self-confidence, indecision and decision fatigue, negative attitudes, cynicism, inflexibility, and procrastination.

One of the first signs of burnout is high distractibility and the inability to focus on your essential tasks. Other signs include endless cybersurfing, daydreaming, and focusing on easy yet non-essential tasks most often… never making time for deep planning and big projects.

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How to get back on track if burnout is looming

Fortunately, mompreneurs have chosen this field because of our deep need to own our own time and demand our own schedule. So, although we may not exercise it, we do have control over our work hours and can implement anything at any time. These strategies can easily get you started on the road away from business burnout:

1. Prioritize your workday around important goals.

Rather than endlessly tweaking your to-do list, the “squeaky wheel”, or the biggest fire, prioritize your day based on the most important projects and the associated tasks you need to achieve your business goals. Create big goals, and establish your work in terms of importance rather than how long things take to easily prioritize and eliminate unnecessary tasks.

2. Stop multitasking.

Although all the rage over the past two decades, brain researchers have begun to share the dark side of multitasking, and it is not all that it’s cracked up to be. Although low risk and low challenge tasks can be combined, the higher the challenge, the less able you are to combine it with another task. For instance texting while talking with someone live adds to inefficiency, time delays, mistakes and ineffective work because your attention is divided.

3. Get and stay healthy.

Most mompreneurs are the ‘everything’ of your small business; therefore, your ability to get and stay healthy is crucial. Often in start-up, mompreneurs cut out things like exercise and rejuvenating activities. And while we ‘excuse’ this behavior for a while, many of us have workaholic tendencies – so, this cycle never changes unless we intervene and establish self-care strategies to help ourselves. Although many small business entrepreneurs don’t feel they have the time to exercise, studies show that entrepreneurs who run or bike have higher sales than even those who strength train! Keep high energy-producing foods around and easy to grab during the day… BUT don’t eat lunch at your desk! Which leads me to strategy 4.

4. Take breaks, play more and take weekends off!

Taking frequent breaks throughout the day refreshes your creativity and reboots your brain. And typically men are much more likely to engage in break-like activities than women. So, do yourself big favors… and build in breaks, take weekends off (if you can) and build a way to focus on play daily! Fatigue costs more than $136 billion per year in health-related lost productivity; 84% of those costs due to reduced performance at work. Is working on your day off really worth it? I challenge you… NOT.

5. Chunk Your Time

Time chunking is NOT a new concept. In fact, people have made millions trademarking just how to do this in their own way. You may be familiar with the Pomodoro Technique originally introduced by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, who published a book of the same name. The technique uses a timer to divide your work into 25-minute sessions called “pomodori.” After each session, you take a five-minute break. Another idea has been tested and perfected by Pierre Khawand, author of “The Results Curve™: How to Manage Focused and Collaborative Work”, after a decade of research. His theory is that the best results are achieved after 40 minutes of focused work following by 20 minutes of collaboration. Whatever your timeframe, try chunking your work in tasks so you can complete them within a focused and uninterrupted period of time.

6. Delegate.

Entrepreneurs are notorious for being workaholics. In fact the average workday for most of us hovers around 18 hours of working each day (and some even extend that to the weekends. The idea of doing it all quickly leads to burnout! The best way to avoid burn out is to document your procedures so you are able to identify and assign suitable tasks to skilled people who can work together to support your business objectives. Delegating is not difficult, it just takes a strategy, planning and finding the right people who can free your time and creativity.

7. Unplug from technology.

Pick a turn off time daily and DON’T bring your devices to the bedroom! Each evening, figure out an appropriate time to turn off all your technology. Your body and mind need time to renew after a long day. Working without breaks affects everything you do. It prolongs decision-making, adds to confusion and lessens your ability to choose and strategize.

Mompreneur Burnout is avoidable, especially when you use smart advancements, tools and technology to plan, strategize and track your work. Tools and technology can make your workday much more productive and efficient when you use the right tools for the type of work you need to do and plan your days to avoid burning out.

If you’re on the border of burnout – check out our coaching programs specifically designed to help you get back in the driver’s seat of your business and experience your life again!