Business idea turned to burnout?

Entrepreneurship typically appeals to creative, motivated people who have a great idea for a business (or three!) That means that entrepreneurs tend to be passionate and highly driven, which is a good thing…until it makes them more susceptible to overworking.

Burnout can happen to anyone, but entrepreneurs are particularly prone to it. They often link their sense of purpose to the daily “hustle.” As a result, they struggle to disengage from their enterprise.

Worse still, they lack the boundaries they might have in a corporate job. When you work a 9–5, you may work late, but eventually, the security team will kick you out. When you run your own business, though, what’s to stop you from working all hours of the day and night?

In our hustle-and-grind culture, overworking may seem glamorous. Even some of our celebrity entrepreneurs boast about how little they sleep. But let’s be honest: burnout is bad for you — and bad for your business.

Why do entrepreneurs tend to be workaholics, and how can we avoid falling into this pattern?

The Recipe for Burnout

First, let’s define burnout. As the name suggests, it happens when you’ve run out of oxygen. Your fire flickers out.