How to Avoid Burnout as an Entrepreneur
Before you get too paranoid about burnout, fear not—there’s a preventative cure. In fact, there are seven of them: the seven different types of rest.
We all hear about burnout, but do you actually know what it is? Unless you’ve experienced burnout yourself it can be hard to describe.
According to online dictionaries, burnout can be defined as:
State of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress
An occurrence that happens when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands
When you're too tired to do anything
Similar to the common cold, burnout doesn’t seem all that bad until you go through it yourself.
And unfortunately in the case of burnout, chicken noodle soup and a box of Kleenex doesn’t always do the job.
Before you get too paranoid about burnout, fear not—there’s a preventative cure. In fact, there are seven of them: the seven different types of rest.
My Brand Therapy guest and client Kendra Reddy is an executive coach who helps clients achieve self-mastery. (Think high-performance folks who achieve as much as Beyonce does in a day.) Kendra helped me understand that resting actually isn't just sleeping or lying on your couch. There are actually different kinds of rests, and ideally, you should be doing all seven fairly equally.
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Without further ado, here are the seven different types of rest to incorporate into your schedule:
1. Physical rest
Most of us think this is the only form of rest. It’s anything that gives your body a break, such as sleeping, eating nutritiously, and actual rest days instead of running a daily marathon.
2. Mental rest
Have you ever worked so hard that you feel like your brain is mush? Then you, my friend, need mental rest. This gives your brain time off from processing information. The best way to implement this type of restoration is through a hobby that allows your brain to tune out, like listening to music.
3. Sensory rest
Cue Do Not Disturb mode. This rest is removing external stimulation. You can combat sensory fatigue by turning off all notifications. (It’s hard but worth it!)
4. Creative rest
This comes down to doing any task that you can’t “fail” doing. Walking, meditating, a side project, or perhaps playing an instrument—if you can express yourself without the criteria of failing or succeeding, you’ll rock this type of rest.
5. Emotional rest
While you might think emotional rest is actually taking a rest from feeling emotion, it’s actually quite the opposite. It's allowing yourself to sit with your emotions. This might come in the form of therapy, journaling, or even having a deep conversation with a friend.
6. Social rest
It’s 2021 and we’re all familiar with Zoom fatigue right now, so social rest is hypercritical. We all need to have social rest from people, so prioritize recharging alone or at the very least being with someone where you don’t have to put on a show.
7. Spiritual rest
This form of rest is bringing consideration to the bigger picture of your existence and overall connection to the world. The theory here is that a sense of purpose will help guide and drive you, which is where you find energy.
There you have it! These seven types of rest might not come easily, but try to incorporate these into your schedule.
Which form of rest scares you the most? Comment below.
