Entrepreneur burnout
Hey 👋, it's me again, Tiago. My last post here was actually trending so here I am to prove to myself that it was just lucky... (Impostor syndrome again XD)
Today I want to chat about Burnout in the indie makers world... I am no expert what so ever but I have been a full time bootstrapper for 7 months now and I have also spoken with so many entrepreneurs in my podcast that I fell that I have learned a few things about the topic...
Working too much
Normally burnout occurs when a person is exposed to a stressful workload for a long period of time. And it's kind of funny that this can happen in two completely opposite scenarios...
You hate your job
Either because you have a terrible boss and team or just because you simply don't like your tasks are are forced to endure this situation for lack of an alternative...
You love your job
You like it so much that it quickly becomes the main priority in your life and achieving your goals seems to be the answer for your happiness.
I love being a bootstrapper
Seven months ago I quit my job to focus 💯 in bootstrapping my projects. I have never felt so motivated but I had to take a big pay cut as a consequence. As a muggle I had a job as a developer, making 60K in Germany and now, as entrepreneur, I am paying myself 700 euros (YEAR!!).
As time goes by also goes my savings and the pressure to build a profitable business grows stronger.
I think you can guess where this is going...
The 23rd of November 2021, started as any normal day... With me waking up and checking Twitter for new likes and messages. After that I continue by spending the full day working in my projects. Non stop! But this time, instead of ending the day normally I felt something different... I was feeling like my head was about to explode, my heart was racing and I was feeling extremely discouraged to continue with my projects.
In the next days I noticed that this overwhelming feeling would quickly return every time I would perform a tasks. Not only work related, but simple things like doing the dishes or watching TV...
I felt that I was in the beginning of a burnout
I forced myself to disconnect and after a few days taking it extremely easy I felt like I was recovered.
How can I prevent this from happening again?
The solution is surprisingly simple: Don't over work! You need to have a balanced lifestyle with time for hobbies, sport and friends... But of course that this is easier said than done ...
In my interview with Alex Friedman she said something that got me thinking:
You need to give yourself permission to rest
When you are your own boss you are the one controlling your working hours and time off and it's up to you to allow them. She also said:
I have seen many founders failing due to burnouts, but I have never seen one failing for taking an afternoon off
Resting and disconnecting is actually good for business
You are the most important asset of your business. Losing the motivation or worst won't help your project succeed. So think about disconnecting as part of your business!
It's been a month since I felt that way and I have been forcing myself to rest and not taking things too seriously and so far I have been feeling really good! I hope it continues this way...
What about you? Have you been working too much?
PS: If you liked this topic, I have done a podcast episode exactly about this "burnout" situation and you can hear it here
Cheers,
Burnout is not the same thing as over-working, although they are connected.
Burnout happens when you don't feel in control of your outcomes, despite putting in the work. It can happen at a day job where you don't feel like your career is progressing despite working hard (e.g. you get stuck working on a project that's going nowhere), or it can happen in an indie project where it's not making any money or getting users, despite you working hard.
Rest is important, so your overall point about giving oneself permission to rest still stands.
But treating burnout goes deeper than "working too hard? take a day off". It's more about setting measurable goals, recognizing whether you are or are not achieving those goals, and committing to doing things differently if the answer is no.
Agreed.
Burnout is a form of mental and physical exhaustion that happens whenever your efforts don't move the needle.
Burnout can only be overcome by finally seeing results coming in consistently, results that are commensurate with the effort invested.
You can rest a day, a week, even a month, and still be burned out if you haven't figured out a way to do things differently that would lead to a different outcome.
makes total sense. You are absolutely right. I am sure that I have not reached a full burnout state because I have spoken with friends who took weeks or months to recover... Taking days off once in a while is more a measure to prevent it.
Indeed, burnout is not something that you take 2 days off and it goes away, it's more chronic due to long term stress and typically takes months to recover from.
I do think, @tiagorbf, that you were right to take some time off, it's a good preventative measure to try and make sure burnout doesn't happen, but it actually sounds like a series of panic attacks to me (which can often be a precursor to a full burnout too fwiw, so keep taking that time to relax!).
Having burned out in the past myself, and supported several burned out team members I've managed, I now hesitate before classing something as burnout.
Totally agree. I also know that my symptoms, even though scary, were quite light in comparison with the symptoms of some of my friends. It can even reach depression...
Super useful and thanks for speaking abt this topic!
What about all the guilt you feel when you're not working?
Whenever I want to take a break, I just feel so guilty
Glad you found it helpful. I totally understand what you mean. I feel the same... But that guilt normally goes away after some time of being disconnected
Very useful points you mentioned here. All the very best for solo journey.
Thank you very much!
Welcome.
Working too much can easily become a habit, especially if your indie hacking as a side job. Fitting in time to work on side projects while working full time on your day job almost always results in working too much.
I find it helpful to take breaks and designate a side project free weekend every 2 weeks.
that's a great tip
Have to say that I did enjoy my time off over the festive period but I've come back to a lot of frustrations that have made me feel as though it would've been better without a holiday which is so annoying!
At least now you are able to bring a new perspective to it
Hey, we are actually trying to reduce burnout with our app. Give it a try and let us know what you think: GetVealth / https://getvealth.com/