Are you giving too much in your business? On preventing burnout...

Photo by Charlie Firth on Unsplash

​Wondering if you're giving too much? You may be:

• Putting too much energy in low-value activities...
• Yet, not giving enough energy to high-value activities to enough people, therefore not seeing the reciprocity...

 
Unfortunately, this is a recipe for burnout. Instead, I wish for you to have long-term personal fulfillment and vibrant energy in your business.
 
Let’s prevent burnout by creating some awareness around which activities you may need to drop, and which activities are worth your energy…  

First, let’s look at your high-value activities. Try to give at least one quick answer to each of the following questions. You answer in whatever order you’d like…  
 

• Where are you getting the best engagement? For example, on which social media platform?
• With which population or type of person is your content having the most positive impact?
• What kinds of content do you post, that gets the most engagement?
• Of the different ways you offer your products/services, what’s working best to get new clients?
• Which of your product(s) or services sells the best?
• Which type of clients (what kind of people) get the most from working with you?
• Which of your collaborations yield the most value for both parties?
• What other things do you do in your business that makes the most impact?

 
It’s good to answer these questions at least once a year. Your answers will show you two things:

1. Your highest-value activities… the things that are clearly making the most impact, and you should probably do more of in your business.
2. The people who get the most value from your work… study the commonalities among them, and set an intention to reach more people like them! 

 
You’ll know that you’re providing genuine value to others when you see reciprocity when you don’t even ask. For example: people on their own initiative sharing your content or referring new clients to you.
 
Match the amount of energy expenditure with the amount of value you’re providing to others. If you want a thriving business, then whenever you spend lots of energy, it should also result in lots of value to others!
 
By contrast, look at everything else you do with your working time, and all other types of people you engage with, and actively question whether you should continue doing those things and working with those people.
 
By eliminating some tasks, and avoiding engagement with some people, you open up your energy and time for more of the right activities and the right people. 

To help you eliminate less productive tasks, keep a careful log for 1 week of where your time is going:

• What exactly are you spending your time doing in your business? 
• Which activities take the most energy?
• Which activities do you resent doing?

 
Compare your answers from this list, to your answers from the previous list. 
 
What activities are taking your time and energy, yet are not creating value for others nor for yourself? I encourage you to consider eliminating these activities so you can make room for better use of your time… even if you don’t yet know what you’ll fill the open time with.
 
The more you can honestly answer both sets of questions in this article (perhaps you need to work with a friend or a coach on this) the more clarity you’ll have as to what to eliminate, and what to enhance.
 
If there are activities that aren’t high-value for you but you don’t feel you can eliminate them, then find out how to automate them using a tool like Zapier. 
 
If you don’t know how to use Zapier, or want to delegate the task, use a consultant or VA skilled at helping solopreneurs.
 
For some ideas on how to spend time wisely, refer to this blog post: 
How to spend your working/business time as a solopreneur.
​