Avoiding Burnout by Aligning Your Business and Mental Health
As we head into the thick of the holiday season, there is a dangerous plague threatening the wellbeing of wedding professionals and creative entrepreneurs across the world. No, not COVID-19 (although that’s still a concern!). I’m talking about burnout.
Ask any industry pro how they’re doing right now, and you’ll hear a variation of the same answer: “exhausted,” “getting by,” or “overwhelmed.” A year of postponed weddings led to the busiest year ever for many entrepreneurs. Schedules are filled, couples are processing the emotional toll, and event teams are doing everything to keep the ship moving.
But at what cost?
While the early months of this year’s wedding boom flooded businesses with long-overdue revenue, the pressure has caught up with wedding professionals everywhere. As a result, teams are overworked as leads keep flowing in, supply lines are stretched thin, and experts are only predicting 2022 to be more of the same busyness.
As we prepare for the new year, it’s time for the industry as a whole to put mental health at the forefront. Taking care of your emotional wellbeing and building internal resilience will help you power through the demands without losing passion for the craft you love. After all, apathy and fatigue have no place in a growing business.
If you’re already starting to feel the early signs of burnout (or if you’re deeper in it than you’d like to admit), use the remaining weeks of the year to reset, recharge, and reinvigorate yourself for 2022. Here are a few strategies to get you started.
Practice intentional rest.
There is nothing more valuable to a person’s wellbeing than rest, but the reality is that it’s just as vital for the health of your business. A tired, downtrodden leader at the helm is prone to making mistakes, missing deadlines, and catching attitudes with peers. Showing up for your business (and your couples) should be motivated by passion, not by obligation.
However, it’s important to note that “rest” is far more than lounging in front of the TV from when you shut down your computer to when you go to bed. Rest comes in many forms, as life is multi-faceted, and we must replenish each cup to find balance.
Modern research has found that there are seven types of rest needed: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual. Since deficiencies may flux throughout your day, week, and overall life, it’s critical to check in with yourself often to find the underlying cause behind your fatigue or exhaustion and address it.
Get clear on your personal and business goals.
Goals form the very fabric of our personal and career paths and, without them, we are destined to wander aimlessly through life. While you may have certain business goals in mind, like tripling your revenue or launching a new product line, there is a difference between having goals because you’re “supposed” to and having goals that drive you.
If goal-setting exercises make your eyes roll and feel like a waste of time, it’s because you have yet to set real, impactful goals that will spark significant change in your life.
For example, if you’re content with your profit margins as they stand, a goal to triple revenue may not motivate you much. But, if you’ve been dying to explore a new passion project, setting a goal to delegate more and free up your schedule may be just the answer.
This speaks to the importance of creating business goals that align with your personal goals — the ones that give you butterflies when you envision what your dream future could look like in five, ten, or twenty years.
Business goals that contradict your deepest desires will never feel meaningful enough to pursue on a long-term basis. They will leave you feeling burnt out and questioning why you took that road at all. Instead, focus on what you want to achieve in life as the incredible human you are, then let those ambitions inspire your business direction.
Identify and address your energy blockages.
Overcoming burnout requires more than just rest. You need to commit to real change by overhauling current behavior and replacing it with purposeful habits and routines. Otherwise, you will ultimately find yourself in a cycle of burnout and recovery that prevents you from making progress in life or in business.
Once you’ve begun resting intentionally and establishing meaningful goals, you need to focus on the areas that have held you back from creating lasting change. What is standing in your way from unrestricted abundance? Where are you fundamentally misaligned in mind, body, and spirit?
There are seven Abundance Keys (also known as chakras or energy centers) that moderate the flow of energy throughout your body. When one is out of whack, it manifests through physical and mental issues. But when several fall out of balance, you end up on a fast track to burnout.
If you’re wondering where you may be misaligned and how to recalibrate your energy and find motivation once again, take this quiz to uncover what’s holding you back and learn the solutions to overcoming burnout.
It’s important to note that symptoms of burnout, like fatigue, headaches, chronic pain, and digestive problems, can also be signs of underlying medical issues. If you feel that your mental health is improving, but your physiological symptoms are not, please consult with a doctor to discuss potential concerns.
While “stressors” are temporary, untreated stress will inevitably lead to chronic burnout. If left to its devices, burnout will begin to deplete all that makes you special — your energy, charisma, creativity, and compassion. Fortunately, it’s never too late to treat burnout and its underlying causes. Start today, so you can begin showing up in life and business as the fullest version of yourself again.
Aleya Harris, CPCE, is an award-winning marketer and former chef and catering company owner. She is the owner of Flourish Marketing, an agency that provides marketing education, strategy, and tools to help wedding and creative professionals get and keep a consistent stream of clients. In addition, Aleya is a StoryBrand Certified Guide. She uses that narrative-based framework to develop clear, engaging, and highly converting marketing assets, like email sales funnels and social media solutions. Aleya is the current Marketing Committee Chair and Black Caucus Chair for NACE and a top speaker at conferences like Catersource and The Special Event.
