Burnout in Female Entrepreneurs and Coaches
Burnout.
We’ve heard the term casually thrown out in various parts of our lives.
But what does it actually mean?
What are the factors that contribute to burnout, how do we recognize it, and better yet, can we prevent it?
Through the everchanging landscape of 2020, another pandemic reveals itself in the aftermath of isolation and the uncertainty of our collective future: BURNOUT.
And those in the helping professions are at an even greater risk.
Female coaches have to be available in a way that can be more demanding than the average professional. Dealing with peoples’ lives, hopes, and dreams can be very emotional and taxing. In a way, it can be amazing, because we are totally connected to our clients, and we understand them and their needs. But, if at the end of the day, we don’t know where we end, and they begin, or we find it hard to ground and get back to ourselves after a long day of work, we may be experiencing burnout.
Some questions might come to mind such as,
‘What does work/life balance look like for me?”
How long can I sustain this schedule?
Am I content with my life, work, and relationships?
How to Recognize Burnout
Burnout can be viewed as falling into three major phases of development. First is exhaustion, you just don’t have the energy, motivation, and stamina that you once did, for the things that you loved and cared for.
For example, when you first started your coaching practice five years ago, you woke up every day at 9am, excited to face the day with all the things you were going to do. Calls to make, worksheets to review, client appointments, and maybe even a walk with the dog and making dinner with the hubby. Even though there was lots to navigate, you still felt satisfied and content at the end of the day.
Now, five years later, with the same ‘go go go’ mentality and very little left for personal time, the story might look a little different. You set your alarm for 7am the previous night, because you have a big launch you need to review in the morning, but you feel avoidant, depleted, and would like if tomorrow never happened. You just want to crawl up in the fetal position and wish it would all just go away. ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ sign posted on the door and email inbox.
The second and third phases are irritability and loss of self-confidence and depersonalization.
Do you find yourself getting shorter with people and maybe even yourself? Compassion and patience thrown out the window, replaced with less desirable states such as, depleted, depressed, and detached?
You used to recognize yourself and your life in the mirror. Yet, when you look now, a stranger is looking back at you. You don’t recognize the person in the mirror, and you might feel like a stranger in your own life.
Factors That Contribute to Burnout
One of the most surprising attributes that contribute to burnout, is having certain personality traits. Including being a perfectionist, a people-pleaser, highly ambitious, needing to be in control, and perceiving success at work as a major factor of self-value and self-worth.
Now tell me a coach or entrepreneur who doesn’t have the majority of those personality qualities!
Individuals with those characteristics also have a tendency to neglect themselves and their needs for others, or what needs to get done. While it may be a helpful trait in the short term, when it’s left unchecked and you just work like a machine, burnoutis inevitable.
Other factors that lead to burnout are, an intense work environment, taking on too many responsibilities, a lack of social support, a lack of control over your tasks and expectations, and work-life balance.
