Overworking can be the undoing of a successful entrepreneur. Jennifer Janson, managing director of corporate reputation management agency Six Degrees, knows this only too well and has spent the last year making a conscious effort to restore her work-life balance.
Juggling the responsibilities of her hands-on role with a busy life was taking its toll, and 2014 was a particularly demanding year. “I was running a successful business, a board member for a charity, on the regional council for the Entrepreneurs’ Organization and Vertigo Ventures, and then I decided to write a book – a further 25-30 hours a week, to meet a deadline,” she says.
Priorities
Janson met all her obligations, but at the expense of her health and family time. “Everything started to crack. I stopped exercising, wasn’t able to sleep and had chronic back pain. I was exhausted all the time, and sometimes went days without seeing my little boy because I left home before he was up and got home after he was in bed.
“One day I realised something had to give. As much as I thrive on a pressurised environment, there’s a point where it becomes destructive.” She resigned from two board positions, and started to prioritise her family more.
For Pandora Symes, an attempt to address pressure in one role ended up with a new start – and even more stress. She left a demanding corporate PR job to follow her dream of launching a health food and event catering business (Rooted London). But branching out on her own brought money worries. Stress manifested itself in sleep problems and time deprivation.
It took Symes six months to restore balance. Exploiting her niche in health and lifestyle, she went back to PR as a means of financial support for the new business, which focuses on yoga, catering and nutrition. “I study and teach yoga every Monday, and have four days for my PR business – using assistants for busy periods,” she says. “I take off Sundays for family time and make sure I have two mornings where I don’t set an alarm, plus one evening where I switch off – phone, email, TV, everything.”
Beware burnout
If sufferers don’t recognise the early signs of burnout, it can cause them to exit otherwise brilliant careers, warns psychotherapist Karen Meager, co-founder of Monkey Puzzle Training and Consultancy and co-author of the book Real Leaders for the Real World. “It starts with resentment about work, animosity towards colleagues or clients, and an inability to switch off,” she says.
The answer isn’t necessarily to take time off or refuse to look at your phone, she notes. “It’s whatever works best for you. Going for a short walk or taking half an hour to read a magazine can make all the difference to your energy levels and reduces stress. You only need 10 minutes away from thinking about work for your brain to begin to rebalance.”
Set boundaries
Yet the indications are that small business owners aren’t allowing themselves the breathing space they need to function optimally. Decision-makers in UK small and medium-sized businesses typically work the equivalent of an extra eight hour day each week, according to a new survey for business lender Everline.
This can be a sign of poor time management, and doesn’t always equate to greater productivity. “People assume killer hours are essential to success, but they aren’t,” says Debbie Wosskow, CEO of Love Home Swap, the international home-swapping site. She believes strongly in a work-life balance – even more so now that she has two small children. “I set myself an iron rule to finish at 5.30pm so that I have quality time with them each day,” she says. “That provides a focus.”
Small measures go a long way
For Six Degrees’ Janson, restoring balance is still a work in progress. “I am gradually bringing exercise back into my life, focusing on eating healthier again,” she says. “When I go on holiday I actually take a break, switch off and disconnect.”
Because she’s experienced how harmful stress can be, she has made changes which are benefiting other employees. “We’ve cultivated a culture that says when you’re on holiday we DO NOT want to hear from you – and we hold each other accountable,” she notes. She’s also more selective about the projects the firm takes on.
For Symes, yoga and meditation are the key to increased concentration and reduced stress, as well as talking to others. “Ask for help,” she urges. “It’s amazing how many people will have great advice, so approach people at other startups. And don’t allow social media to take over your thought process: I’ve learned that while so many similar brands look like they are flying high, the reality is very different.”
How to spot and avoid burnout
There are five common dangers of working too much, according to Ben Black, director of My Family Care, which advises companies on employees’ work-life balance:
- You become a bore. Your business is the only thing you want to talk about.
- You lose any ability to see the wood for the trees. You spend so much time immersed in every aspect of your business, you lose the ability to make good decisions.
- Your health suffers. Spending every waking hour working means you lack any time or space to take care of yourself.
- The pressure becomes too much. When work is everything, the smallest failure is amplified and feels personal. The result is stress and eventual breakdown.
- You lose any world view, because your focus has become so narrow. It’s the classic ‘athlete overtraining’ syndrome: if you work too much you start to fail.
So what’s the best strategy to avoid these pitfalls? “Don’t expect it to be easy,” Black says. “Starting your own business is difficult and there’s no substitute for hard work. But there are routes out. Eventually the business will grow to a point where you won’t be able to make every decision yourself. You’ll wake up one morning and find yourself surrounded by good people who can run things better than you.”
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