8 Ways to Go From Burnout to Balance

Achieving a balance between work and well-being is necessary for sustained success and fulfillment. Yet, burnout always seems to catch up to the best of business owners and industry professionals before they even know it. 

Here, eight entrepreneurs and mental health professionals share their best work-life strategies and tips–and what you can do to go from burnout to balance. 

Business owners often feel the need to work on their business around the clock, but setting meaningful boundaries may help sustain better work-life harmony.

“I started small,” says Chris Christoff, co-founder of MonsterInsights, a WordPress plugin for Google Analytics based in West Palm Beach. “I set boundaries like no work emails after dinner and actually taking my lunch break. If you’re in a similar position, start setting small but meaningful boundaries to better balance your time and your life.”

According to Dr. Givona Sandiford, CEO and founder of Melospeech, a mobile speech therapy startup in Temecula, CA, you can find a balance between work and personal life by simply delegating tasks and trusting others to do the work for you.

“One of the last tasks that I released, which caused so much stress in my home and I was also not very good at, was billing,” Sandiford says. “I would look at the numbers, run them multiple times, and the task would take days, with me working long into the night. Finally, I passed on this task to our team. It freed me up to engage in hobbies that I had let fall away, including writing and spending more time with my 4-year-old.”

Blair Thomas, co-founder of eMerchantBroker, a high-risk merchant account provider located in Los Angeles, sees the need to carve out time within a busy schedule to learn something new each week. 

“Never stop pursuing hobbies and knowledge. Continued growth is so important for your emotional and mental health, and will boost your productivity elsewhere,” says Thomas.

Burnout can sometimes be brought on when there is no end in sight. That’s why setting a clear endpoint to a workday can be a turning point for combating burnout. 

“I realized I was constantly tired and not spending enough time around the people I love,” says John Turner, founder of SeedProd, a coming soon page builder for WordPress based in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina. “I knew this had to change, so I decided to no longer work after 6 pm unless it’s an absolute emergency. This one small change helped me get back control of my life and beat burnout once and for all.”

Adam Horvath, a registered psychologist at Personal Psychology, a psychology clinic in Sydney, Australia, agrees that setting an alarm to stop working can help create a healthier work-life balance. He also suggests another strategy.

“Limit work-related activities outside of office hours by leaving all work-related items at work and turning off work notifications on phones,” adds Adam. “Initially, it always feels wrong to set boundaries. However, setting these boundaries can help prevent future burnout.”

Scheduling exercise classes or social outings in advance and treating them as non-negotiable commitments when the inevitable “important” work items pop up may be hard to do, but pays off.

“Self-care through physical activity and hobbies became my solace,” reflects Kristin Kimberly Marquet, founder and creative director of Marquet Media, a New York-based PR and branding agency. “I recognized the signs of my exhaustion, refined healthy habits, and embraced a digital detox.”

Sometimes, getting started with setting realistic goals and scheduling downtime starts with learning how to say “no” to business and personal opportunities.

“Saying ‘no’ is crucial to protect your time and focus on what’s truly important,” explains Benjamin Rojas, co-founder of All in One SEO, a WordPress SEO plugin from West Palm Beach, Florida. “Or you can get advice from third parties and organizations that offer such services or support systems.”