Burnout.

The word that every entrepreneur dreads {other than “zero sales”, I guess!} and yet experiences it at some stage or the other.

I clearly remember my first experience of severe burnout and breakdown.

I’d just enrolled for Marie Forleo’s B-School and we were in Week 2 and my daughter had been severely unwell for the last 2 weeks and so naturally, I was very behind with the course because I also had an overflowing plate of client work that HAD to be taken care of, plus there was the usual home management stuff that NEEDED to be done… so, I slept less, ate erratically and unhealthy meals and voila, boom, bang, one day Mayank came home, after dropping Manini at school, to find me sitting on the bed, weeping buckets.

“What happened?!”, he asked, fearing I may have hurt myself, gotten some awful news or discovered I have a rare, incurable disease, all at the same time!

“I don’t know…” I said through my tears.

That was it.

Me: weeping uncontrollably, feeling totally out-of-control.

Burnout. Period.

Luckily, for me, I have a very wise husband who’s also my business partner and he sat me down, with a cuppa tea {Assam, in case you’re a tea-lover too!} and helped me sort through my schedule, my commitments, my self-care [or lack of it] and my course content.

In an hour, I had a ‘beat-the-burnout’ recipe in place, had had two cuppas, changed out of my sweat pants and was feeling much better.

So, here’s our 3-Step ‘Beat-the-Burnout’ Recipe:

1.    Get Help

The first thing Mayank and I worked on is getting help for stuff that could be done by others and didn’t need us.

Whether it was hiring out pretty much ALL our graphic design needs to the awesome Karen Gunton of build a little biz,  Revka Stearns and her team at Berries and Cream Blog Design and Lonni Olson of L.Olson Designs or hiring help to clean the home, we identified what needed to be hired out and did it to free up our time.

2.    Get Outside

For those of you who’re interested in personality types, I’m an Introvert or INFJ {according to the Myers-Briggs personality type test} which means I’m happiest in my own home.

This while being very comforting can wreak havoc on the mind.

Mayank, gently and firmly, told me that I need to get outdoors. A walk, a trip to the store, a visit to the salon, I had to get 30 minutes of outdoor time, no matter what.

Guess what, it works. I don’t always have to make small talk with people. I get time on my own. Works wonders for the creative in me. And keeps my mind fresh and all sparky!

3.    Get Nourished

Finally, our recipe included nourishing ourselves with healthy, wholesome foods and exercise as well as in my case, regular monthly facials which I absolutely adore!

Nourishing the body and the soul is SO good and keeps those burnout bugs at bay too!!

So, there you have it. Easy, right?!

But the real secret  of the recipe, my friend, comes down to this: making it. Or taking action.

Y’see, it is all too easy for us to simply read or discuss and leave it at that, and I’m guilty of it as well. But as time-starved as we may be, we cannot afford to deprive ourselves of the nourishment that our minds and bodies need because then, we’re impacting not only our business but also, our homes and relationships with loved ones.

So, if you think, you’re teetering on the brink of a burnout, take just ONE of the ingredients from the 3-step recipe above and ACT on it.  NOW.