Dealing with Entrepreneurial Fatigue

It takes about 90 days to make a new habit stick. By the time you hit the 100^th day, you’re supposedly well on your way.

I’ve often pondered if it works the other way: if your habit, or goal, isn’t progressing visibly before 90 days, are you doomed for it to fail?

There are many valid reasons why coaching programs and similar transformational  processes are set for a 90-day period. It is short enough to feel “real” and long enough to get somewhere. But what happens when you hit the wall?

I say when, and not if, for a reason. In the nonprofit world, the term donor fatigue is defined as a reluctance to commit to voluntary donations of resources or altruistic behaviour in the light of repeated demands. I suggest the same could be true for the entrepreneur. After a while, the continued energy required for the continuous demands and never-ending need to keep moving forward can simply wear you out.

The question is how to avoid it or at least, minimize the impact. To be truthful, I think it is inevitable that as a self-employed, solopreneur, you will hit the wall. The question is how hard?  And what was the damage as a result?

Essential safety gear:

1. Clarity in your business. This is the approved safety helmet equivalent in your business. Being extremely clear on these things will help you immensely: why you’re in business, what you intend to do with it, and where you want to go.
2. A business plan. You need to have a strong foundation – the equivalent of a healthy body. Your plan can be summed up as simply as: who you serve, what makes you difference, what your offers are, and how you get and keep the customers that are the best fit for you. Your healthy body comes from a commitment to a lifestyle.
3. A consistent marketing strategy. This is not about “doing stuff.” It’s about taking consistent action to get your business in front of the right people. This is the equivalent of nutrition and being physically active. Eating junk food and hitting the gym seven days a week are contradictory, yet this is what you are doing if you are busy marketing randomly.
4. Help. Doing everything by yourself is a quick path to burnout.
5. Time away. Never taking time to celebrate achievements, and not having a good balance of other interests and areas of your life doesn’t support your business health, or your physical wellness.  Your energy needs to be replenished. Recovery time is just as important to peak performance in athletes, as to entrepreneurs.

Having all of the above in place isn’t a fail-safe answer to avoiding entrepreneurial fatigue. But when it does happen, you will recover and get moving again in a much quicker fashion.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.