Are you overworking yourself?

I keep running across small business owners who are overworking themselves. If they were working for someone else, they would have quit a long time ago. They would be complaining about the working conditions, about the hours, about the pay, and about the owner/manager’s attitude.

Most small business owners need a vacation. Not a filled-with-frenzied-activity vacation, but a real, change-of-pace, take-some-time-off-and-do-what-you-want-to-do vacation. And most small business owners don’t take one. They have many reasons.

“But I can’t afford it.”
A vacation doesn’t have to be expensive. The newspapers, the internet, and bookstores abound with ideas for fun, inexpensive vacations.

In fact, the latest rage (partly dictated by the economy) is a stay-at-home-vacation, a “staycation” as it is called. A vacation doesn’t have to mean a Caribbean cruise or a week in the Bahamas… even if that is your dream.

“But I don’t have time to take off.”
You have exactly the same amount of hours as everyone else. If time management or prioritization is the issue, it can be fixed.

Maybe you need systems in place so that you don’t have to do all the work yourself?

“But I don’t have any income if I take off.”
If your business is that tied to you, personally, then something is definitely out of whack.

It may be that you need systems in place to keep “cloning” yourself so that you don’t have to be constantly working on it.

If your business is solely about you, then there will always be issues around this. (And, yes, there is a double meaning in that sentence.)

“I am still building my business and I will take off once it gets going.”
Hint: How you do anything is how you do everything.

In other words, if you are founding your business on overwork, you will always be overworked. You will have ingrained it into the very culture of your business and made it a habit. A habit that is very hard to break, by the way.

Let me ask you to remember: why did you go into business for yourself? Was it to work long hours, for a substandard rate, and piss off everyone who has to be around you?

Probably not. Most business owners cite the flexibility of scheduling and freedom that comes with being your own boss. And, yet, their experience denounces the reality of this.

As you can see, most of the reasons are symptoms of underlying problems in the business. If those underlying problems aren’t addressed, don’t expect things to get better in your business.

Next time I will share some additional things you can do to turn this around if you have a problem in this area.

Are you addicted to work? Go ahead and tell us in the comments. It’s okay. You can come clean. You’re among friends.

One of my clients — Dave — has discovered the productivity boost he gets by taking time off. Even though I had been telling him, he had to experience it to believe it. It’s just one of the many benefits of working with me. If you’re ready to experience a productivity boost, contact me and let’s talk. There’s no cost and no obligation. Maybe it’s your turn for a breakthrough.

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