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Read time: 3.5 mins
Running a business is no walk in the park.
Stakes are high, and the pace is often relentless.
In 2022 42% of business owners surveyed had experienced burnout in the past MONTH!
So, if you've ever felt like you're constantly operating at maximum intensity, you're not alone.
Stating the obvious:
The level of intensity that most business owners try to sustain is not sustainable.
So, we need strategies to avoid burnout, and still find ways to perform our best when it matters most.
In this issue, in honour of the start of the NBA 23-24 season (Steve and our 2 young boys are OBSESSED), we're looking at how professional athletes maintain peak performance and avoid burnout, so you can do the same in your business.
Let’s get into it!
IN THE ZONE: 3 STRATEGIES FOR AVOIDING BURNOUT
1) Be Strategic About Intensity
You would never expect NBA players to play all year long, year after year, at their highest intensity.
They plan for peak performance.
They have an offseason and in-between games where they focus on recovery, strength, and conditioning, so they’re ready for the next game.
Business owners and leaders need to think similarly - you can’t play at full throttle all the time.
To avoid burnout, strategically identify when your business requires your highest intensity.
For example:
- Launch periods: Focus your intense efforts when launching new products or marketing campaigns.
- Seasonal demands: Ramp up your intensity during peak seasons and scale down during slower periods.
- Managing crises: Sometimes… sh*t just hits the fan. These shouldn’t be the norm, but when they happen, crises often require everyone on operation clean-up duty for a period of time.
2) Strengthen Your Weak Points
NBA athletes don't just play games; they invest time in strength training and skill development.
LeBron famously invests over $1.5m a year in building his body and mind, making him continually more capable, avoiding injury, and performing at new heights despite his age.
In your business, this means identifying your weaknesses and opportunities for growth and working on them.
For instance:
- Learn how to plan and execute your business’s next stage of growth or next major challenge.
- Invest in learning how to best plan and prioritise your time towards the most important activities required for your business.
- Build your skills in leadership and communication to avoid breakdowns with the team during high-intensity periods.
3) Team Culture: The Game Plan
In any professional sport, everyone on the team knows when the "big games" are.
Similarly, focus on establishing a culture within your team where everyone understands and is working towards winning the same big games, and developing good habits that don’t lead to burnout in between those games.
Here's how:
- Clearly define when the "big games" in your business will happen and create shared goals with your team to win them.
- Set standards so everyone is putting in high-quality, sustainable effort in the lead-up to big games, even when you’re not around.
- Put in the reps (aka practice) so everyone knows what to do when it’s game time.
- Be clear on roles: make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and how they help (and can hinder) their teammates.
For the action takers:
To get proactive about avoiding burnout, start here:
- Identify Peak Periods: Determine when your business requires intense efforts and when it can operate sustainably. Create a calendar to visualize these periods.
- Skill Development: Recognise your weak points and invest in personal and team development.
Last point.
No professional teams operate without a coach.
Coaches help set direction, ensure collaboration, develop the right skills in the right players, and motivate their teams to win.
Food for thought as you prep for your next big game:
Have you got a great coach?
Speak soon,
Lynne and Steve
TLDR:
- Avoiding burnout in your business is crucial for long-term success.
- Just like basketball players don't play every game at their highest intensity, business owners should be strategic about when to operate at their peak.
- Strengthen your weak points and create a team culture that aligns with the business's peak and sustainable periods.
Extra Resources:
- Here's the Forbes article on the crazy percentage of small business owners who experienced burnout within the last month.
- Here are the details on how LeBron spends that $1.5m/year on looking after his body.
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