You have been running your small business on all cylinders and your risk of burnout is on the horizon. You are beginning to feel completely disconnected from everything. When you are at home, you’re not really at home. You can’t remember the last time you had a good night’s sleep along with the constant anxiousness. All your relationships are paying the toll as well. Finally, your lack of focus is disrupting the flow of your entire business day. Follow these steps to help identify and prevent your small business burnout and get back to running your business successfully.

Unplugging from Business

You check out of the office and begin your ride back home. You walk in the door and cannot seem to get work off your mind. This is not a random thought or episode. This is a common event and you can’t seem to shake the replay or thoughts about the day. Try to relax and detox from work with a bit of exercise after work. Go for a walk and listen to some music. Even taking a long weekend once every few months to travel and planning a getaway will surely do the trick!Even planning of time will get you excited for your adventure and will put you in a better mood! Setting the routine for disconnecting your day from work mode to home mode will set the tone for decompressing your stress level.

Sleep Issues

Lying awake at night thinking about the meeting in the morning or the events of the past day, has become a nightly ritual. You are stressed because you are barely making your payments on your business loan and need to think about looking into other small business loan options.You have noticed the bags under your eyes and the snooze button routine in the morning. Sleep is a vital necessity to fully functioning properly. When you lack sleep, you are walking around in a fog. Preventing insomnia starts with letting go of the electronic devices you may tend to be on from when you walk in the door. Creating a calm atmosphere like maybe taking a bath or hot shower can help your body relax and go into natural sleepy mode.

What Social Life?

It can be difficult to balance both work and family. You used to go out with friends after work or enjoy going to a football game with your family. Now your idea of a social life is binge watching your favorite show alone. Isolating yourself and disconnecting yourself from your friends and family can lead to loneliness.Preventing this social life burnout can mean scheduling this family and friend time on your planners. Having something planned makes it harder to say no. Even if it means a quick lunch date with a girlfriend or a beer after work on a Tuesday, finding that time to relax and engage in something other than work is required to not only just live life, but to enjoy it with those you love.

Mental Health Risks

Do you constantly feel sad or anxious even when you are not really in a stressful situation? This can be caused by your one-way track to burn out mentally on your business. Telling yourself you are fine and that it’s just a little stress will only make it worse. You may even begin to self-medicate which can put you further into a state of depression. Find a hobby or something that you can do that is physical like a jog or yoga to take your mind off the stress and only something that gives you joy. Also keeping a tidy space at home and at the office can help prevent that overstimulated stressor.Journaling or meditating and praying can also bring you back to balance.

Struggling Relationships

Do you feel the strain in your relationships with others? They may be slowly pulling away from you due to your change in mood or energy. Leaving work at work and focusing in on those things that really matter to a full life. Your relationships can take effort and when you are constantly filling your time with work stuff, it pays a toll on your relationships. Finding a happy medium with allowing work to be work and your time be spent with the ones you love will allow those around you to feel like you are fully engaged in the moments that matter to them.

Lack of Focus and Motivation

When your business begins to be out of focus due to the failing efforts of your burnout, your entire self-motivation and attention is altered. For instance, letting your payments on your small business loan turn from always being on time to constantly arriving late you can cause more than just a minor problem. You could cause your business to go completely under. Staying engaged and doing a daily to do list will keep you on track. Give yourself one task for the week to grow your business to keep you motivated for success. If it’s connecting with new clients or attending a new social networking event, these types of involvement will keep your eyes on the prize as well as shake up the work routine enough to not keep it stale.

Running a small business can truly run you to the ground so taking the steps to notice when and if it is happening and correcting it quickly will keep you moving forward and upward with your small business.