You Need These Easy Tips To Avoid Burnout As A Busy Mompreneur

You’re exhausted, driven to tears many days, pulled in 42 different directions and have a list a mile long that you never seem to get to. The baby is playing in the toilet.. Again. It can sometimes be a struggle to avoid burnout as a busy mompreneur.

You haven’t slept a full night in who knows how long, you have laundry to fold, emails to return, posts to write, and your hubby is calling to chat NOW oh…  and this dream that God has placed in your heart (that tends to get pushed aside) just keeps nagging at you.

Being a mompreneur takes grit and a whole lotta strategy and can be incredibly hard often times.

You’re ripe for burnout… and you FEEL it.

There’s no doubt that you’ve heard the term burnout before. You may have even experienced it.

But what is mompreneur burnout? 

Mompreneur burnout is a combination of entrepreneurial burnout and mom burnout. 

“Mommy burnout is the emotional and physical exhaustion that you feel from the chronic stress of parenting” as defined by Sheryl Ziegler (author of Mommy Burnout)

Entrepreneurial burnout encompasses …

“workplace challenges, neglect of personal life, and not taking some time off… The reality is also that entrepreneurship is an intense endeavor, and it’s hard to separate the self from the business. Sooner rather than later, and because of the rollercoaster nature of entrepreneurship, business setbacks start happening (a lot!), and some entrepreneurs can’t help but take them as personal setbacks, especially when they get so invested in their business. Depression follows, and so does burnout.” according to Genny Ghanimeh

Individually those can be devastating. 

But as mompreneurs we face BOTH of them.

Momprenuer burnout is a serious thing and only we can set boundaries to ensure that it is avoided for the well being of both us and our families. 

I’ve experienced it. At the height of it, I lost the use of my hands and my arms… IT’S SERIOUS and very real, however it doesn’t just sneak up on you. There are many warning signs.

 Signs of burnout in mompreneurs

You’ll start to see many of these things in both your family life and business life since the two probably intersect most of the day. Look out for some of these subtle signs and take action as quick as possible to set boundaries in place.

Oftentimes the quick fix is just unplugging and taking an intentional break to be alone.

Here are some indicators that I’ve experienced that show you may need boundaries or are at burnout risk:

• Avoiding your own basic needs. (skipping meals, avoiding showers, staying up too late to “work”, avoiding social interaction)
• Isolating yourself (perhaps to get more work done)
• Consuming social media almost frantically (vegging)
• Avoiding spending time with loved ones or avoiding intimacy with your spouse.
• Loss of motivation or passion
• Loss of appetite
• Overthinking EVERYTHING. Even the smallest decisions.
• Exhaustion 
• Insomnia
• Skewing values
• Yelling at your children
• Increased anxiety (perhaps around kids interfering with work)
• Working obsessively to prove your worth
• Inability to switch work off in your head
• Avoiding handling pressing situations (conflict)
• Not seeing value in yourself or others
• Emptiness
• Depression
• Physical weakness in arms/hands (for me leading to adrenal fatigue)

While some of these things happen regularly for moms, it becomes a problem if these thing are happening more and more and are becoming more intense. SO what can you do?

Setting Boundaries as a Mompreneur to Avoid Burnout

The easiest way to avoid these things is to SET BOUNDARIES. Only you can decide exactly how and where those boundaries need to be set.

What in the heck does it mean to set boundaries?

Simply providing healthy rules for navigating different areas of our life.

One way to set boundaries is to manage YOURSELF as relates to time. I often teach about time management here, but let’s be honest. Time cannot be managed. Only God can manage time!

But YOU can be managed… and as a (likely) solo entrepreneur, YOU have to manage YOU.

Ah, good ol self control.

So, it’s your responsibility to manage YOURSELF as you relate to time. Hence setting boundaries.

Preventing Burnout as a mompreneur

Be intentional about taking care of your basic needs.

Prioritize and schedule these things REGULARLY to avoid burnout:

• Sleep. Shoot for 7-8 hours.
• Meals. Eat healthy foods that fuel your body
• Drink Water. Again, basic needs.
• Alone time. Doesn’t have to be long, go for a 15 minute drive. Do it daily!
• Shower. Or take a bath and reset.
• Get Moving. Do some form of physical activity. Yoga, classes, breathing etc. 
• Unplug. Take the weekends and evenings off social media
• Ask for help. Grandparents, best friends, children. They all can help with the kids or even with the business.s
• Outsource. List out tasks you can outsource.
  • Family life- childcare, cleaning, meal planning, meals. (instant pots meals = outsourcing for me lol). Many of these can be outsourced to your children or spouse.

3 Mompreneur Tips to help you avoid burnout

There are several easy changes you can make to help you avoid burnout. They depend solely on your actions, as a result, its responsibility to make these things happen for your own good.

1. Set strict business hours as a mompreneur. 

Schedule meetings with yourself to get certain things done (like finances or social media) to set healthy boundaries. This goes for your time on social media too. NO Social when outside of biz hours! You have to set boundaries… nobody will do it for you it’s you responsibility. Use screen time restrictions in your phone. 

This has everything to do with simply setting boundaries around your business life bleeding into your personal life.

Ideas:

• No social media after 5 pm or before 10 am.
• Set intentionally focused times to be on your phone for social media. Say 2-3pm in the afternoons for networking and/or replying to messages.
• Setting blocked hours to work and ONLY working during those hours. For example 9-10am and 2-3pm blocks. (nap times for my son!)
• Removing from your vocabulary “hold on honey, mommy has to only do one more thing…”
• Stick to those set time boundaries and let your kids know what they are. They’ll learn to respect them only if YOU respect them.

2. Schedule rest/refreshment to avoid burnout.

Merriam Webster defines “rest” as freedom from activity or labor, peace of mind or spirit, and free of anxiety.

Set aside time for things that feed your soul. What makes you smile ear to ear? What brings you incredible joy? Do more of that NOW. Make it happen TODAY. Stop putting these things off. Take a bath, go for a drive alone, go for a bike ride and feel the wind in your hair.

The bible speaks very highly of rest.

We know that God rested on the 7th day (Genesis 2) and in Matthew 11 we’re reminded that rest is found in Christ.

Make time to spend with Jesus.

In Exodus, rest was commanded as part of the law, and we even see that God had commanded the children of Israel to let the land rest every 7th year. God’s creation (us included) benefits from rest and therefore, it is something we need to be doing. 

Rest looks different for everyone.  Set aside time for things that refresh you! What makes you smile ear to ear?

What brings you incredible joy? Do more of that NOW. Make it happen TODAY. Stop putting these things off. Take a bath, go for a drive alone, go for a bike ride and feel the wind in your hair.

Go for a walk and get into nature.

What does rest look like for you? Do more of that!

3. Prioritize relationships. God, spouse, children, family, friends

The first things that start to go when you’re facing burnout are your relationships. Fight the urge to pull away from those that are important to you. 

BE INTENTIONAL. Schedule a meeting (yes, put it on your calendar) with your children, the Lord, your spouse…. hold to it, and be present!

Lock your phone away. Laugh with those you love. Make memories.

Burnout doesn’t have to be a reality for you.

Burnout flat out sucks. I’ve experienced it on a clinical level… it’s crippling! I lost a year of my life and a business, however I don’t want that for you! I know I tend to go toward over working so I have to be very careful to set strict boundaries.

However, burnout doesn’t have to be your story! You can avoid burnout as a mompreneur simply by setting strict business hours, scheduling time for rest, and prioritizing your most important relationships!

I’d love to know how you avoid mompreneur burnout. Let me know on Instagram!