This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Should you be worried about burnout? That's what we're gonna talk about here today. How do you tackle burnout? How do you prevent it? Not just how do you treat it?
That's ideal, right? If we can kind of see something coming and headed off at the pass. And I'm so glad to be able to talk about this. I'm grateful for the question that we received from a listener just 'cause I think this is so important. If anything, if I could go back in the seven years of Side Hustle School Archives and talk about a few topics a little bit more, this would probably be on the list.
So I can't go back in time, but I will correct it as much as possible going forward to make sure that all of our listeners and anybody who's working on their side hustle, their extra project, their small business, whatever it is, is able to do so sustainably. In the end, your health is your most valuable asset, right? If you don't have your health, you can't do much anything else. So let's talk about some strategies to manage the balance, prevent burnout, and recognize when it's time, when it might be time, let's say, to adjust your workload. Detailed question and my answer coming up.
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Hello, I'm Emily from Atlanta. I balance a full-time job with my side hustle of freelance graphic design. Lately, I've been feeling the strain and I'm worried about burning out. Is burnout a common issue among side hustlers? What steps can I take to prevent it?
And how do I know if I need to take a step back or adjust my workload? [Music]
Emily, thank you for raising this question. As I said, I wish I had talked about it a little bit more. I think there are a couple of episodes in the archives, but I actually think it's something that we should be thinking about on a kind of ongoing basis. And maybe my first thought is when someone says, should I be worried about burnout?
It's kind of like a question about ethics. And people are like, should I be worried about the ethics of this particular situation? My first thought is, well, if you're asking that question, that means you are being proactive and actually thinking about something that other people might not think about. So if you're starting to think, should I be worried about burnout? Maybe there is a reason for that.
And one good question to ask is, when you think about the time that you spend on your side hustle or really on anything that takes consistent time every week, or maybe not every day, but on a regular basis, a good question is, are you looking forward to it? Like, do you enjoy it? Maybe not every single moment, maybe not every task related to it. But overall, are you like, is this something I am excited to spend time on? And I really believe that your side hustle should be something you enjoy.
Like we all have lots of things we have to do in life just to kind of do them, but your side hustle should be something that you are proud of and you take joy and satisfaction in. And if that's not the case, then I think you need to make some changes. So what kind of changes can you make or how can you be proactive to avoid the situation of not looking forward to something and just being overworked? You can set some clear boundaries. I think it's sometimes harder to set boundaries for ourselves than it is in relation to others.
You know, like when it's just us, we're like, I'll just keep working. I'll just keep doing something. But if you designate specific times perhaps for your side hustle activities or whatever it is, and then make sure you disconnect, that helps you actually be more effective during those times 'cause you're like, I only have this block. That's something that I do sometimes. I also think just being ruthless about cutting things out and deciding, okay, I don't need to do like all this social media or all of these email campaigns or whatever the task is that is taking a lot of time, but it's not really delivering much return.
So you should always be asking like, what actually is effective? Like how can I achieve better results in a shorter amount of time, or at least in a more effective or efficient use of time? And then maybe just like recognizing the need for adjustment. If you do these strategies for a while and you're still feeling overwhelmed, then it's time to reassess. And maybe there's something better that you should be doing and you might have to scale back or try a new project.
I think the key of long-term sustainability in most entrepreneurial projects of all kinds is evolution and being willing to let go of things, being willing to be proactive and step forward into new things. And that just kind of makes it fun. So maybe let's just wrap up with that. Your side hustle should be fun. And if it's not fun, we should do whatever we can to create some changes.
More fun, more meaning, more purpose. I think if we all have that as our compass point, then we're on the right track. So I so appreciate our listener. I appreciate all of our listeners. In fact, I meant our listener who's asking the question, but you too, you too over there for listening.
Thank you so much. We've got much more coming out. New episode every day. I try to keep it short, action-packed, just so you can get on with your day, but also have this moment of inspiration and perhaps something to think about. So I'll leave you with that today.
More to come tomorrow. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
