The last thing an entrepreneur eager to develop their business want to hear is advise to slow down to avoid burnout. For many, their busyness is not deliberate, but circumstances forcing them to have less rest. Such circumstances could be owing to limited capacity, resources, facilities, time, skills or even eagerness to convert an important yet elusive sale.

I fully understand why many are sleep-deprived, forced to work long hours, have fewer social interactions and have little time for many other activities, much less important ones. This then often leads to them becoming easily offended, irritated, impatient, secluded, indifferent and begin to live sedentary lives to the detriment of their health and general well-being. Spare a thought or two for these struggling entrepreneurs and perhaps quietly and proactively help them relieve their tension and stress. Such can go a long way than piling on their woes with presumptions, debates and questions. By Nimroth Gwetsa, 31 January 2020.

I must first qualify the obvious fact that I’m no medical professional to diagnose any ailment, neither am I an expert on effective relief to some medical conditions. All I know and without downplaying hardships experienced by other professionals in other fields and working environments, an entrepreneur’s journey is afflicted with many more challenges many ordinary professionals do not (have to) face. I cannot see how anyone without a strong foundation and backup can survive the entrepreneurial journey without losing one’s mind or being severely depressed and feeling hopeless at some point along one’s business development and expansion journey.

Even with backup and support, these may still be insufficient to stem the inevitable down-feeling. The reason being, there is always something to strive for. Even when everything goes well, there is still the next big goal and challenge to achieve and all these bring about stress and overwhelming feelings. One would need to really dumb-down one’s thoughts or use hallucinogen to suppress one’s desire and drive to want to better one’s current situation. The sober and those not betraying their intelligence, pursuing that next big challenge is inevitable. Hence, severe bouts of stress and depression may, likewise, be inevitable.

There’s always something to dampen one’s spirit. If news stories and current affairs won’t do it, tax bill or some social ill elsewhere will. Literally, there is nowhere to hide and it isn’t as if one looks for things to dampen one’s spirit. They come uninvited, and growing up and remaining a responsible person doesn’t help either. Woe to us!

But do not despair. Just as there are depressing things around us, there are good things far outstripping the bad occurring around us. We tend to amplify the bad as if it is omnipresent, yet goodness is. After all, if there was more of bad than good, surely life and everything else around us would have disintegrated by now.

Mere fact that there is a lot to live for and that life continues, means it’s worth reorienting one’s thoughts to positives, than on negatives around us. One’s achievements to date are successes worthy of one’s acknowledgement and gratitude. And when one’s attention is spent more on such positive reflections, challenges would become less stressful but inducement for adrenaline.

In life, one size fits all does not always apply, and one person’s solution may be ineffective in resolving another’s challenges. Everyone is unique, though solutions some used can inspire and help others resolve own challenges.

That is why sometimes, focusing on one priority can be an effective approach for some. Whereas, for others, diversification may be the answer because they have been focusing only on one issue resulting in everything else eventually becoming a crisis.

I saw a comical video the other day showing two miners digging in the belly of the earth. The one digging at the opposite end found a single shiny gem and began to celebrate and ascended to the surface happy with his valuable find. The other digging at the opposite end left his post to continue digging at the other end where the gem was discovered. But that new side was now barren, whereas his original side, now abandoned, had an even bigger cache of treasure, only waiting for a few shoveling before they could be unearthed. But because he gave up and changed his focus out of following the other, rather than sticking to his plan, he lost out.

Sometimes, changing focus may be the best decision made because doing the same things for a long while yielding the same results may deplete the resources at one’s disposal for sustainability. Though success may not be guaranteed in the changed focus, it may yield some positives.

But an entrepreneur cannot willy-nilly change focus. Doing so would prove one’s confusion, lack of vision, courage and conviction. In which case, one may wonder why entrepreneurship was chosen if plans could easily be changed like weather patterns in some parts of the world.

One should really be mindful of the requirements to fully attain success and prepare to fulfill them or mitigate the lack thereof. It doesn’t help proceeding in blind faith and hoping for the best. Such approach would definitely bring about severe bouts of depression and general deterioration of one’s health.

Ultimately, there is only one life and it would be a pity having an unpleasant life when there are relief options still for one’s consideration.

Paraphrased, it’s often said nothing taken in moderation can be bad for anyone. This means, maintaining a balance, literally and figuratively in everything about one’s life. Do not deprive your body, soul and spirit of anything, but in everything, do and have it in moderation. Perhaps that would lead to one leading a reasonably joyful and prosperous life.

By actively removing clutter from one’s life, focusing on important things, one can easily find ways to resolve urgency of the resolution of issues.

Limit distractions to avoid burnout and have a blissful life.