Picture this: You’re in the driver’s seat of your growing business, steering your company towards success, but it feels like the road is getting steeper and the traffic heavier.
You’re pushing harder, working longer hours, yet the list of tasks seems to grow faster than your progress.
For over 15 years, working with innumerable startup founders and executives, we’ve noticed the same cycle …
Entrepreneurs are too often overworked and underleveraged.
In this blog, you’ll learn not only how burnout, guilt, and stress develop but also discover pragmatic solutions to regain control of your time and maintain your well-being—all while continuing to successfully scale your business.
Like Founder, Like Startup: The Challenge of Scale
Most successful startups go through a surprisingly similar process.
It all starts with a crazy idea. Then you raise money, build a proof of concept, and work hard on establishing product/market fit. One day, that idea becomes a business.
But as your company scales, the demand for your time grows with it.
Down the road, this can lead to some serious problems. For example:
- You’ll find yourself becoming more reactive to the huge amount of inbound that’s coming your way.
- As a result, you’ll spend less time on the proactive initiatives that move the needle most for your business.
- And finally, you’ll likely start sacrificing the most important relationships in your life simply because you don’t have the time to upkeep them.
While we understand the importance of scaling a business, any seasoned founder knows a business can’t sustainably grow beyond its leadership.
If you want to learn how to prevent burnout while successfully scaling yourself, check out our article on Startup CEOs: A Success Guide to Scaling Yourself (While Scaling Your Business).
Enter: The Guilt Trap (and the Inevitable Burnout)
As your responsibilities grow, it’s easy to feel like you’re constantly fighting fires.
You find yourself reactive, spending your time on “urgent” low-impact tasks and batting the ball back over the net as rapidly as you can.
But you know this isn’t the best use of your time.
You aren’t working on the projects (or focusing on the people) you want—and need—to pursue.
When your responsibilities are all-consuming, your personal life is often the first to take a hit, and with it comes guilt that you’re failing both your business and the people you care about.
This leads to what we call “The Guilt Trap.”
Over time, this guilt snowballs into overwhelm and burnout—the sense that there’s simply too much to do and not enough time to do it.
Once you reach this stage, you cross from the realm of entrepreneurial pressure into unhealthy stress.
It’s easy to tell yourself to just “tough it out.” But that mindset can cause long-term damage to both your well-being and your ability to lead your business to long-term, sustainable success.
The Science-Backed Danger of Stress
Here’s the interesting thing about stress: From a chemical perspective, your brain perceives both stress and guilt as a threat.
And when we encounter a threat, the older, more reactive parts of our brain kick in.
Suddenly we’re in fight-or-flight mode. Instead of using our brain’s full capacity to come up with skillful solutions to problems, we become very reactive to the circumstances in front of us.
This means our brain’s creative capabilities drop dramatically. And if there’s one thing your startup needs to be successful, it’s your full creative potential.
The One Thing Every Leader Needs to Reduce Stress and Lead a Fulfilling Life
The good news is, burnout is preventable.
And one of the most pragmatic ways to prevent burnout is to offload the low-value, time-consuming tasks that contribute to stress.
The best way to do this? Hire an Executive Assistant (EA).
At Mindmaven, we’ve revolutionized the role of the EA into what we call the Engagement Manager (EM)—a hybrid between a virtual assistant and a Chief of Staff.
An EM can help you free up 12+ hours every week by transforming your workflows, such as Inbox Shadowing and Meeting Debriefs.
This not only frees up your time but also allows you to focus on high-value, proactive tasks that drive the business forward.
Mindmaven Pragmatics: Download the Radical Delegation Checklist
Get free instant access to the Executive Delegation Checklist.
This checklist empowers you to delegate tasks with confidence, ensuring your EA/EM has what they need to complete tasks successfully.
Use this checklist to eliminate the stress of important tasks falling through the net and free up your mental bandwidth for high-value strategic work.
How To Prevent Burnout: The Importance of Relationships
Learning how to prevent burnout is closely tied to developing and nurturing your personal and professional connections.
While there’s something to be said for independence, the truth is that the most successful people almost always have strong social networks around them.
But don’t take our word for it: TED speaker Shawn Achor is a renowned Harvard lecturer, speaker on happiness, and expert on how social support relates to success.
In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn states that when we go into “crisis mode” from stress, the first thing we tend to neglect is our close relationships.
Even though those close relationships are exactly what we need to make it through this time.
Social relationships aren’t a luxury; they’re a vital part of our survival as a proven source of happiness and a natural de-stressor.
How to prevent burnout often comes down to having the right people in your corner when you need them most.
Actionable Tip: Make time each week to nurture key relationships, both in your personal and professional life. Whether it’s asking your EA/EM to draft regular check-ins with key contacts or creating time in your schedule for quality time with family.
These connections will help you stay grounded and prevent burnout.
Mindmaven Pragmatics: Free Whitespace Time Guide
Unsure how to create time in your busy schedule? Download our free guide on Whitespace Time: Your Guide To Proactive Time Management.
Whitespace is intentional, unstructured time carved out of your schedule to focus on high-value work—whether that’s strategic planning, deep thinking, or developing your relationships.
This guide will not only help you create this time but also show you how to protect your newfound hours and regain control of your priorities.
The Irreplaceable Role of Relationships in Our Success
So what’s the takeaway from all of this? It’s twofold:
- First: Scaling yourself as a leader is just as important as scaling your organization.
- Second: The key to scaling yourself is building a strong support system.
Success and happiness are possible, but only if you surround yourself with relationships that uplift and inspire you.
Remember: The deeper your relationships, the deeper your sense of fulfillment, happiness, and positivity.
In times of both feast and famine, keep developing your relationships. At the end of the day, those relationships are just as vital to your (and your business’) success as any other factor.
Ready to Scale Yourself as a Leader? Let’s Talk
Want to learn more about how we can help you free up 12+ hours every week, prevent and overcome burnout, and build meaningful relationships that drive your success for a happier, more fulfilling life?
We’d like to invite you to schedule a free 1:1 consultation with one of our experienced coaches.
Over the course of this call, we’ll dive deeper into your specific challenges, explore your goals, and potential solutions to help you scale your company—without ever sacrificing yourself.
Whether you’re battling burnout or simply want to enhance your leadership effectiveness, we’re here to help you take the pragmatic steps you need to achieve Superpowered success.
