5 Ways to Combat Burnout for Real Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship can mean a whole lot of sacrifice and, more often that not, what gets sacrificed is wellness. On the other hand, wellness can have connotations of self indulgence and a lack of drive towards a goal. How do we balance the two? How do we chase our goals and grow our businesses while maintaining our wellness?

5 Ways to Combat Burnout for Real Entrepreneurs

For most entrepreneurs I know, myself included, it’s not realistic to wake up in the morning, do a 30 minute meditation, practice 90 minutes of yoga, drink your hot lemon water, write in your gratitude journal, and – oops! – I almost forgot those morning pages.


For most of us, it looks more like this:

  • Wake up

  • While still in bed, grab your phone

  • See a client email that needs immediate response

  • Get kicked into work mode before your feet touch the ground

Heck, we’re lucky to make it to the coffeemaker before our brains shift into work mode.

We all know the long term effects of this – BURNOUT. Burnout is real. When you’re burned out, it feels like you’re drowning.

There are some short-term circumstances when more work is just inevitable. When you’re going towards a big push (like a launch), sometimes this is just the way it goes.

It can be really taxing on your creativity, your motivation, and your passion.

As both a yoga teacher and an entrepreneur, I feel these two opposing forces ALL THE TIME.

Have you ever felt like this? When? What was going on? Tell me in the comments.

The next time you feel like you’re drowning, start here. 

Note: Don’t try all of them at once or make it a chore, just try one at a time gently.


1. Take advantage of your iPhone

The downfall of having an iPhone where you’re constantly connected is that you can never disconnect. The upside, however, is that you can work on the go.

Try taking a walk in the woods for your next brainstorm rather than begrudgingly typing on your computer. You can use the audio to text feature to talk out loud to yourself (like a crazy person). Bonus: this gives you a really natural conversational tone. 

2. Have walking meetings.

If you have a meeting with someone in real life, ask if you can take a walk in the park while discussing. In my opinion, the most meaningful creative conversations occur well walking side-by-side in nature, not while sitting across from each other in a cold florescent lit conference room. If you’ve got a phone meeting, pop in your ear buds and start trekking.

3. Does it need to happen online?

Buy a notebook that you love and sit in the sunshine to write out all your thoughts. You can translate to a computer later, but there’s a whole heck of a lot of brainstorming and organizing that can happen well writing with a traditional pen and paper. You’ll find you think of creative and different ideas you wouldn’t normally come up with.

4. Give yourself one morning.

One day, give yourself until 9 AM to go offline and off email. Let yourself live it up in this small amount of time, treat yourself to a coffee from a fancy coffee shop, slip in your yoga, do some meditation, heck just sleep in if that’s what you need. The point is to set a boundary about your morning work time.

5. Change your atmosphere.

Energy attaches to your surroundings. If you feel stuck, if you feel overwhelmed, if you feel uninspired and negative in a certain space, pack it up and change your situation. Go to a coffee shop, just go to a different chair, go sit outside at a picnic table. You’ll see change your energy automatically by changing your circumstances.

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Got it? To recap:

  1. Use your iPhone to your benefit.

  2. Have a walking meeting.

  3. Ask yourself “Does this need to happen online?”

  4. Give yourself on morning.

  5. Change your atmosphere.

Have you felt burnout? How did you fight it off? Let me know in the comments!

Chris Emmer


West Michigan based, small business + wellness obsessed.