The Real Reason Why Entrepreneurs Burn Out (+ How to Avoid)

I used to think that high expectations were a good thing. That they motivated me to work harder.

But now I think the opposite might be true.

Almost any time I feel frustrated and want to quit, it's because of an expectation.

For example, I recently went to a climbing gym in Utah. The grades were way harder than at my gym in Vermont. A V4 at the Utah gym was just as hard as a V7 would have been at my home gym.

So when I started struggling with grades that would have been easy for me back home I thought, "Wow, I suck at climbing." I almost left the gym early.

But once I realized that the grading system was just harder at the new gym, I was able to adjust my expectations. The problem wasn't me. It was my expectations.

Expectations take root when you compare reality to:

1 - Past performance ("I should make at least as much this year as I made last year."

2 - Other people ("I should be more productive and disciplined, like that person is.")

3 - A made-up future ("I thought I'd be further along by now.")

I think that high expectations are a bigger cause of burnout than overwork. You can only stay in the discomfort of being "here" and thinking you should be "there" for so long before you quit.

By bringing awareness to these expectations, you can challenge them. You can say, "I obviously had the wrong expectation because look at what's happening in reality."

So next time you catch yourself feeling frustrated, look for the expectation.

You'll have more energy to work with when you're not fighting reality.

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If you liked this idea, I wrote a related piece about why you don’t always have to love your business. Check it out here.