Hitting the Wall

Marathon runners at some point in the race hit a psychological barrier called the wall. It is somewhere after the middle of the race and they have to push past that mental barrier to keep going if they are going to reach the finish line. Those of us in business have our own "wall." If we are ambitious and hardworking, becoming the workaholic is all too easy. Sooner or later, having done so will catch up with us and we will burn out for a time.

You will know when that happens. You no longer fully know (or really care) about what you are doing presently. You can no longer say to yourself why you are even doing it, except out of habit or to keep the company afloat or to sustain the lifestyle to which you have become accustomed. All you know, when you are suffering from burnout, is that you don't have any enthusiasm or energy and you don't really care very much.

In anything you set out to do or to be, it has always been a challenge to keep a balance in your life. You get caught up in a project and other important parts of your life suffer. You get caught up in a chase after importance, position, money. Burnout. You are now living life on a treadmill that you cannot seem to turn off and your life becomes an endless cycle of work, of going to sleep and back to work...

As always, when you find yourself in this situation, it is time to make a decision to stop the craziness and do something about it. And then to act on that decision. When you do that, whatever you must do to fix things may not be easy or without a cost to you personally. But what other options do you really have?

Burnout isn't an inevitable experience one has to go through in one's life. One can learn by trial and error. Or one can realize that burnout is a possible scenario in the game of life. If one knows that burnout is a pitfall to be avoided, it is much smarter just to structure one's life more rationally from the getgo.

You can learn to manage your schedule, leaving sufficient time for family, friends, and time to recharge your batteries. You can make it a habit to pace yourself and learn to recognize when you are pushing yourself too hard for too long. You can live to work. Or, if you are smart, you can work to live. It is all about the choices you make. It is your choice as to how you are going to live your life.

Some say live and learn. I say it is smarter to learn and live well.