E34: Entrepreneur Burnout: The Hidden Cost Of Hustle Culture

Are you running on fumes, frazzled nerves, and far too much caffeine? Listen up ambitious, heart led entrepreneur - this episode is your wake-up call!

🚨 ENTREPRENEUR ALERT: 50% of us are on a one-way trip to Burnout Town. But not you. Not anymore.

In this episode, we're shattering the myth that constant hustle equals success.

Get ready to:

✨ Unlock The Entrepreneur Edge: Discover how your unique brand of 'crazy' is actually your superpower (when channeled correctly)

✨ Redefine Success: Learn why true achievement includes a life you actually enjoy (imagine that!)

✨ Master the Transformation: Follow our roadmap from Worn-Out Entrepreneur to Purposeful Powerhouse CEO

🎧 Listen Now and Discover:

• Why your oat milk latte and two-almond diet isn't the recipe for success (and what is)
• The shocking truth about entrepreneur burnout rates (and how to beat the odds)
• How to harness your entrepreneurial spirit without burning out
• Practical strategies to enjoy your success while scaling your business
• The secret to sustainable productivity that feels good

Don't let burnout rob you of the business and life you've dreamed of.

Ready to trade exhaustion for exhilaration, stress for success, and hustle for harmony?

Then grab our free "5-Minute Entrepreneur Emergency Kit" right here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/freakout

Your future, energized self will thank you!

#EntrepreneurBurnout #HustleCulture #PurposefulPowerhouse #EntrepreneurWellness #WorkLifeHarmony #SustainableSuccess #BurnoutPrevention #EntrepreneurMindset #SelfCareForEntrepreneurs #ProductivityHacks

Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!

00;00;00;17 - 00;00;23;08
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to a movement of heart led entrepreneurs who care so much about how they feel that they make time for themselves every day because they want to be living their life and doing big, incredible things in the world at the same time. Because, yes, it is possible. I am the leader of this Rise and Vibe movement and the host of this podcast, and my name is Megan Millen.

00;00;23;11 - 00;00;47;11
Speaker 1
I'm a movement therapist who helps part LED entrepreneurs get the story out of their bodies so that they can be living fully and vibrantly. And I actually have a really special event coming up in September, so make sure to save the date for September 16th, because I'm kicking off a brand new Free Sanity Saver mini series that you are going to want to be a part of.

00;00;47;11 - 00;01;25;15
Speaker 1
So stay tuned for that. But in the meantime, let's jump in to today's episode. Hello. Hello. Welcome back to another episode of the Purposeful Powerhouse podcast. Before we get into today's topic, which is all about entrepreneur burnout and the hidden costs of health cell culture, I have a special gift for you. I created something that is actually super aligned with today's episode, and I'm calling it the Entrepreneur Freakout Prevention Therapy Session.

00;01;25;18 - 00;01;54;18
Speaker 1
I laugh, but it's needed 5 minutes to totally reset your energy, calm the crazy, avoid the messy meltdown, and come back to that place of feeling like, Yes, okay, I can do this, I can do this so that you can recover from challenges so that you can avoid that challenge. You know how it is. Anyways, that link is going to be in the show notes, so make sure to grab that because you're going to love it and it is super effective and only 5 minutes and totally free.

00;01;54;21 - 00;02;31;12
Speaker 1
So back to our topic at hand. Entrepreneur, Nerd Burnout. Did you know that studies show us that 50% of entrepreneurs either have or will experience burnout? That's pretty significant because we know that it is challenging at times to do what you do. I mean, most people don't, and most people try and realize it's more challenging than they might have expected and give up.

00;02;31;12 - 00;03;04;16
Speaker 1
Right. We hear those statistics of one out of three businesses fail. And, you know, it's it's daunting and it's vulnerable to continue to show up and to do the work that your heart is calling you to do in a way that feels really aligned with your values. And so myself, I have experienced burnout and got to that point of being so exhausted, so resentful of my business, feeling like I had no more to give.

00;03;04;16 - 00;03;27;05
Speaker 1
I had poured it all in. I left it all on the mat, if you will, and I was ready to give up. And I realized that what I was doing wasn't sustainable, that I had pushed myself to a point of completely depleting because my nervous system was so taxed. And no, it wasn't just that I was out of alignment and needed a vacation.

00;03;27;05 - 00;03;54;06
Speaker 1
My nervous system was completely disregulated and I was completely flat out exhausted. And what I recognized was that I had become what I call the worn out entrepreneur, that I was running on anxiety overdrive, just constantly pushing, pushing, pushing, going, going, going. Let me know if you can relate to that. If you've experienced that, that drive in your head and in your heart.

00;03;54;06 - 00;04;30;03
Speaker 1
That's like more. More content. Change the page. Make it better. Boosts the conversions. Do more emails, do more lights. RA Relentless taskmaster. It's brutal. And so it was a realization and, you know, it took me getting to that like the flat out please to realize it wasn't working. And unfortunately that's what it takes for many people. You know, my coach, James Wetmore, always talks about how it's easier to sell painkillers than vitamins.

00;04;30;06 - 00;04;57;01
Speaker 1
Prevention, you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Or I might have that backwards. But I know you've heard that. And the reality is, is that sometimes it takes us getting to that point of really deep challenge and struggle and difficulty and pain before we're motivated to make a change. And I get that. And, you know, we're more motivated to avoid pain as humans.

00;04;57;01 - 00;05;25;07
Speaker 1
We're more hardwired that way. And so it's really important for us to recognize that you are the boss of your business. You are the purposeful, powerhouse CEO. But many entrepreneurs, without that awareness, we tend to show up in our business as we showed up as employees, and we tend to really have that high expectation of ourselves, which is important, right?

00;05;25;07 - 00;05;57;25
Speaker 1
It's so important for us to have these external goals and these markers of success, but it doesn't have to be the be all and end all, and in fact, it shouldn't. And I propose a more holistic definition of success where you are actually enjoying your life and all of the things that you have accomplished and achieved and not sacrificing your sanity and your health and your happiness to get there.

00;05;57;28 - 00;06;30;20
Speaker 1
Call me crazy and it's okay if you do because I am and I'm passionate about it. I'm lit up. But I think we need to have a different approach to entrepreneurship because this definition that has been mandated often by men and often by a really outdated system that has different priorities. It is that hustle culture mentality that is really causing this downfall and causing, in my opinion, this high rate of burnout in entrepreneurs.

00;06;30;22 - 00;07;01;18
Speaker 1
And so it's this expectations that are coming from external sources or societal expectations, maybe parental, maybe patriarchal, you know, systemic expectations. And so there's that. But then we have our own internal expectations. And it's this interesting double edged sword of being really driven and being a high performance, high achieving human and personality, which I see in a lot of entrepreneurs I have in myself as well.

00;07;01;20 - 00;07;26;18
Speaker 1
It's a very challenging dance at times because that drive that got you to where you are can be really insatiable and relentless and become our downfall if we're not careful. And that can be what leads to the burnout. If we have this constantly going for the next goal, constantly trying to get to the next top of the mountain, if you will, without recognizing that we get to.

00;07;26;20 - 00;08;07;15
Speaker 1
And we need to do this in a more sustainable way that is enjoyable and so it's important for us to remember that you were different, right? We're different. And and we are hardwired in a much different way. And in fact, there's actually research in science that that really speak to this. And you've maybe heard me talk about this before, about how University of Berkeley in California found that 72% of 5000 entrepreneurs they studied had either ADHD, depression, anxiety or bipolar or multiples.

00;08;07;18 - 00;08;37;07
Speaker 1
So for the most part, we're wired a little bit differently. And it's interesting because another study in the UK found that 8% of the entrepreneur population that they studied was ADHD, whereas the general population is 2%. So what does that mean? Maybe it means that as neurodivergent, as, you know, wild card people we are, that we are. And I think, you know, I think that to be an entrepreneur requires a slightly different variety of human.

00;08;37;09 - 00;09;02;03
Speaker 1
A little crazy like a crazy, right? Because you're going against the grain of your biology. You're going against the the reptilian aspect of your brain that is survival and safety and familiarity by doing the things that you're doing, doing a podcast, going live on Instagram, doing your funky real dance while you're doing your feels like that's potentially, you know, perceived as threatening to the brain, but yet these are natural things for you now.

00;09;02;03 - 00;09;31;07
Speaker 1
And maybe they didn't feel natural in the beginning, but with practice they become natural. But they're things that you're like, Yeah, that's just what I do, right? And so it's interesting because if we don't recognize that we are unique individuals, that we're we're a little bit different as a population, that we get to do work a little bit differently because, you know, it's really fascinating to me that there is this high prevalence of neuro divergence in the entrepreneur community.

00;09;31;09 - 00;09;52;25
Speaker 1
So we're wired differently. So, you know, that same and it's it's a benefit to us because we tend to have higher risk risk tolerance, right? We're willing to go out there and do different things. We you have a really creative imagination, right? You're a visionary. You put something out of nothing. Your business didn't exist unless you bought a franchise, right.

00;09;52;26 - 00;10;13;08
Speaker 1
Or your network marketing or whatever. Right. So, you know, you're creating something out of thin air. You're able to recognize patterns, you're looking for trends in your business. You're looking at what's working, what's not. You're able to oftentimes, you know, hyperfocus on things. You get really dialed in and really excited and very passionate and very energized and motivating.

00;10;13;08 - 00;10;48;07
Speaker 1
And, you know, that same sort of magnetism that people are really attracted to tends to be natural for many entrepreneurs and then, you know, again, it's like we have these different approaches to things in our brain and so we problem solve differently. We strategically think differently. And so it's really interesting when we just look at the fact that we're a little bit different and embrace that uniqueness and recognize that the standards of 9 to 5 don't necessarily need to apply to you.

00;10;48;10 - 00;11;14;23
Speaker 1
I for a long time had this really strict schedule and this, you know, getting going first thing in the day, working, probably working through lunch, you know, and then at the end of the day, working till I was tired and recognize that was a precursor to my burnout. Even though I was doing my morning routine still consistently, I was working for long hours without stopping.

00;11;14;26 - 00;11;40;16
Speaker 1
I was really not recognizing when I was getting anxious and overwhelmed and that those feelings of the and that inner resistance and that frustration and that confusion and that doubt, I was overriding that by just doing something else. Oh, I'll just I'll focus on this for a bit. And it was very tight, very constricted, very worn out entrepreneur, very frantic and frazzled.

00;11;40;16 - 00;12;12;26
Speaker 1
And it felt really internally chaotic. And so what I've come to recognize is that it's so important for you, first and foremost, to remember that you are in charge of the health and the direction of your life first and foremost in your business. So that means that you don't have to follow the rules of 9 to 5, 15 minute break, midday, 15 minute break mid-afternoon, because in fact, that might not be supportive to the way that you are wired.

00;12;12;28 - 00;12;54;17
Speaker 1
And for many of us who have that push, go, here we go. The setting, the goals going after it, that relentless drive, it's really difficult for us to pause. And in those moments when we feel like we just got to do a little more in that bubbling feeling of anxiety or that inner turmoil or the resistance, however you call it, that, that's a sign that you really get to pause, that that's a sign that it's time for you to step away, even though your brain in those moments when you're like, What do you mean, step away?

00;12;54;17 - 00;13;17;13
Speaker 1
I have like five other things that need to get done now and I need to get done yesterday. And that pressure that we put on ourselves is actually counterproductive because that stress feeds on itself. Right. And if you've been listening for a while, you know about when we are in stress, we default to self-protective patterns, and that's when we're under stress.

00;13;17;13 - 00;13;38;01
Speaker 1
That's how we handle stressful situations is by going into perfectionism, going into overworking, going into self-doubt, going into procrastination, going into control, like all of those things that are the patterns that we default to when we're under stress. And so, of course, in those moments, that loud voice in our head is going to say, Oh, no, you don't have time for this.

00;13;38;01 - 00;14;17;18
Speaker 1
What do you mean? You got to keep going, You've got to open another window, you've got to get that time. And it's that drive that, if we're not careful, is what leads potentially to burnout. Right? It's it's a really, really common denominator. And so it's so important for you to have these little bumpers, if you will, in place so that you can start to cultivate self awareness and recognize when you feel that you're inside of you and that you know that drive and you feel like, oh, I'm just going to do all these things and I can't stop, can't stop, won't stop.

00;14;17;21 - 00;14;47;10
Speaker 1
That's when it's even more important for you to hit the pause button and take a five minute break right? Use your entrepreneur freakout prevention therapy session because you're going to love it and reset because your brain, the negative committee in your head that has self-protection as its top priority is going to scream really damn loud against that. And when you notice that when you recognize and you ask yourself, Whose voice is that?

00;14;47;13 - 00;15;11;24
Speaker 1
Whose eyes am I looking through the situation through Is it through my parents who expected these really high expectations for me? And I only got love and appreciation when I got the, you know, A-plus or whatever. Have you are you perpetrating that same pattern or are you going to pause and recognize that that is not who you truly are and you're in charge?

00;15;11;27 - 00;15;49;25
Speaker 1
And when you drop back in to a place of regulation and connected awareness, you are actually in the vibe of your vision. You are in that place of feeling like, Yeah, you know what? I can do this. I got this. I am going to be showing up in this full alignment. I feel powerful, I feel grounded. You feel whatever it is that your vibe of your vision, how you truly want to feel, essentially that that's how you get to show up to do the thing, the doing the thing in that worn out entrepreneur, you know, running on oatmilk lattes and three almonds that you found at the bottom of your purse because you haven't got

00;15;49;25 - 00;16;14;11
Speaker 1
snacks and you're really hungry and you're cranky and you haven't peed in 2 hours and that sort of energy totally different. So in those moments, recognizing that it's so, so important for you to pause having your amplified morning routine in place. So you're starting the day that way and then pausing throughout the day to fill the cup, Right.

00;16;14;12 - 00;16;34;19
Speaker 1
The old well-worn analogy of putting on the mask and filling the cup, because the truth is, is that your brain will want to scream otherwise and say, no, no, no. If you stop, it's all going to fall apart. The other shoes going to drop. Who's going to do it if you don't do it? That's the question. Who's going to do it if you don't do it?

00;16;34;22 - 00;17;02;09
Speaker 1
Because if you are burnt out, if you're sick, if you're hurt, if you're thrown in the towel, who's going to do it? Who's going to live your vision for you? Who's going to lead your movement? Who's going to write the book? No one no one can do it for you. That's the ultimate cost of this. And that's the thing, is that we get to remember that only you can do what you do.

00;17;02;11 - 00;17;40;11
Speaker 1
The way that you do it here is on the thing that the way that to do it. I'll get back to you on that sea squirrel. Welcome to the song Inside My Head. It's so, so important right there is a magic within you and that energy, that vibrancy that people are drawn to when you are feeling it, when you are feeling yourself, when you are straddling end of the day, like it's the red carpet or like you're going up to get the gold medal in the Olympics.

00;17;40;13 - 00;18;05;20
Speaker 1
Oh, that has people asking you, what are you doing? What is what are you taking? What sort of oil you got? What's something you take in here? Because there is something about you that I want. Some of that is when you are in that energy of being your purposeful, powerhouse self, that is the antidote to the drive, to the overwhelm, to the hustle culture approach, to things.

00;18;05;20 - 00;18;37;09
Speaker 1
It's that stepping back and recognizing that that rest is essential. Rest is part of the work. This is the foundation to the sustainable enjoyment, a sustainable success, a holistic approach to living that is so incredibly impactful. So I wanted to talk about that today. I hope that this was insightful for you. I really I know that there is that that vital magic within you that the world needs, right?

00;18;37;09 - 00;19;09;27
Speaker 1
And you are different. You're special, right? You are so, so essential. And and the way that you serve your community is is so incredibly valuable because of your uniqueness, because of all of those different petals that make up the flower that is you. You are such an important part of this beautiful human experience that we all get to have in in order for you to enjoy the journey and really enjoy everything that you've worked so hard for and ultimately make the impact that you're here to make.

00;19;10;00 - 00;19;56;14
Speaker 1
It really does take that willingness to approach things a little bit differently, to recognize that burning yourself out is the fastest way for this, to not go the way you wanted it to. And so I really hope that this was something that is insightful for you and encouraging for you because entrepreneurs are special kind of crazy, and it's so important that we recognize that and so important that you really honor the fact that you are the boss and you get to do this differently because you can and because it serves you when you slow down, when you implement these different tools that you've been learning in this show and that we've talked about today, that's

00;19;56;14 - 00;20;32;18
Speaker 1
really the game changer. So make sure to grab the five minute entrepreneur emergency kit that is the entrepreneur freakout prevention therapy session. It's just five minute movement grounding all of that in one so that you can keep your tank topped up, if you will, or do a hard reset if you had something happen, right, like Zoom crashed in the middle of your webinar or your website went down in the middle of your launch or you got pissed off and snapped at somebody who saw that's what it's all about.

00;20;32;18 - 00;20;56;27
Speaker 1
So make sure to grab that and let me know if you have any questions. Have a beautiful rest of your day. Take care. And until next time, keep doing the things so that you are learning to use your mind as a powerful tool. You're moving your body to keep it strong and healthy and doing that intentionally so that you can show up as your purposeful, powerhouse CEO self-season.

00;20;57;00 - 00;21;22;18
Speaker 1
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you really enjoyed this episode and got a lot out of it. Please let me know what landed for you by taking a screenshot and sharing your takeaways on your Instagram stories. Make sure to tag me at I am Meghan Nolan for a shout out and future episodes and don't forget to grab all the goodies that we mentioned during the episode because you're going to love them.

00;21;22;25 - 00;21;30;02
Speaker 1
So all the links are in the show notes. So until next time, cheers to you. Living on purpose every day.