Working Through Burn-Out Is NEVER Okay

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Nothing tires a person out like work. Work all day, sleep all night, wake up, repeat the cycle. And when you have a secular job as well as a start-up business, it's difficult to determine how much work is too much when you feel like you don't even have the time to take a break and think about it. I ran myself into this a few days ago.

Now that PMJ is up and running and I have an assistant editor, my workload has been severely reduced. A few days after we launched, once I wasn't constantly on my laptop from sunset to sunrise, I realized just how tired I was from all the work I had put into our launch. Mixed with the evenings that I work as a barista, I found I needed a day or two away from our project before I completely burned out. So with some hesitation, I took off the weekend and indulged my TV shows and movies with lots of tea and snacks. AND OH MY- I needed that break.

Now that my brain has taken a well-needed siesta, I'm able to plan and schedule our magazine with much more ease, and with better cognitive thinking. So to my fellow entrepreneurs and writers- don't ever let yourself work through your burnout. As a former musical theatre student, I am well versed in working through my exhaustion and let me tell you, it doesn't bode well. You end up crabby, malnourished, dehydrated, and really just a pain to be around.

Our bodies and brains need rest in order to be productive. Why else would workplaces make breaks mandatory? Therefore, make breaks mandatory for yourself. You'll find in doing so that your business will run much better, and you won't lose the joy from your work that caused you to open a business in the first place.

- J.E.S