It’s not uncommon to create a business you hate.

There are so many entrepreneurs out there who have essentially created a job for themselves that they rather not do. They swap their bosses for clients, their colleagues with deadline dates. They get burned out and lonely and it’s a struggle sometimes. A lot of the time, they want nothing to do with their business outside of business hours — foregoing talking about it with friends and family unless they have to. How did they get to this point?

Mistake #1: Obligation as a strategy, not a tool

Placing yourselves in obligatory situations works for certain personalities, but how and when you do this makes the difference. Making your entire business dependent on you is not the same as publicizing your new course when you haven’t written a word. The former is a way of doing business that will burn you out, the latter is a tool to help you achieve something you want.

Mistake #2: Ignoring internal signals

Sometimes we don’t give enough credit to the joy we experience when doing certain things. We pass them off as silly little emotions, not as guideposts for going in the right direction. And while it’s true that everything we enjoy is only enjoyable in moderation, it would be wise to do more of what you like doing — and that requires both self awareness and self-respect.

Mistake #3: Being too stubborn to change

Pivoting is hard. Especially when you’ve been in an industry for years, it’s easy to over-identify with your expertise. But guess what? Your ego is not worth your unhappiness.

If you’re in that position where your business has overrun your life, where the pressure is exhausting and the work increasingly mundane, then reflect on the mistakes above. Have you made them?

If so, you have every ability of turning the ship around.

This post was created with Typeshare