In these late winter months, when the season seems to drag on with dark clouds, winter snows and short days, I start to feel in the doldrums. I lack energy, enthusiasm, I don’t want to be around people, my projects seem to be dragging on and I get a sense of dread at the thought of more work.
I am especially cynical of world news this time of year that benefits governments, multinationals pharmaceutical companies or politicians, and at the same time create fear and distraction. In many ways, I would like to crawl under the covers and come out like a bear in springtime when it’s warm and the sun is beating down and I feel happier.
Chances are that when I crawl under the covers, I will wake up at 2 or 3 a.m. with my head spinning with the number of things I should be working on. If I was mystical instead of cynical, I might think that I am going through a dark night of the soul. However, like many entrepreneurs I have been here with this sense of burnout before and know that “this too shall pass."
Entrepreneurs are especially susceptible to burnout and depression. In fact, a recent study by BDC in Canada found that 62 per cent of entrepreneurs feel depressed on a weekly basis. The fact is that most entrepreneurs and business leaders have no one to talk to about what is going on. They are faced with challenges that most people wouldn’t understand if they haven’t been in those roles.
Businesses too, go through doldrums. Some of these are seasonally affected as well.
For many businesses, January and February are especially slow times and many businesses are struggling with cash flow challenges and difficulty making sales targets. This can cause tension, stress, dysfunction and boredom amongst employees. Employees want to fix the situation and know that they are reliant on the success of the business to make their payments at home. Unfortunately, despite their best intentions they don’t know what to do and often, because of the cyclical nature of the business, there might not be many options.
So, what is the cause of these doldrums and what can we do as leaders if we face them?
• Have a plan. This may seem easy, however, most businesses fail to plan for off seasons and downtime. We think that in the frenzy of our busy season we will cherish the slow down, and yet after a few weeks of lower sales we wish again that we were busy. I have been there. In one of my businesses we decided that we were going to figure out how to grow our sales in our slow times and came up with plans to deal with our two or three months of slowdown through diversification of our offerings. That worked and after a couple years of tweaking our plans, we saw our sales grow significantly to the point where we needed to hire more staff instead of laying off employees.
As entrepreneurs we too need a plan. I know of many leaders that head for a sun holiday in the middle of winter when they know that they are going to be affected the most. Having taken a couple winter holidays myself, I have seen the benefit. These trips require advance planning to ensure that we can fit it into our busy schedules can accommodate them.
But let’s say for financial or family reasons you can’t enjoy the benefits of natural Vitamin D, then what do you do? It is incumbent on us as leaders to look out and provide for our mental well-being. If that means we need to get out and exercise, go for walks, take supplements, or meditate more, then we need to work those aspects into our day for our sakes and that of those around us. As leaders, it might not be the slow times that affect us as much as the ongoing busyness and weight of our workload. In those cases, we need to schedule down time into our days, weeks and years in order to ensure our long term effectiveness as leaders. At one point in my career, I failed to do this and after several years of intense work and pressure I ended up for two weeks on the couch unable to do anything except sleep and complain this was followed by several months where I had to cut back on my workload.
• Get out there. I was working recently with a business who did struggle with off seasons. We worked on a plan where the owner was going to spend time getting out and knocking on doors to drum up more business. They also incorporated the building of a marketing plan to boost sales. As it was recent the effects of this are yet to be determined.
As leaders we need to get out there too. When we feel that we want to run and hide is exactly the time when we need to reach out to friends and family and find something to celebrate. It’s amazing how an evening with friends and a few laughs can cheer us up for days.
• Get help. As leaders we are often embarrassed to get help for ourselves or our businesses because we feel we should be able to do it all. The truth is, we can’t. Like many leaders I have a support network that includes professionals that I can rely on for advice, mentorship and coaching when I am going through a hard time. There is no shame in understanding that you don’t have all the answers and need advice. There are people both in your industry and outside of it who have gone through similar struggles and have survived. You can too.
Struggling in business and leadership is normal, seasonal, and difficult. “This too shall pass.” should be a motto that you hold on to because if you continue in business you will need it from time to time.
— Dave Fuller, MBA is an Award Winning Business Coach and the Author of the book Profit Yourself Healthy. Dave would love to hear what you are going through now email [email protected]
