Diving into a new project is exciting. This excitement is likely driven by one of many factors, but for me it is to take on a challenge. I get excited to have a task in front of me that gives me the chance to create or change something. At the end of that project, I usually feel pretty accomplished. I can stand back, look from a short distance with my hands on my hips feeling successful. At that moment, I am filled with joy and even more motivated to start the next one. 

But what happens when that project doesn’t go well? When the timeline is prolonged? When you feel like you are giving it all you can, yet the pieces never seem to fall into place? When the project is finished, usually the emotions are not described as success or joy, usually it is a feeling of, “Thank God this is over. I’ll never do that again.” I like to call this feeling, BURNOUT. 

Herbert Freudenberger, in his book, Burnout: The High Cost of High Achievement, originally defines burnout as, “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one's devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” 

When these projects become difficult, it's easy to experience a lack of motivation. The desired results aren’t happening the way or at the speed in which you wish. So, how do we overcome this burnout feeling. How can we turn de-motivation into motivation? There are tools that you can use to produce better results. 

CREATE SPACE

The absolute best way to avoid burnout is to never be in the place to begin with. Now, this is not what I recommend, as the project you are working on is important. You shouldn’t give up and deny yourself the ability to accomplish your goals. What I do recommend is to create space between you and the project. 

When Tiffany and I were renovating our very first rental property, we were all in. I would work a 12 hour day as a high school teacher (band directors usually have all sorts of rehearsals after the school day ends) and I would then drive out to the house where we were working. I would work on that project until midnight or even later. Tiffany would work her job, make dinner and bring it down to the house. This property was 45 minutes away from our home so the drive was lengthy. We lived and breathed to get this project completed. 

With the crazy hours we were putting into this project, we began to experience burnout. With it being our first property, that burnout was significant, because it could have driven us to not continue our journey. The self talk we often entertained ourselves with consisted of:

“All of this work for just $300 a month in cash flow.”

“It isn’t worth it.”

“How are we ever going to get the next one done, this one will never end.”

How did we not burnout? Well, we made a decision to take a week off. We knew that we were slowing down, getting frustrated, and were close to throwing in the towel. Creating space between us and the project gave us the needed break to refocus, take our mind off of things and be re-energized to get back on track.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes… including you.” - Anne Lamott

RUN YOUR RACE

Another thing that can help you avoid burnout is to keep yourself grounded by focusing on your journey and not comparing yourself to others. When you try to compare yourself to others doing the same thing as you, you can feel unsuccessful in your efforts when you see them experiencing success. The problem with this type of thinking is that it is highly distracting and unrealistic. When comparing yourself to someone that is successful in any domain, you must approach it with this in mind:

“They are running a different race!”

The race we are running is very personal and is decided by your big WHY. It is highly doubtful that your ‘why’ is exactly like someone else's. These varying motivators are what make everyone’s race so different. Avoid this thinking trap and focus solely on your journey. Make sure you are on your way to your goals. Did you see I didn’t use ‘Them’ or ‘Their’. This is ‘YOUR’ race and it's all about ‘YOU’. 

The emotions that overcome you when comparing to others can leave you feeling overwhelmed, unproductive, exhausted and ultimately unsuccessful.

GRACE

The last key to avoiding burnout is to give yourself some grace. Sure, you want to do it right, and you want to do it right the first time. When Edison was inventing the light bulb, he attempted and failed over 1,000 times. In his steadfast work, though, he was successful shortly thereafter. 

A reporter asked him, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" 

Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

If Edison hadn’t had the mindset that failures were a part of the process, we might still be in the dark today. Failing is okay, so long as you fail forward. Failing forward means that you learn from your mistakes or the things that did not go as planned. After failing you must attempt again and see if it works differently. I am happy to say we have failed at multiple things in our journey, but we failed forward and are better today because of it!

Perfectionism can kill momentum, delay progress and ultimately lead to massive burnout. Perfectionism can leave very little room for grace as a failure might bring about feelings of incapableness or incompetence. 

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” 

Winston Churchill

If you are a perfectionist, I encourage you to take a break from the hustle and allow yourself to breathe. Allow yourself to get it wrong, for getting it wrong might be the step you need to take to get it right. It all comes down to grace. Giving yourself grace can give you the secret armor needed to avoid burning out. Remember, it's all about progress and not perfection. 

Creating space for yourself, focusing on running your race and being open to giving yourself grace are the 3 big things that have allowed Tiffany and I to see success through seasons of near burnout. The fourth secret to not burning out, which has been paramount in our journey, has been our faith. We trust that our successes and failures have been brought upon us for a reason. This reason is in God’s plan for us and our family. I hope that you can take the aforementioned 3 steps and apply them to your life so that you can avoid a total burnout. 

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We are real estate investors Tiffany and Eric Vogel, founders of www.onpurposeinvestor.com.  Four years ago we began our real estate investment journey together after just one year of dating – before we even got married! We bought our first property with an FHA loan and zero equity.  Each of us has a unique set of strengths that we bring to our partnership.  

Join us each week for episodes full of tips, tricks, and methods to find your path and make it happen.