Why Burnout Was The Best Thing That Happened For My Biz

I was gutted when I realised what I’d done. 

I’d experienced burnout when I was working at my 9-5 — and I thought that by ditching my commute and setting up my own business that it would be an unpleasant but distant memory…

So when I found myself on the verge yet again, I found myself at a crossroads. 

I could give in — or try and find the lesson. 

Take a look at what I learned and how I make sure that it really is a thing of the past. 

It showed me the importance of mindset. 

One of the biggest lessons that burnout taught me was just how important the role of mindset is in my life AND business. 

I could have seen this as a major setback and proof that I wasn’t cut out to be an entrepreneur after all. It could so easily have been the moment that I threw in the towel and went back to my 9-5. 

But I didn’t. 

I chose to look at it as an opportunity to grow. An opportunity to get to know myself better than ever before, proof of how resilient I am and an invitation to move forward even stronger. 

It taught me I had to switch off. 

If I can give you just one valuable piece of information to take away today, let it be this — your most valuable CEO work is done away from your laptop. 

Yes — really. 

They say that the mark of a true CEO is when you’ve set up your business so that it can function without you. That’s when you can work ON and not IN your business. When you have a business and not a job. 

It was only when I was teetering on the bring of burnout that I realised that all of the sacrifices I’d made wouldn’t help me to make progress if I physically wasn’t able to be present in my business. 

So now, I make an effort to switch off. I know that every time I turn off my phone, shut the lid of my computer and step away from my desk, I’m recharging my batteries and refilling my cup — giving myself the energy and inspiration I need to show up for myself and my clients. 

It showed me my WHY. 

I think one of the main reasons I’m able to have such an impact in my clients’ lives is that I know exactly how it feels to be working SO hard and feel like you’re standing still — or worse, failing.

After 16 years of working with some of the world’s top entrepreneurs — and spending 4 of those running my own business — I’ve seen for myself how avoidable and totally unnecessary all of that suffering is. 

It’s now my mission to make sure that NO other business owners felt the way that I did — which probably explains my relentless obsession with creating products and services that solve problems and make my clients’ lives so much easier. 

Over to you 

Have you ever experienced burnout? 

I’d love to hear about the lessons you’ve learned from it and how you’ve set your business up to make sure it never happens again. 

Leave me your advice in the comments!

Selina Johnson — Business Support Expert, solution seeker and freedom fixer — helps successful coaches, consultants, speakers and entrepreneurs from across the globe to scale their businesses, make more money and achieve faster, sustainable results without compromising their time. 

Over the past 16 years, she’s supported high profile individuals like award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid DBE, Sunday Times Top 20 Most Influential Entrepreneurs In The UK Sháá Wasmund MBE, former Co-Director of the Serpentine Gallery Dame Julia Peyton-Jones DBE, and Russian billionaire Timur Sardarov.

Today, she teaches brilliant entrepreneurs just like you how to implement her simple methods that result in BIG wins in their businesses — including the dynamite delegation strategies, time management hacks and mindset mastery she’s used to halve her hours, double her income and ditch her commute, leaving her free to create and live the life she loves.