Burnout is a Treatable Injury

Is it possible to recover from burnout?

Burnout doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you’ve slammed into the same wall every founder eventually hits.

The danger is mistaking your own exhaustion for your startup’s fate. Burnout feels permanent. It isn’t. Treat it like a setback, not a stop sign.

The real question isn’t if burnout will happen — it’s what you’ll do when it does. Some founders walk away too soon. Others find a second wind and do their best work on the other side.

The Hidden Cost of Burnout

Just because we're burnt out, doesn't necessarily mean our startup is too, which can be a big problem. We see this a lot with startups that are in their later stages of funding (Series B, C, D+) where the startup is getting massive amounts of funding and opportunity but the Founder is still fried from the formative years leading up to this.

Burning out at the wrong time is like running a marathon only to drop out right before crossing the finish line. It's not just us mere mortals, even iconic Founders like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk hit incredibly low points of burnout and frustration before coming back to build trillion dollar market cap companies.

But what would have happened if they never came back? What if they let burnout be the end?

The first thing we have to assess is whether we're burnt out or our startup is burnt out. If it's the latter, and really we're the captain of a sinking ship, then by all means let's abandon ship and do something else. But if realistically we've got our hands on a big ass opportunity, we can't let our own situation tank this outcome.

Burnout is an Injury

The best way to think about burnout is like an injury. It's real, it prevents us from being our best, and if left unchecked it will get progressively worse. If we were playing football and we broke our ankle, we wouldn't limp back onto the field and play as if nothing happened. We'd give it the treatment it deserves so that we could play at 100% again.

Burnout is exactly that — an injury that needs treatment. Burnout is not a permanent condition, although at the time it feels that way because, well, we're so damn fried! At the time it feels like the only solution is to stop playing. To sell the startup, or just quit altogether.

But that's simply not necessary. We need to treat burnout as a moment in time. It's urgent that we take care of it, but there's a whole life and second wind on the other side of treatment. In many cases that second wind (or third, or fourth...) may be what it takes to build a great company. We need to be around to find out.

The Treatment Plan for Burnout

The problem with treating burnout is it often requires us to do something other than our startup. That's often exacerbated by the fact that we're burnt out because our startup needs us so badly! That doesn't mean we have to completely jump ship, it just means that we need a new treatment plan.

The first step is just agreeing that if we repeat what we just did yesterday we will guarantee failure. From there it's a matter of figuring out what's driving burnout and addressing those points acutely. Personally I find that investing my energy into something other than my startup is the fastest way for me to regain hit points in my startup.

But I've seen Founders do mini sabbaticals (2+ weeks with zero contact from the startup world), Role Swaps where team members pick up specific duties that are draining us, or even just a shorter work week for the Founder to regain some energy.

Get Back in the Game

It doesn't matter how we get past burnout, it matters that we address it head on as a serious problem to address. I've been through four major life burnouts in my 30+ year career, and I can tell you the most fascinating thing about each one was that my best work was done post-burnout. It was never a matter of stopping working, it was always a matter of redirecting my focus.

Think of yourself as a professional sports franchise, and you are the star athlete. Would you want your star player limping through games, or would you want them fully recovered and winning championships?

You are that star player, you're just injured right now. Get the recovery you need, then get back out there and win this thing.

In Case You Missed It

We're So Connected — And Totally Lonely Despite endless digital tools, Founders are facing record levels of isolation, and only real human connection can fix it.

You Only Think You Work Hard There's a common misconception about 'working hard' within startups. Let's challenge the notion of what constitutes 'hard work' and the danger of equating all effort with success.

We all Fake it 'til We Make it You can’t fake real success. But, in the early stages of your Startup, you can run it in a way wherein your mindset is bent on believing you can make it until you’re finally there — succeeding and thriving.