Suffer from Coach Burnout? Not Me!by Beth Griffith, CPCC and Steve Davidson, PhD

Suffer from Coach Burnout? Not Me!

Burnout: Fatigue, frustration, or apathy resulting from prolonged stress, overwork, or intense activity, without compensating fun or time for reflection.

We motivate others to live their dreams, yet what happens when we as coaches experience burnout? Here’s a quick self inventory of your personal and business life, and some suggestions for changes.

Quick Check: These Signals Sound Familiar?

1. Loss of confidence, declining self image.
2. Loss of energy – “can’t get started or follow through” feeling. Everything seems like a strain.
3. Persistently avoiding necessary coach-business tasks.
4. Feeling overwhelmed by the coaching sessions as well as your coaching business.
5. Feeling lost.

Personal Issues: What’s Going on with You?

1. Isolated? No one to talk to?
2. Over-focused? The only thing important in your life is your coaching business?
3. Letting physical fitness and nutrition go?
4. Not organized enough with time and materials?
5. Not meeting your personal needs for calmness and comfort?
What’s the Plan for Yourself?

1. Contact – Set up a regular lunch with someone upbeat. Join one or more groups, personal or business. Seek out support! Contact a mentor. Get a work-out partner. Join a once-a-month dining group. Reach out!
2. Balance – Consciously cultivate hobbies and interests – painting, writing, gardening, music, theater. Learn to really lose yourself in them!
3. Health – A good rule of thumb is 30-60 minutes of serious exercise at least three times a week. A little crème brulee now and again is OK, but you know the drill – grapefruit juice, bagels, fish, salad, chicken pasta, one glass of merlot, stretching, aerobics, and all that. Are you doing it?
4. How to Be Organized in Spite of Yourself – This is the title of a book which starts out by suggesting that two core problems are indecisiveness and procrastination. So – make a decision as to what you are going to do with that pile of paper on your desk. Do it now!
5. Stress – Get sensitive to your own stress levels. As you see your stress levels moving up -- take action. Inject favorite “pleasant events” into your schedule to refresh yourself

Professional Issues: What’s Going on With Your Business?

1. Have you promised more than you can deliver? Stretched too thin?
2. Are you ending up week after week as a lone wolf, trying to handle everything yourself?
3. Are you running out of clients?
4. Are you violating boundaries with clients? Are they starting to infringe on your personal space?
5. Are you getting into repeated conflicts with clients?

Could These Changes Help Your Business?

1. Be Realistic – Promise less than you deliver! In the long run, from the point of view of reputation as well as a job strain, it’s way better to end up accomplishing more than you promised!
2. Surround yourself with knowledgeable, insightful, supportive colleagues. Also, delegate burdensome tasks – e.g., accounting, mailing, filing, etc. Don’t go it alone!
3. Don’t Panic – The way to gain clients is m-a-r-k-e-t-i-n-g. That’s right – go out and shake some hands, and give people your business card! Meet someone today!
4. Boundaries – Let your clients know you have limits. (Everyone has limits.) You can be clear, practical, and assertive about boundaries while remaining warm and professional.
5. Three tips for avoiding misunderstandings with your clients:
a. Choose clients with life challenges for which you are well-suited;
b. Choose clients who really want to work on themselves;
c. Don’t put up with much personalized blaming and complaining!

Immediate Burnout Coping Plan

1. Call a friend for coffee! One who genuinely understands you and your dreams!
2. Review motivational or humorous ideas – attend a seminar, listen to a recording, watch a film, read a book or article. Laugh!
3. Go for a long walk or exercise, and just forget everything for a while!
4. Journaling -- write down what’s bothering you, and then blue-sky what you’d really like!
5. Go someplace for a half day – the beach, or a spa, and just unwind.

Overall – Try to plan your life and coaching business so that they flow pretty freely – you feel good, you receive reasonably substantial compensation for your coaching, and you are genuinely interested in what you do. Set this process as a goal or vision for yourself. Then, as you discover problems, trouble shoot them, and see if you can’t find the source of the strain. Redesign your process so the problem is resolved, or at least is less of a problem. Aim for a kind of breezy, fun, efficient existence!

Of Course – The interesting thing about a burnout analysis like this is that it sounds good -- but the trick is acting on it! If you just can’t get started, you know what to do…call a life coach!


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