How Perfectionism Causes Entrepreneur Burnout

As a highly sensitive or neurodivergent solopreneur, you likely know that you have to be very aware of your energetic capacity, and perhaps even that you have a lower energetic capacity than neurotypical people.

But what if perfectionism is not only the culprit for eating away your time in your business, but also draining you of more energy than you realized?

Learning how to support myself through perfectionism somatically (with body-based support) has returned more energy to me than I thought possible as a HSP and neurodivergent business owner.

Perfectionism Doesn’t Just Cost You Time, It Costs You Energy

When I was stuck in perfectionism in my business, I was very aware of the time suck that it was, but I wasn’t as aware of the impact on my energy.

I’d sit down to write a blog post and it would take me days, poring over every word and endlessly editing.

Perfectionism also showed up in my client work: I needed to make sure I said and did the perfect thing in order to support them.

It was obvious for me to see that I could do some of these tasks more quickly if I wasn’t caught in the perfectionism trap, but it wasn’t until I learned how to support myself somatically with perfectionism and I began to be able to show up in my business imperfectly that I felt such a palpable difference in the amount of energy I had in my days while working on my business.

Most Often It’s How You’re Working That’s the Culprit

Because time slipping away as you’re trying to work on your business when you’re stuck in perfectionism is so apparent, it’s easy to get trapped in trying to optimize your schedule.

You may find yourself thinking that if you found the “perfect” schedule (there it is again) that it would solve the problem of why you feel burnt out and overwhelmed when working on your business.

In both my personal experience and my experience with my clients, it’s almost always HOW you are working that is the primary energy drain leading to burnout, even if you are passionate about your work and love what you do.

Think about it this way: how much energy does it take to hold a beach ball under water, to prevent it from “popping up” onto the surface and floating, as is its natural tendency?

Trying to force ourselves to present ourselves perfectly, to say everything perfectly, and do everything perfectly takes a tremendous amount of energy because we are fighting so hard to conceal our gloriously imperfect, authentic selves. That takes a huge amount of energy.

We can have so much compassion for ourselves and how perfectionism has felt necessary for us to be accepted in the world while still recognizing how it’s contributing to our burnout.

What’s Possible In Your Business When Perfectionism Isn’t Running the Show

Perfectionism had been a lifelong crutch that was very easy to lean on to make me feel enough, especially as a HSP because self-criticism came so easily.

When I finally learned how to sense the sensations that perfectionism brought up in my body, learned how to be with that discomfort, and simultaneously show my body that despite the discomfort of those sensations, that I was actually safe in the present moment, I was then free to start taking messy, imperfect action in my business.

That resulted in not only more pieces of valuable work to share with my clients and audience, but also way more energetic capacity to work.

Before (stuck in perfectionism): Days or weeks to complete a blog post

After: A few hours to complete a blog post

Before: Not even attempting to start a podcast because of being paralyzed at the thought of how much effort it would be

After: Creating one thumbnail, a very basic YouTube channel, and uploading podcast episodes unedited. My podcast was created in less than a week.

Before: Too afraid to start a membership because of how many things I’d need to do “perfectly” (back end administrative tasks, but also client delivery)

After: Started a membership and marketed it while it was far from complete. My membership had 21 people when it first launched.

How much energy would you get back if you could actually lean into showing up imperfectly in your business?

Burnout to Balance

Running a business as a highly sensitive or neurodivergent person is just a coverup for the greatest invitation for self-acceptance you’ll ever receive.

I don’t know of anyone who is a HSP or neurodivergent entrepreneur who will be able to sustainably make it running a business long term without grappling with learning to embrace their unique sensitivities, wiring, authentic selves, and acting accordingly.

The actual “nuts and bolts” of running a business is not typically where the challenge lies.

It’s in HOW you’re working that drains your energy and leads to burnout of even the most earnest solopreneurs: the perfectionism, the people-pleasing, the masking, the “shoulding” yourself, and doing things the way you see others being successful instead of what works for you and the way you’re uniquely wired.

Ultimately, the disconnection from yourself, your truth, and your body is what leads to burnout, even doing something that you love and is aligned for you.

In my upcoming 8 week live cohort based course, Burnout to Balance, we will get to the root of your burnout to help you recover from it, and prevent it from ever happening again.

We begin by starting with a self-compassionate lens on why burnout is more prominent for HSP/neurocomplex individuals.

Then we dive into where burnout actually comes from, and help you to get in touch with your true energetic capacity somatically. This process is highly experiential and something you’ll learn to be attuned to everyday while you work.

Lastly, we learn how to make decisions in our business that are grounded in our true energetic capacity.

By the end of our time together, you’ll be highly aware of how your body communicates your true energetic capacity to you, have tangible tools to help you support yourself with any energy drains in your business, and know exactly how to make all decisions in your business in a way that is congruent with your energetic capacity.

The result? The way you run your business will give you more energy instead of depleting it, even as a HSP or neurocomplex person.

If this is sounding good to you, we start at the end of January, once we are settled into the New Year (I’d much prefer a grounded start).

Feel free to check out the sales page.

I’m so excited to share this offering with you. It feels the closest to my heart yet.

It’s possible to run your business in a way that gives you energy, even as a HSP/neurocomplex person. That’s news that is worth shouting from the rooftops.

XX,

Kim