a business and life you love. And this is Q&A Tuesday. Today’s question comes from

Ronnie and she writes,

Dear Marie,

I'm a solo business owner and just don't feel excited about my own business anymore. I feel

like my career path is "blah" even though I'm doing well financially and have a great

team and clients. I've been feeling like this for over 2 years, but I’ve been a "good

girl" working hard - and I have to, I'm a mom. But it's NO FUN, and I frequently feel

down and sorta lost.

I thought I was burned out, but now I'm wondering if it's time for a career change, which scares

me. Is this crazy? And how does one differentiate between normal burnout and having outgrown

one's passion?

Thanks so much.

Ronnie, this is such a good question and I wish that I had you here sitting next to me

because I would just dig into it with you and we’d really get to the bottom of it!

But since we have this format here, I’m gonna give you four questions to ask yourself

to see whether or not you’re burned out and you just need to adjust some things, or

it’s time for a new career.

The fact that you referred to yourself as a “good girl” tells me that you’re very

aware of what other people think of you - you don’t want to disappoint anyone or let anyone

down.

1. So number one, let’s start off with what I call the “law test.” It’s a great

way to take peoples’ expectations out of the equation.

Imagine that a law was recently passed and you have to stop doing what you do and close

your business. It’s the law. Everyone in your industry is gonna have to do the same

thing. No more business.

Would you fight that law? Would you march at city hall to keep your business open? Or

would you be relieved so you could move on and create your next thing - without any guilt

or the feeling that you’re letting anyone down.  

Your honest answer to this question will tell you a lot. But let’s keep moving.

2. Number two - let’s talk about Time off: I’m curious Ronnie, how much time, (if any)

have you had off in the last 6 months? How much fun or adventure or inspiration have

you had in your life OUTSIDE of your business?

Even if we love what we do, if we don’t take time off to recharge - we can start to

get burnt out and then start to question all of our decisions and think, “Well maybe

it’s time for a big change.”

It’s kind of like your favorite food. I love mashed potatoes like nobody’s business.

But if I ate mashed potatoes every single day, pretty soon I’d hate mashed potatoes.

So if you’ve been working without a break, maybe you’re suffering from mashed potato

syndrome. You’re doing it way too much and you’re not gonna get the love and the passion

back unless you walk away and take a break.

3. Number 3, the 80/20 Rule: 80% of our frustration in business often comes from 20% of our business

activities. So take a look for yourself. Are there projects or clients that you just dread?

Are there things that you’re responsible for in your business that fall outside of

your genius zone? Are there appointments that you’re praying will be canceled?

They key to staying passionate in any career is to identify and remove 20% of the activities

that are just getting you frustrated.

One of the reasons I’m able to continue loving what I do is because I’m constantly

changing things up. If there’s something in my business that I’m just not feeling

anymore, it goes away. And that helps me to stay passionate and out of burnout.

4.  Finally number 4, are you using your natural strengths the majority of the time?

If you don’t know it, you need to get your hands on this book. It’s called Now Discover

Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. I read this book, I make my team read this book,

it has completely changed my life. So strengths are things that each of us have that we’re

naturally good at. So when we’re using our strengths the majority of the time we feel

strong, we feel passionate, we feel engaged. And when we’re not using our natural strengths,

we feel dissatisfied and we start leading towards burnout and that’s what makes us

wanna quit.

Oprah has an awesome free course her site with Marcus Buckingham all about finding your

strengths and using them at work. I’m gonna put a link below this video so you can check

them out. Now you’re probably gonna wanna watch the whole series because it’s awesome,

but pay special attention to video number 3 because it speaks directly to where you’re

at.

You have to trust that small voice inside of you that’s calling out to create something

new, to reinvent yourself, to move on to your next chapter. We’re all constantly growing

and changing and that includes our passions.

Is it scary? Absolutely, but if you’re clear it’s time to move on, you have to do it.

And as Helen Keller said, and yes it’s a tweetable, “One can never consent to creep

when one feels the impulse to soar.” 
- Helen Keller

One thing is for sure, when your soul is ready for a change, you can either do it consciously

and courageously and with eyes wide open

OR

You can pretend that you don’t hear the call, and you’ll wind up sabotaging your

business. You see, when you have that creative energy inside and you start to stifle it,

it’s gotta get directed somewhere and most of us will start to create destructive habits

like maybe overeating or drinking or just creating drama in our lives so we don't have

to face the REAL challenge of creating our next act.

Ronnie, that was my A to your Q. I’m really excited to hear your feedback on this one

so please keep us posted.

Now I know that Ronnie isn’t the only one who’s ever struggled with this issue. So

now I’d love to hear from you.

Have you ever lost the spark in your business? What’d you do to get it back? Have you ever

found yourself wondering whether or not it’s burnout or you should move on to your next

thing? And what steps did you take to find clarity and to get it done?

Remember, the best discussions happen after the episode over at MarieForleo.com so go

there, comment, and tell me YOUR story because I really wanna hear it.

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Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams. The world needs that special gift

that only YOU have.  Thank you so much for watching and I’ll catch you next time on

MarieTV!