We live in times that are highly challenging but within these challenges are immense opportunities for growth and evolution. Those who own and lead a business can tap into the possibilities to keep expanding their creative potentials and productive capacities.

However, the facts tell us that those in business are feeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed and even burning out while trying to keep up with the rapid changes happening.

Studies show that there are a number of factors that cause these issues.

A study by Harvard said “some evidence suggests that entrepreneurs are more at risk of burnout because they tend to be extremely passionate about work and more socially isolated, have limited safety nets, and operate in high uncertainty. This has important consequences for economic growth — entrepreneurial firm failure and bankruptcy is likely to contribute significantly to the $300 billion that burnout costs the U.S. annually.”

 

This study by Harvard Business Review explains one of the major reasons of entrepreneur burnout.

They measured two types of entrepreneur PASSION:

1.“Harmonious passion, which means someone is motivated by the job because it brings them satisfaction and is an important part of who they are.”
2. “Obsessive passion, which means the job is important to someone because of the status, money, or other rewards that it brings.”

“According to the study, harmoniously passionate entrepreneurs were able to balance their job with other activities in their lives without experiencing conflict, guilt, or negative effects when not engaging in work. Consequently, they found that those entrepreneurs had a significantly smaller chance of suffering from feelings of burnout.

In contrast, entrepreneurs who were obsessively passionate about their business viewed their career as important because of certain pressures or outcomes. They were concerned about social acceptance, status, money, and other outcomes associated with being an entrepreneur. They reported having a hard time paying attention at work; they were often distracted by thinking about the roles and responsibilities they were neglecting (such as family and staying healthy) because of their obsessive passion.

They said they couldn’t live without their work and felt a strong urge to work in their companies 24/7. Moreover, they felt emotionally dependent on their work, had difficulty imagining their lives without their work, and felt their mood depended on them being able to work. ” – Culled from HBR.ORG. Read more here

 

The Organizing Academy also carried out studies on how entreprenuers and business leaders can become more thriving.

Our research and findings show that business leaders are searching for effective ways to manage their priorities, handle the increasing demands of life, gain a deeper sense of fulfillment, find work-life balance, lean into their natural capabilities, become more thriving in their lives and build more stable and sustainable business.

As the business landscape becomes more and more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, the ability to harmonize one’s life is a now a life skill that those who lead a business must adopt. Beyond improving their business peformance, we’re importantly helping our clients improve their self awareness and self mastery with proven Life Harmony Frameworks and programs.

If you own or lead a business, you need proven strategies and systems to help you effectively integrate all areas of life, as the lines between work (business or career) becomes increasingly blurry.

Obsessive passion is simply not sustainable and can negatively impact not just you but those around you (your families, teams and friends).

Based on the study by Harvard and our own findings, it suffices to say that embracing harmonious passion and a harmonious life can improve entrepreneur well-being and decrease burnout which will ultimately improve business outcomes.

Dear visionary and impact-driven CEO, Founder, Business Owner. It’s time to pause, reflect and determine what kind of passion you have for your business and work and start taking any required actions towards a enjoying a thriving life and business.

If you’re ready to take action now, we have proven programs to help you embrace a more harmonious life, ensure a more harmonious leadership and build a more harmonious business.

 

See The Harmonious Life course via image

 

See The Harmonious Leader course via image

See The Harmonious Business Course here

See The Harmonious Business Coaching here

 

Looking forward to serving you,

 

To a Harmonious Life, Leadership and Business

Jesmine Onyeukwu