THE BLAHS - BUSINESS BURNOUT
You’ve been on a roll. You’ve been doing OK - just.
But your company has just increased your quota and you are scared looking at the job reports on TV. Today you feel like you have just hit a wall.
It’s burnout. Also called the Blahs. It happens to everyone.
It used to happen in early January when I was in the travel business.
Every December, around the 15th, there would be a huge barrage of business. This is when people realized no one had invited them for Christmas dinner and they did not have a date for New Years Eve.
They all said the same thing. “Get me out of here! Anywhere!”
It was a challenge to find space. But, we did it.
The first week of January, my whole office was staring into space. Exhausted. Tapped out.
This nightmare happens to all people in sales. It may be combined with the information that you have a new boss who is fired up - and your company comes out with a huge new promotion and they want you on it. Now.
I remember getting a call from a client who was inquiring about a World Cruise that first week in January. That could be a $100,000. booking and the thought went through my head, “Why are you bothering me?” (PS - that could be up to a $10,000 commission)
The blahs pass. But, in the meantime, although there are many components to a new sales promotion or a World Cruise, you have to do SOMETHING.
Visualize a tea kettle simmering on the stove. You may not be ready or interested in making tea but you have to keep it whistling. People usually will leave you alone if you give them the appearance of activity by giving them frequent updates on what you seem to be doing.
In the case of a World Cruise, you have to at least make the call and book a cabin. Get it started. Confirm it to the client.
This is where voice mail becomes your friend. You know when your boss is out or when your client may be busy. Email is also good. Frequent ones describing your efforts to promote your product or finalizing arrangements. You are working on it.
People don’t always demand action - they want to know they have your attention.
After you have nailed down the urgent beginnings - take the rest of the day off. Go home and take a nice nap.
The blahs come. But they also go.
The successful person that you are is still inside you.
By tomorrow, they may have passed. A week from now, no one will be the wiser about your goofing off.
Tell us -
How do you get over the blahs? We need to know!
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Hi Corinne,
Wow you you’re in the travel business. I’m also trying to start one myself.
Last month I had an episode of blah…Then I took a week off doing things opposite of internet marketing.
After the “break” I had problems coming back to my notebook, so I started slowly by checking emails, reading everyone’s blog and slowly get into the mood of working.
It’s a bit like starting to exercise after a long holiday :-). But once I got started, I kept reminding myself why am I doing this and things picked up again.
Now I’m a bit wiser, at the onset of blahs, I take half a day off to get refreshed.
Rgds,
Hai Liang
Dear Hai Liang -
Actually, I sold my travel agency in the early 90’s but I still do some travel for old clients from home. Usually only complicated trips because so much can be done by people themselves now on the Internet.
Tell me your plans. Maybe I can help you in some way.
But I liked your comments on how you get out of the blahs. Looks like they worked! You are blogging away.
Time off is important. I think we all get burned out. Especially bloggers. I never realized at the beginning this was a J-O-B.
Is there anything worse than July in Chicago? Maybe August in Manhattan. I’ve been in sales in this burg since 1981 and for all these 27 Julys, I’ve gone a little bit nuts. Same with November here. This town has one mood and one mood only and they are all doing the same thing at the same time. I don’t have the blahs but Chicagoans do - no work gets done in summer here especially July. They get a little nervous in August and scared to death by Labor day because they have been “loafing” all summer and then the guilt kicks in. This town, being so catholic, lives its life in semesters. It’s either “after Labor Day” or “after the first”. ANY HOLIDAY, Halloween, Valentine’s Day or even Casimir Pulaski Day NO ONE works and not just for that day —- THEY DON’T WORK FOR THE WHOLE WEEK. Shocking to people from other cities. (One client from Seattle is still speechless about how much this town drinks - She said “My god, they even drink at breakfast here!” (what’s wrong with that?)
So, what to do? Go away if you can, if you can’t, then make a little Margaritaville for yourself and cut back. I always use this time for marketing and implementing those new ideas ..but kick back in your mind and give yourself a break because the workers will soon be working again and the snow will be flying before you can finish that margarita … or god forbid — try this — read a real book at the beach.
Dear Violet Lily Rose -
As usual, your comments are priceless! Thanks for our laugh of the day.
New York, FYI, is worse. No one works on the weekends for the entire summer. They go away. The city is deserted.
The weekend begins on Wednesday night and ends on Tuesday morning.
So be grateful for Chicago - at least there is someone around sometime.
I like to kick back and read something I’ve been wanting to read in my recliner under the air-conditioning vent.
Summer in the south is really hot and humid. Just standing still outside in the shade will make you sweat your clothes through. Actually doing something, like cutting grass or cleaning up the yard, could cause heat exhaustion in less than an hour. Since the grass does have to be cut here at least 8 out of 12 months, I take it easy from mid-May through mid-September. I mow the back one day, the front another and clean up branches and weeds a third day each week. I get three days of exercise without heat stroke. I used to try to get all the yard work done in one day and it darned near killed me, so I quit and started taking a much more southern attitude toward it. Do a little, then rest and cool off.
School starts in early August and so does tutoring. Fortunately, the libraries are freezing cold so we get a break from the heat early in the school year. If I tutor in the summer, it’s also a nice break. 66 degrees beats the heck out of 95 and 80% humidity! I have to wear long pants and a jacket in the library if I’ll be there more than one hour.
I tend to get the blahs at Christmas if it’s warm enough to wear shorts. It just doesn’t feel right when it’s hot at Christmas time. I guess we should try one of those winter vacations somewhere cold and snowy.
Thanks for a timely summer article,
Sherri
Debt Free or Bust - Sherris last blog post..What’s wrong with following a financial cult?
Dear Sherri -
Thanks for painting such a clear picture of yourself! It is fun to get to know people you communicate with on the blogs.
Just to commiserate - it has been close to 100 in Chicago these past few days.
I do what you do. Stay in and play with my computer or read!
Sometimes we need to draw back from the blahs, especially when our coworkers, friends, and acquaintances all are out of town sending us postcards from exotic locales, and realize that we only live in this moment. So kick back and enjoy the here and now!
I usually find some housekeeping activities Corinne. ‘Busy work’ to get me through the day. There’s a certain amount of satisfaction in doing these tasks: they’re easy to complete and they’re not demanding. It’s part of my Procrastination as a Productivity Tool method.
Well after seeing your photo as a 2 year old and laughing my head off and writing a comment to you…I decided that I wasn’t sufficiently out of my “blahs” enough to go back to doing what I need to be doing right now so I went to what looked like the first post you ever wrote. I figured I could start from the beginning and work my way up…sort of like when you find a great tv series on Netflex that you can watch without the commercials.
I had no idea you were so funny. What a joy. I am in heaven. Sharon
Sharon Becks last blog post..Is it “Fear”? Or “Excitement”