Tuesday, 26 April 2016

How LEGO Helped Me Overcome Professional Burnout

There’s a book by Seth Godin called The Dip that explores something every entrepreneur asks themselves every morning:
Is today the day that I quit?
On most days, we continue the good fight against our inner demons. We somehow find the courage and strength to rebuke the you’re-not-good-enough voices inside our heads. On most days, we are on auto-pilot, tending to our businesses until breaking point.
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My Dip

In 2015, my business was falling apart around me. I got to a point where I almost didn’t care. Or rather, I told myself that I didn’t care because trying to fix the mistakes was an overwhelming thought I did not want to address.
Over 18-months, I had built a multi-photographer business model, complete with a physical office, a studio manager, and in-house editor. Due to a significant change in my personal circumstances, I stopped caring about my customers. I didn’t mentor my staff as I should have. As a result, referrals stopped. Business dwindled. Cash flow was dead.
On one morning in May 2015, I gave up. I was completely burnt out.

The Girlfriend Bought Me 60072

The then girlfriend surprised me one day with the Demolition Starter Kit (for obvious reasons, I wifed her). She knew that I was going through a rough patch and that I had an almost disdain for photography. Not knowing what to do, she saved my life by (a) coming into my life and (b) giving me a set of LEGO to cheer me up.


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