Self-Care & Being A Virtual Assistant: Burnout Part 2
Practicing self-care and being a virtual assistant is essential to protect you from burnout and this is part two on the topic of burnout. If you missed last week’s blog be sure to read it to learn the main causes of burnout according to Harvard Business Review.
Last week we covered the first three main causes:
- Workload
- Perceived lack of control
- Reward
Read the full blog post here.
Now let’s discuss the remaining main causes of burnout.
4. Community
Not all communities are like-minded and created the same. Being part of a community filled with negativity and people constantly taking without ever giving back is very challenging. It takes your energy and doesn’t give you energy.
The Association of Virtual Assistants believes in the power of a positive like-minded community. When you spend your day and run a business that is built on supporting others, it is imperative that you have an entire community ready, willing, and able to support you. You were not meant to do business alone.
A supportive community is a place for you to not only conduct business, gain resources, and have professional development provided to you, but to engage personally and casually. Above all, you are a person first and foremost and the desire to be seen, heard, and appreciated is what the AVA does best in our members-only Slack community.
5. Fairness
We all know that life is not fair. When you own your own VA business you have the opportunity to create a more fair culture and be fair when you feel it is lacking. Since we are not competing with employees in fairness, what we can perceive as not being fair is not getting the recognition we want and desire from our clients and our peers.
In this situation, you must continue to speak, write, record, and keep getting your message out into the world. Comparing yourself and your business to anyone else’s is not fair to you. Don’t do it!
6. Values mismatch
This one can be tricky to recognize because when you first started working with your clients or even a member of your team the values and the steps to achieve those values could have been aligned. It is possible to share the same values and not agree on the next steps or what is valuable in the process. There doesn’t have to be any love lost, but when it’s not a match you are setting yourself up for failure and definite burnout.
The AVA is committed to providing virtual assistants the resources, tools, and like-minded community in Slack to practice self-care and avoid burnout.
To be supported in your daily self-care join the AVA.
We see you. We hear you. We value you.
