He felt it immediately when he took a sabbatical: a kind of paralysis. Entrepreneur Merijn Everaarts decided to take a break in 2022 and came to the conclusion that he had burnout. Three months off suddenly became almost a year.

Everaarts had had enough on his plate: the corona dip of his refillable water bottle company Dopper, the giga-building of his co-working spot Oceans and the launch of his vegan restaurant Mama Gaia. That had taken its toll.

'I always thought: ridiculous if you have burnout. Surely you can work a little hard. I come from the hospitality industry, even 15-hour days were not very strange for me,' he says in the podcast The Work Professor. 'But I now understand that it's not so much to do with working hard or putting in a lot of hours, but specifically that you're out of place. Or that you're not comfortable in your own skin because of the work you're doing.'

Micromanaging

Everaarts tended to micromanage, pulling everything to himself and maintaining control. This approach was successful in the early days of Dopper, but became increasingly problematic as the company grew. He became the bottleneck of his own company. The pressure increased further when Everaarts started two new companies in addition to Dopper.

'What has been instilled in me in trainings I've had on entrepreneurship is: don't work in your business, work on your business. So get out and observe, and lead that way. It was pretty clear to me that I was literally and figuratively in it. So that's been a wise lesson.'

Takeaways from the podcast:

• Importance of mental health - Everaarts emphasized how essential mental health is for entrepreneurs, illustrated by his personal experience with burnout and taking a sabbatical to recover.
• Work án rather than ín your business - Successful business is not just about the direct work in the business, but more importantly about building the organization, delegating tasks, and trusting and empowering employees.
• Structures for support - Everaarts stresses the importance of implementing structures within an organization that support mental health, such as using services like OpenUp, to promote a healthy work-life balance and prevent burnout.

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‍Links】.

More about Merijn Everaarts

Listen to the previous podcast episode 'Merijn Everaarts on the success of his dopper' here

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More about the Working Professor

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