87- Entrepreneurs need backburners to deal with future stress

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In this episode of The Struggling Biz, we discuss the theme that entrepreneurs today really need to have what are considered Buffers, Breakwaters and Backburners in order to have a balanced lifestyle and avoid the stresses caused by today’s uncertain calamities and environment.

This theme is examined in a recent podcast episode in Todd Henry’s podcast show called The Accidental Creative.

The content of this podcast episode caught my attention when I realized that the entire year of 2020 was filled with too much stress, over-socialization and external tension due to the media, the censorship of the Silicon Valley social media platforms and the politics of the day during the elections of 2020. And I saw that what was needed most of all is the “backburners” that a good entrepreneur should have in order to deal with this onslaught in order to stay healthy, productive, creative, prolific and deliver excellent results in the small business.

By BUFFERS, Todd describes aspects that help the entrepreneur to either ramp-up or ramp-down from important meetings, telephone calls or zoom calls or tasks that demand immediate attention by being connected day-to-day on a 24-hour basis (especially with the media). By BREAKWATERS, Todd delivers some strategies to defend your sanity and your calm from the horrendous activities and overwhelming waves to your attention that have developed by the hype of the media and the scam-demics of the Covid virus crisis.

These two can be kept in check by limiting your attention that is called upon by the immediacy of the world caused by the hype of the media and the social media platforms.

But for me, the key aspect is that of BACKBURNERS. This strategy develops other activities to help you disengage from the continuing attention of the business. This strategy can succeed by getting a new or different hobby or some education that can be a distraction from the business for a short while. This can not only give you a new area of excitement to delve into a different world of content and learning, but it can also re-energize you in such a way where your distraction from the business can help to spawn newer and fresher ideas when you return to your disciplined planning for your entrepreneurial business. Taking a new course to learn a new skill (or polish an older skill that may have had a lack of practice recently), as well as receive some continuing education in another discipline may be so rewarding that you may actually become a newer subject matter expert in this area. And in this way, you may be on the road to a future exit strategy and go into a newer road in life other than your entrepreneurial venture.

For this entrepreneur, I may suggest that a “backburner” strategy places you in the midst of activities that are not only rewarding, but necessary for continuing the creative growth of your mind and your business. In fact, you may even have better creative results because you have had the chance to step away from being so close to the business that sometimes “you cannot see the forest for the trees” and therefore have a crisp and recent approach to the problems and stresses of your small business.

As Todd explains in an email sent to describe backburners in the episode: “… some way of engaging creatively beyond our on-demand work. This might look like developing a new skill, establishing a hobby, or finding some way of expressing ourselves and taking creative risks that are relatively actually low-risk because no one is judging our work.”

For myself, I had a backburner strategy for many years as I participated in the performing arts as a dancer — and because of that, I was hired by a University to teach dance classes for over 10 years. Not only was it rewarding, but also it was physically healthy and very self-satisfying. I not only enlarged my circle of influence, but I was able to do something that I had always longed for — that is, to be an instructor at a university.

So, although we will NOT go into the buffer or breakwater strategy in this episode (even though we plan to do so in later ones), we recommend that you find your own BACKBURNER strategy that can help you become a better entrepreneur by providing you with a healthier environment and keep your creativity and passion for the business in growth as an entrepreneur.

For this, I recommend that you listen to the episode from Todd Henry on Buffers, Backburners and Breakwaters so that you can understand the nature of these strategies not only in the world of creativity, but also in the stressful environment of today and tomorrow in a world of uncertainty and oversocialization.

And I hope that you can successfully document your strategies for including these three elements in your planning for life, as well as for your business, so that you can become a more successful entrepreneur.

Thank you for your attention.