In the blink of an eye, your entire life can change. Everything that felt familiar, comforting and "normal" can be ripped from your hands like a toddler no longer wanting to share his toys. You tell yourself that it's not fair. You worked too hard to have it all fall apart. The sleepless nights, the long days, the endless blood, sweat and tears that now seem like a foolish pursuit. Here’s a path forward paved with hope.

Running a business is a chaotic jumble of ideas, projects and tasks thrown into a battle royale competing for your time. Mental and physical exhaustion are worn like a badge of honour. And rather than serve as a time for rest, the weekend acts as a buffer to catch up on work you didn't finish during the week. That sense of freedom that drew you into entrepreneurship feels like you've been catfished on an MTV reality show. Are you scrambling through your day without an idea of how to improve what's clearly not working?

Life is too short to not be pursuing the best opportunity you know of. It's probably hard. It's most likely scary. And it's something that you might not feel ready to do. Which brings us to the question… do you really need to think more, or is it simply a matter of doing the work?

This is a story about taking a stance to remain in control of your freedom. Regardless of how much money you're making, the car you're driving or the house you live in, if someone is telling you where to be, what to do and how to do it, you don't have freedom. I mention each of these areas because it's an integral part of the conversation on work-life balance. So, now you’re probably wondering, how the hell do you eliminate burnout once and for all?

Showing up is the hardest part. And this is why we rarely get traction with new habits or fall off the horse with existing goals. These moments where you feel burnt out, overwhelmed or frustrated with a lack of progress are not a sign of failure unless you give up. When you give up and throw in the towel, you're telling yourself a story that shapes all your future goals and beliefs. "I give up when things get hard."

There's a common belief that entrepreneurship means you no longer get stuck with work you don't want to do. You'll only work on projects that you're passionate about. It's a large part of what drew me in, the thought that I'd never deal with soul-sucking busy work again. Except with any business, there are elements that feel anything but passionate. The key to making it all run smoothly is giving yourself some rules to play by.