Feeling both lazy & burnt out? Build better business habits
Have you ever had one of those days where you sat down to work on your business, but after an hour, you realized you´ve done absolutely nothing? You were just staring at the screen, your mind was blank, and you were left wondering why you couldn’t just "get it together."
Most women I talk to are incredibly good at holding everything together for everyone else, but when it comes to the life they are trying to build for themselves, they feel like they’ve hit a wall. It’s that heavy, frustrating feeling of being stuck - like you’re trying to run a marathon while dragging a massive, overpacked suitcase behind you. You’re putting in all the effort, but you aren't actually getting anywhere.
In the business world, we’re taught to track every single expense. We look at spreadsheets, software subscriptions, and tax returns to see where our money is going. But there is one "hidden" expense that most of us are completely blind to: the cost of staying the same.
This isn't just about feeling a little tired on a Friday afternoon. It’s the literal price you pay in your business growth, your physical health, and your ultimate freedom by trying to survive on a system that is clearly broken.
The Reality of the 9-5 Juggle
I know exactly what this feels like because I am right there in the thick of it with you. I haven’t reached that "perfect" freedom lifestyle yet, where I just wake up in a new country and work remotely. Right now, my reality is the same as yours: I’m balancing the structure and the mental load of a demanding 9-5 career with a growing business.
I’ve had those evenings where I finally closed my work laptop at the end of the day, walked over to the kitchen table to open my business laptop, and just... sat there. I felt absolutely nothing. No excitement, no "entrepreneurial spark" - just a hollow kind of exhaustion.
I realized then that if I didn't start accounting for the cost of my own energy right now, I would never actually reach the freedom I was working so hard for. If you’re waiting until you "make it" to start taking care of yourself, you’re paying a price that increases every single day.
Why fatigue makes your work day longer
Logically, we think that if we have a lot to do, we just need to work more hours. We treat ourselves like machines where Time x Effort = Output. But we aren't machines; we are humans with limited amounts of energy. When you’ve already given eight or nine hours of your best mental energy to your employer, your "business hours" in the evening are being fueled by the leftovers.
Think of it like trying to drive a car on a nearly empty tank. You can still drive, but you have to go slower, you can't accelerate, and you’re constantly worried about it stopping.
When you are rested, you can write an email or plan a strategy in 20 minutes. But when you’re drained, that same task often takes two hours. You find yourself re-reading sentences, getting distracted by your phone, and second-guessing your choices. If a task that should take 30 minutes takes you two hours because you’re tired, you aren't just losing time - you’re losing the momentum you need to eventually quit that 9-5. Staying the same isn't a neutral choice; it’s a choice to stay in the grind longer than you actually have to.
Decision Fatigue is Real
We often underestimate how much energy it takes to "switch gears." When you spend all day navigating office tasks, sitting in meetings, and solving someone else's problems, your brain is using up its limited supply of decision-making power.
By the time you sit down to work for yourself, you’re experiencing what is known as decision fatigue. This is why you might find yourself staring at your business tasks and feeling completely overwhelmed by small choices. It’s not that the task is hard; it’s that your brain has already made a thousand choices for your boss today, and it simply has nothing left for you. This prevents you from doing the high-level, creative thinking that actually scales a business.
Why You Feel "Stuck"
Building a business requires a high level of intuition. You need to be able to "feel" which project to take or which direction to move. However, chronic exhaustion kills that intuition.
When your nervous system is constantly on alert, your brain moves from "creative mode" into "survival mode." There is a biological explanation for this. In survival mode, your brain prioritizes safety and "getting through the day" over big-picture thinking. You stop leading your business and start just reacting to it.
Imagine you’re trying to navigate a ship through a storm. If you’re exhausted, you’re just trying to keep the water out of the boat. You aren't looking at the horizon or checking the compass to see if you’re even heading toward your destination. You can't scale a business when you’re too tired to think clearly about the next strategic move.
Borrowing from Your Future Freedom
In the F.R.E.E. Framework I use with my clients, we treat rest as a strategic business pillar. This is especially important for those of us working full-time. Your energy works like a bank account, and right now, your 9-5 is taking a massive withdrawal every single day before you even get a chance to work for yourself.
When you try to "power through" your tasks late at night or on your only day off, you are borrowing energy from your future self. You might get the work done, but you’re doing it by burning through your physical reserves.
It’s like using a high-interest credit card. You get the energy right now to finish that project, but the interest rate is astronomical. Eventually, the bank calls in the debt. This often shows up as overwhelm and burnout. The cost of a "forced stop" - where your body simply refuses to function - is much higher than the cost of setting boundaries today.
The Freedom Gap
The whole reason we want freedom is to live life on our own terms. But if you spend every waking hour working - first for your boss, then for yourself - without managing your energy, you’re just creating a new version of the same cage.
When you earn enough to book that dream trip, but you spend the whole time sleeping or feeling guilty because you’re too drained to actually explore, you haven't actually achieved freedom. You’ve just moved your exhaustion to a different country. The highest cost of staying the same is that you might reach your financial goals, but find you are too depleted to enjoy the reward. You forget why you even started this journey in the first place.
What are we actually afraid of?
When I talk to women about slowing down to speed up, I usually hear three main fears. Let's look at them logically:
"If I don't work every spare second, my business won't grow." Actually, the opposite is true. Working five hours at 20% capacity is less effective than working one hour at 100% capacity. When you prioritize your energy, you make your limited business hours more powerful.
"I don't have time for a long wellness routine." You don't need a three-hour morning ritual. Through my F.R.E.E. Framework, I recommend small, non-negotiable habits that protect your battery - like a 10-minute walk or a better sleep routine that gives you back two hours of focus later in the day.
"I should be able to handle this. Maybe I'm just lazy." If you’re holding down a 9-5 and building a business, you are the furthest thing from lazy. Self-criticism is one of the biggest energy leaks there is. What you need isn't more discipline; it's a better system for managing your human battery.
A Simple First Step
To stop paying the cost of staying the same, we have to see where the leaks are. Since your time is limited, we need to be surgical about how you spend it. I want you to try this:
Identify your "9-5 Leaks." What is one thing at your day job that drains you unnecessarily? Is it the mental drain of a coworker who vents to you for 20 minutes every afternoon? Or maybe it’s the habit of scrolling through Workplace on your phone while you eat, so your brain never actually gets a break from "employee mode."
Audit your "Business Hours." Look at your last few work sessions. How much of that time was spent actually moving the needle, and how much was "busy work" - like tweaking the colors on a graphic or re-organizing your folders - simply because you were too tired to focus on the harder, more important tasks?
Conclusion
The cost of staying the same is a price you don't have to keep paying. You can build a business and a life of freedom without destroying your health in the process. It starts with realizing that your energy is your most valuable business asset - more than your laptop, your website, or your following.
If you’re realizing that staying the same is a price you're no longer willing to pay, I’ve created a way for us to work together to fix it. My Master Your Time and Energy Program is designed specifically for women who are tired of the 9–5 juggle and ready to build a sustainable exit strategy.
In this program, we don’t just talk about "wellness" - we build concrete systems tailored to your real life. We look at:
Customized Time Management: Creating a clear, realistic schedule that actually makes your life and business feel manageable.
Focus and Productivity: Implementing habits that stop the afternoon energy crashes and eliminate those late-night work sessions.
Energy-Led Boundaries: Learning how to set boundaries that feel natural rather than stressful, so your clients and your employer respect your time.
Guilt-Free Recovery: Building protocols so you can actually rest and switch your brain off without feeling like you’re falling behind.
One of my clients, Mariam, was in this exact same spot. She had spent five years with her life revolving entirely around work and felt completely stuck. After we built her personalized system, she shared:
Working with Solveig was a true turning point. From our very first session, we created a clear and realistic schedule that finally made my life, work, and business feel manageable. I learned practical, easy-to-apply tools to manage my time and energy, and for the first time, setting boundaries felt simple and natural rather than stressful. I no longer experience afternoon energy crashes or late-night cravings because Solveig helped me implement habits that dramatically improved my focus and productivity. I now get more done in less time during my dedicated work hours.
If you’re looking to break the patterns you've been stuck in and start feeling energized again, let’s see if this is the right fit for you. You can book a free time and energy audit call with me by tapping the button below. We’ll look at your specific challenges and start mapping out a plan to get your time and energy back.
