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Stress is often synonymous with business ownership.
Let me tell you something, it doesn’t have to be!
To be truly effective at running a business you’ll need to learn how to eliminate the stressors you can and manage what remains.
No matter how hard you try you’ll never be able to get rid of all your stress.
Stress is something that will always be there. You only need to get good at controlling it.
Oftentimes controlling stress means learning to control yourself.
It seems like there’s always too much to be done. I can remember times when I felt so stressed I didn’t even know where to begin or why I was so stressed in the first place.
Here are the steps you can take to reduce and manage the stress in your business (and personal) life.
Identify your stressors
You can only fix a problem when you know what the problem is. Ask yourself the following questions.
What makes me anxious?
Who annoys me at work or in social circles?
What makes me uncomfortable?
What issues at home or work stress me out the most?
What areas of my business make me feel out of control?
Where do the major problems lie in my business?
When you ask yourself these questions you’ll start to build a picture of what your source of stress is. Being honest with yourself about what causes your stress is the first step. You may not be able to answer all of these or you may find all your stress in one question!
Just writing the answers down will be enough to start reducing your stress. For me, identifying my problems is all I need to get me feeling better.
Develop ways to reduce stress
The best way to deal with stress is to not have any in the first place.
If there are people in your life that cause you stress try and find ways to avoid them. If the stressful person in your life is someone who works for you then maybe it’s time to let them go.
Your employees should be there to reduce your stress. If they’re not, something’s wrong.
Naturally, when a new employee starts they may create some stress for you, but over time, you’ll find that they make life much easier.
– Just say no!
This is a big one I’ve been working on over the past few years. I had a tendency to say yes to everyone who called me and asked for something. In the last couple years I’ve become more selfish and it’s been great.
Examine every request of your time and only say yes to those you truly respect and want to help. This goes for your business and life outside work. After some time you’ll find it easier and easier to do. You notice that with most requests the stress/benefit ratio is nowhere near worth you saying yes.
– Avoid uncomfortable situations where possible.
Many times you do things or commit to things you don’t like or are uncomfortable. I’m not sure why this happens and sometimes it’s unavoidable, most of the time it’s not.
Look for social and business situations you hate.
How can you avoid them?
Is there someone else you could delegate this task to? Oftentimes there is someone who can handle this situation or task for you. If there isn’t can you find a way to make it less stressful for you? What about it do you find stressful?
Diffuse the stress you can’t eliminate
Sometimes the stress you have is created by a situation or person that’s unavoidable. Now what?! You’ll need to learn how to deal with it.
For example, not having enough cash in your business isn’t something you can delegate or say ‘no’ to. This is something you’re going to have to address.
Develop a plan of attack. Knowing a cash crunch is causing a lot of stress is the first step in fixing it. Develop a cash flow schedule that looks at how the money moves through your company.
When will you have plenty of cash?
When are you going to be short and why?
Answering these questions will tell you when you need to land some more work and how much money you need to take in. The situation may not be as bad as you thought and the solution to your stress could be very manageable.
If it’s worse than you expected then it’s great you realized now instead of later! You’ll have more time to react instead of being blindsided.
The stress reducer of having a plan can apply to many different stressful situations. I often go into stressful client meetings with an agenda. It always puts my mind at ease and helps me cope with the stress of the meeting.
What are other ways to make the stress in your business more manageable?
Healthy habits for stress
There are also things you can do as part of your everyday life to reduce stress and make you feel better. They’re pretty simple things that can have a big impact.
Getting exercise by walking or lifting weights can be a great stress reducer.
Going to bed early and getting enough sleep.
Eat better. Downing a double cheeseburger to make yourself feel better is only going to make you feel worse later on, even though it may taste great at the time!
Volunteering can help you feel better and less stressed. Make sure you’re careful with this one. Volunteering too much can have the opposite effect.
It’s very important that you don’t deal with stress in a negative way. Drinking, smoking and other bad habits will only make things worse in the long run.
Take days off. You may like to work seven days a week because you love what you do but it can be taking a toll on your stress levels. You need time to reset and daydream. Make sure you take a couple days per week off to enjoy hobbies or other fun activities.
Things you can do when feeling stressed
Go for a walk.
We will often do this at work when we’re feeling really overwhelmed or stressed out. It feels good to go outside and take a few minutes to reset. You can organize your thoughts and develop a mini plan for the rest of your day.
Make a list and tackle things one at a time. I do this daily.
Make a list of all the good things that are happening. You’ll feel better and relaxed almost instantly.
Call a friend and talk for a little while. Getting your mind off things and talking with a good friend puts you in a better frame of mind.
Stress is something that comes with the territory of business ownership but it’s also very controllable. It only gets out of control when you let it.
What stresses you out?