Three Practical Ways For Entrepreneurs To Destress

Stress is an unavoidable part of modern life. And while you can’t realistically hope to completely eliminate it, entrepreneurs tend to suffer it more than most. When you’re trying to launch your own business, pitch to investors, find clients, chase invoices, run marketing campaigns, network and balance the books, that’s a pretty big daily burden of stress to deal with by anyone’s standards. Self-care and stress management can often seem like a luxury in that context. But the truth is, as a small business owner, you are your own biggest asset. If your mental or physical health fails, then so will your business. So, learning successful strategies to deal with the unavoidable stress you fail should be as much a part of your business plan as content marketing and securing seed funding. The trick is finding practical ways to make it work for you.

Take Back Control Of Your Schedule

One of the many motivating factors behind starting your own business is usually a wish to be able to work more flexibly and have more control over your own schedule. However, when you make the leap you might soon find that the first thing you seem to lose control of is your schedule. There are so many competing demands on your time, and before you know it your week is accounted for, you’re bogged down in admin, and you’re pulling late nights and early mornings just to be able to find more time. Reasserting control of your own schedule is the first step to stress management. Resist the nagging fear that you’re missing out if you create boundaries on your time. You don’t need to pounce immediately on every email – make a personal rule not to check beyond a certain time in the evening. And if you want to finish at 5:30? Then you should. Block out your most productive time of the day to deep-dive on tasks, and if anyone tries to encroach on that time, ask them to reschedule.

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Make Me Time Important

The concept of ‘me time’ can seem self-indulgent when you have empires to build. But taking time to be our authentic selves is essential as a release from the daily pressure. Find something that makes you feel like you – it could be a sport like running, tennis or trying an mma, it could simply be getting outside in nature, or it could simply be spending time with family and friends. Safeguard this time by adding it as an appointment into your diary, and see it as an essential part of maintaining your health.

Create Some Structure

Running your own small business can usually be summed up in one word – chaos! Juggling so many different tasks and trying to build your company means tasks can overlap and bleed into each other. The future can be uncertain –  and that creates stress. Take a stand against it by injecting some order into the chaos wherever possible. Install systems and processes which work for you. Find structures for organising your inbox, diary, and client meetings, software for managing invoices and apps that pre schedule your social media campaigns. There are amazing technological fixes for most things – and a lot of free stuff out there you can use to make your life easier.