Beating stress is a life skill for entrepreneurs.
Being pulled in ten different directions at once is pretty much a standard working week in the life of a small business owner. There are invoices to chase, orders to sort out, suppliers to source – the list can be never-ending. And yet this constant, low-level stress tends to be ignored until it eventually flares up into something serious that can’t be confined to the bottom of an ever-growing to-do list. Proactively seeking out ways to manage stress, balance your work and home life and prioritise your own wellbeing needs to be as much a part of your business strategy as appealing to investors or developing your marketing – without you there is no business to speak of, after all.
Finding A Solution To Stress
A little stress is a good thing – it can spur us on to find creative solutions and be more productive. But too much stress has the opposite effect – we become unable to focus, burnt out and stuck working hard rather than smart. With 45 per cent of entrepreneurs reporting feeling too stressed, it’s more of a problem in small business than anywhere else. So how do you learn to manage it positively?
Delegation Is Key
When your business is your baby, and you’ve poured hard work into getting it up and running, learning to let others handle things can be hard. However, learning the art of effective delegation is empowering for you and for your employees or the agencies you work with. Decide which things can be easily handled by someone else or outsourced, and which you must handle yourself. There are a bunch of routine admin tasks you can find automated solutions for, using programmes like ELMO remuneration software to pay invoices and tools like Trello for collaborative working to cut the time spent on neverending email trails. This way your own energy and creativity is reserved for setting new goals and driving the business forward.
Find A Handy Hobby
Putting all your focus into just one area is unhealthy – you need something away from the business to relax you. Many who work in an office environment all day find something more hands-on to be a great hobby- that could be something crafty like upcycling pieces of furniture, or something physical like a team sport to help you let off steam. Tasks like this can help you channel stress in a constructive way. You could even try finding a hobby that you can do together with your family, like mountain biking – that way you can combine it with spending quality time with your loved ones.
Unplug From It All
You should also regularly make time for a bit of quiet. Switch your phone off, unplug from your email and step away from the social media. Recognise the value of silence to your wellbeing. If you find it hard to completely switch off, try a mindfulness app to help you learn to tune out. We don’t have to cram every minute of our days with noise – sometimes a little silence really is golden when it comes to managing stress.
* This post has been written by an outside source for Morning Business Chat.
