Stress Management Tips for Leaders and Business Owners
- Updated: May 3, 2024
Being a successful business owner requires you to be relaxed and at ease. If worries, frustration, and stress are negatively impacting your life, it can mean disaster for your business. As a life coach for entrepreneurs, I want to help you regain clarity in all areas of your life.
In this article, we will discuss five simple and effective strategies to banish stress. First, let’s talk about why it is difficult to find calm and serenity as a business owner.
Why a business owner can struggle with stress management
When Passion Turns into Obsession: The Entrepreneur’s Journey
For many of us, creating a business is a dream come true. We may have thought about our business for many years before starting it, and once we did, we had a vision of what it could be and how it could help others.
At first, it may have felt like nothing was happening with our business. We were spending money, promoting ourselves, and it felt as if nobody even noticed or cared. Yet, eventually we started to see momentum, such as more clients, increased revenue, and the ability to hire team members.
We may have thought to ourselves, “Okay, let’s lean into this.” We worked hard, put in the hours, and saw the fruit of our labor.
However, there comes a moment when the dream blurs into something more. This is where we may feel guilt or even shame when we’re away from our business for a day or two. Too many of us become obsessed with our business, lacking any form of healthy work-life balance.
Your dream may have turned into a monster. And, left unchecked, worshipping your business may drive you towards madness because there is no disconnect from the grind.
Unfortunately, entrepreneurship is called ‘The Grind’ for a good reason. Because you’ve trained your mind to think about your business constantly, you have never learned how to turn your mind “off” from it.
Your business may occupy your first thoughts in the morning and be your last thoughts as you try to go to sleep. You may think of your new product launch while walking the dog or perhaps ponder whether you need to hire (or fire) a team member during lovemaking with your partner.
The stress monster called unrealized goals and dreams
Your dream may have turned into a monster. And, left unchecked, worshipping your business may drive you towards madness because there is no disconnect from the grind.
Stress is a common issue that faces entrepreneurs. Because so much emphasis was placed on the business, your mental, physical, or spiritual health may have been compromised.
Next, we will talk about how to banish stress before it causes serious damage to not just our physical, spiritual, or mental health, but also harm your business. The first step is to create or improve your self-care.
Three Tips to Improve Your Stress Management
The best way to prevent stress from turning into burnout is through self-care. Self-care involves avoiding prioritizing activities, people, places, and things that do not help improve your mental, spiritual, and physical health.
You should also remove unproductive and harmful influence we feel regarding ourselves and our current environment. Therefore, we must not ignore them but use them as signals, leading us to investigate their origin in order to diminish or amplify their effects on our mind.
Speaking of the mind, one of the best ways to be more connected to it is through meditation.
Stress Management Tip #1: Try Meditation
Meditation will help you center yourself and be honest with your varying emotions. Also, research has proven that meditation helps reduce to stress and frustration.
Here is one resource where you can learn about the different aspects of meditation. I personally like to mediate on biblical scripture using the SOAP method, but please find a path that works best for you.
Below is a video explaining medication for beginners.
Stress Management Tip #2: Remove the harmful or unproductive
Stress typically occurs because we do not set boundaries with ourselves or others. If we want to be productive in our business and other areas of our lives, we need to identify and remove things that can be harmful. Here are some tips to help you set boundaries to preserve your sanity and maximize your productivity.
Maximize your time
If you have not done so already, please start using an online calendar system. I use Calendly because it creates time blocks automatically and alerts people of my availability. However, feel free to use any system that works well for you.
Avoid talking about divisive content
My team members know that I do not talk about three issues at work: politics, religion, or sports. While I am a Christian, and my faith is important to me, I also understand that others may have different viewpoints. It is better to play it safe and avoid discussing these issues with team members during work hours.
If they insist on hearing your opinion
Sometimes, avoiding the subject is not enough. You may have people who insist on hearing your opinion, but I suggest that you don’t ignore it. Instead, be direct in discussing these issues at work or elsewhere.
Here is a response that you can use: “Thank you for asking for my opinion on this subject, (insert name here). I know that it is important to you, but I do not feel comfortable talking about it because (insert reason here). I value our relationship and want to focus more on (insert preferred subject here). Is that okay with you?”
Be clear about your needs. Stress happens because we ignore that we are feeling uncomfortable. Remember, if we cannot be honest with someone, that is a signal that it is a relationship we may not want to maintain.
Speaking of what we want to keep, let’s transition and talk about how we can search for the good amidst bad situations. Doing so helps us to not only banish stress but also take advantage of new opportunities.
While we cannot control stress, we can prevent stress from controlling us. We have the power to choose who or what has influence over our mind.
Stress Management Tip # 3: Opportunities in the midst of obstacles
Life has a humorous way of complicating the best of our plans. Nevertheless, instead of perceiving them as hindrances, try to see who can benefit from them. Below are some questions that may bring clarity to your current situation:
– What is this issue showing me that I have not seen before?
– How can this help me as a business person?
– Which resources can help me? Do you have a resource management plan in place?
– Where can I improve my processes?
– Who else can I talk to about this issue?
Successful people do not fear change. They constantly ask themselves questions to help improve their situation. So keep being curious and be amazed at how much you will learn in the process.
Next, I will share my final thoughts regarding stress management.
Closing Thoughts
Managing stress does not have to be hard. Just like any other skill, you can train your mind to be attuned to your emotions, find ways to re-center your mind, and prevent stress from occurring with strong boundaries. With a plan in place, not only can you improve your business, but also transform your life!
As a life and business coach, I understand that stress can appear out of nowhere and, if left unchecked, can lead to depression. If you need help creating a plan to live your life to the fullest, don’t hesitate to work with me!
Dig deeper: Click here to listen to my entrepreneur podcast episode about signs of burnout or press the play button below.
Written by Denise G. Lee
DISCLAIMER: THIS ARTICLE DOES NOT PROVIDE MENTAL HEALTH ADVICE
The information in this article is for informational purposes only. No material in this article or website is to be a substitute for professional medical and/or mental health advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you read from me or anyone else online.
Also, this article is not designed to diagnose or treat you or anyone with a suspected mental health illness. Please, if you need help, seek appropriate help from a lawyer, health care provider or law enforcement officer.
