The entrepreneurial journey can be both exciting and daunting, I must say only few human enterprises can match the roller-coaster feeling it ignites into one’s heart. From pitching your new idea to potential investors, to making expansion plans, or even to contemplating layoffs, an entrepreneur’s life is a sequential series of not quite easy decisions to make.
The weight of responsibility on your shoulders is certainly overwhelming, as you don’t want to let your team, customers, or your investors down. The fear of failure is understandable, we keep receiving research data that limit the life span of over 60% of ventures to less than a decade. In some specific industries; services, particularly in the US, the time span is 3 years with a percentage of 75% of businesses closing down. Quite shocking! Yeah, naked truth!
Work –related anxiety can be a great incentive for more productivity and motivation. We all have experienced it, at least with close deadlines or unpredicted last-minute circumstances change, in other words, the regular life stuff, you know! However, excessive anxiety can have a detrimental effect on your psychological and physical health regardless of your age, gender or social background. Symptoms can range from sleep deprivation or insomnia, to lack of appetite, going as bad as losing it all together, to chronical muscle tension. At the psychological level, which generally kicks in first, we experience excessive worry, irritability, and difficulty concentrating.
Generally, amid the rush; the pressure, we even fail to notice these traits early on. That’s why, having family members, close friends or coworkers who would basically notice it sooner than we would have, is a life savior. The sooner we realize the situation, the earlier we take action to redeem it.
Here are few tips to handle, cope with; prevent stress from damaging your life psychologically as well as physically.
1. Acceptance
It’s important to understand that anxiety is the most natural and immediate response to stress. And equally important is the fact that ignoring it is not a healthy choice. To acknowledge the anxiety that we are experiencing would be a first step to handling it timely. Think of it as a very common issue any entrepreneur out there is experiencing. Practicing mindfulness would be great to release the negative energy that runs simultaneously with stress. Try paying attention to the present moment, or bring yourself to be aware of your thoughts and feelings. A deep sense of serenity and calmness wraps you right after. Mindfulness keeps your mind away from roaming unnecessarily trying to cope up with all that’s beyond your control by keeping your focus on what’s you are aware of.
2. Support System
Family, friends and coworkers can be your first detectors of anxiety creeping into your daily routines. Their remarks about the change in any of your habits are to be thoughtfully processed. Again, timely awareness will be key to keep things under control. Next on the list of support comes the experts or professional counselors who are best qualified for appropriate advice. Some entrepreneurs have reported feeling way better after they joined support groups where they met with other entrepreneurs that have been or were at the time facing anxiety issues. For this to work, however, you need to believe in the genuine exchange taking place and that the participants are there in good faith of lending a helping hand while receiving support and advice.
3. Create breaks on your work calendar
This may sound funny or unheard of in the world of entrepreneurs, yet, it has been tried and proved to be very efficient. Set appropriate breaks on your weekly schedule where the activities could range from few minutes practicing mindfulness in a quiet spot to a weekend outing with friends or family. It would be great to combine with the breaks a suitable diet and a hobby; even if that’s something you didn’t do since college or for ages.
4 Spirituality
Individuals who identify as strongly attached to spirituality have reported to successfully cope with stress episodes generally. There is always that anchor keeping their inner selves calmer at the peak of the tempests hitting hard. Entrepreneurs can lean on spirituality to recharge the batteries to better bounce back. Practicing and rituals of belief and being around those who share the same spiritual principals have proved to considerably lessen the negative impact of and anxiety when facing work-related stress.
5 Humor as part of your company culture:
When enjoying humor on a regular basis as part of the atmosphere at the workplace, entrepreneurs will find it easier to be relieved from stress. It will come naturally in the interactions around them as it has always been there first place. In fact, if humor is part of the daily interactions at any workplace, it is an indicator of a high level of trust characterizing the culture inside of the company. We don’t have to belittle the power of a smile, a joke or a funny comment, they can deflate some of the gloomiest moments any time.
