Managing Stress While Building a Successful Business
What can you do to manage the daily challenges and stresses that come with starting and building a business?
David Cox | July 09, 2019
Managing stress – The negative impact of daily stress
Building a small business means coping with stressful situations daily. As stress continues, it hinders the ability to focus or think clearly. The inability to think clearly can lead to bad business decisions that can negatively affect your business’s growth and development. The more stress you experience, the more frustrated and impatient you may feel, which can increase your stress even further. Likewise, the adverse effects of increased stress will prove detrimental to the business, and your health if this increase remains unchecked.
Managing stress – Three coping strategies
You cannot eliminate stress from building your business, but you can adopt practices that will help you better cope with its adverse effects on your physical, mental, and emotional health. I recommend you start with the following three strategies, all of which are 100% within your span of control:
- Learn to say “No”
Learning how to say “No” to a prospective customer is extremely difficult for most new business owners. When starting and building a business, it seems logical that almost any client’s project could offer the potential for a long-term relationship. However, these requests are not always opportunities. Unfortunately, saying “Yes” to everything will prove costly and eventually overwhelm your schedule.
You’ll soon find that taking on every job is not healthy for you or your business. Some projects may seem to be better opportunities from a financial perspective, or because they might open “doors” for you in the future. Remember: It’s not an opportunity unless it’s worthwhile for both you and the customer. It’s essential to understand that saying “No” is sometimes in the best interest of your business.
- Focus on progress rather than perfection
Successful business leaders realize they’ll never operate their business flawlessly. Perfection isn’t as necessary as continuous steps of development. So, as long as you’re improving, whether as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, and as a leader, you’re moving in the right direction. If you continuously stress about the need for everything to be perfect, you’ll burn yourself out before you ever achieve your goals. You need to strive each day to deliver exceptional results, but you shouldn’t set impossible standards for yourself or your business.
You also need to learn how to embrace failure. Starting and running a business means that somewhere along the line, you’ll make mistakes, and even the best ideas and plans don’t always work out. The key is to evaluate your actions and decisions objectively, learn from your mistakes, and keep moving forward.
- Create routines
Successful business leaders develop workable, efficient routines that help them set priorities and accomplish their goals. They give structure to your life and workday. They’re also an excellent tool for reducing stress. You don’t need to plan a minute-by-minute schedule, because the lack of flexibility would soon overwhelm you. However, you should develop routines that can give you a more structured approach to accomplishing the work you do each day.
So, if you’re feeling stressed out about work, have a routine in place to adjust your thinking towards a more positive mindset. Imagine how much less stress you would feel if you eventually surrounded yourself with routines, productive thoughts, and positive people.
Managing stress – It comes with the territory
You understand that building a successful business requires an incredible amount of time and effort. It requires financial investment, choosing which innovative ideas to implement, and taking risks essential to achieving long-term success. Regardless, you need to learn how to manage the challenges that “come with the territory.” It is imperative to learn coping strategies that can make your responsibilities a little less stressful. Doing so will help you enjoy building a successful business, maintaining better health, and never taking for granted the people who mean the most in your life.
