The challenges of running a business aren't necessarily just hiring employees or keeping customers happy. Sometimes the struggle is a little more personal. Many business owners sacrifice quality time with their families, hobbies, and social lives to build their companies.
Stress from absenteeism and overwork can accumulate. According to a study conducted by Small Biz Silverinning, 75 percent of small business owners have mental health concerns, and 56 percent have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or a stress-related illness. . Learning how to deal with stress can be as important to long-term business success as learning how to make a profit, and it's certainly important to long-term health and wellness.
Find your ideal work-life balance
Creating work-life balance can be a big challenge, says Rosalie Moscow, former owner of Health in Harmony, a Toronto wellness consulting firm that helps workers deal with stress. The personal challenges faced by small business owners are emotional, physical, mental, and financial.
“When you're running your own business, you have to think about things you didn't have to worry about before: paying off loans, spending your savings, no money coming in, all your money going out. Things like going there,” Moscow said. .
There is little that can be done to eliminate the problems that cause stress. As a business owner, you'll be working longer hours, and it's likely that you'll feel overwhelmed and overworked. If you're just starting out, starting your own business can feel lonely, but it can also be a source of stress, Moscow says.
Dangers of workplace stress
Stress doesn't just affect your mental and emotional state. Work pressure can promote weight gain and cause other health problems. In addition to the physical effects, stress can affect mental health, especially for women. A study published in the Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience suggests that women are more susceptible to depression and other mental illnesses than men.
This is just a glimpse of what stress can do to a person. Here are some other known dangers of work stress.
- anxiety: Owning and operating a business involves many uncertainties. Fear of the unknown in business, such as financial or management issues, can increase anxiety and accumulate stress.
- Separation: Business owners tend to work alone when building their company's brand and dealing with paperwork, customer relations, and other organizational tasks. When you're immersed in your to-do list, it's easy to isolate yourself from others, and even when you're surrounded by employees, you can feel like you're not being seen.
- fear: Every business owner has strengths and weaknesses. Lack of confidence in a particular area can lead you to push yourself too hard to learn or acquire skills or information, avoid failure, or justify your lack of trust in others. Such fear can disrupt the energy and workflow of an entire team.
- Burnout syndrome: It's great to be dedicated to something and work hard at it. However, working at an unhealthy level can lead to burnout. This can be caused by taking on too many tasks alone, working long hours, or trying to do everything at once.
What is stress management?
Stress management is the process of developing routines and strategies that provide healthy ways to relax and unwind. This can be as simple as taking breaks during work hours and getting enough sleep. Here are some other examples of stress management techniques.
- Sharpen your time management skills and plan your day in advance
- Practice relaxation techniques like meditation and deep breathing
- Analyze and improve your approach to dealing with adversity
- Strengthening relationships and support networks
These skills allow you to turn stressful situations into positive opportunities for growth and improvement. Learning how to deal with stressors gives you more control over your life and your reactions. The key to managing stress is to maintain a balance between work and family, even if you work long hours.
Consider the following suggestions from Moscow as effective ways to combat stress.
- Set up your schedule just like you would go to a regular job.
- Plan your day in the morning.
- Get clear on your top priorities and focus on what brings business.
- Initially, focus on marketing your business. Don't spend all your time on administration.
- Keep reevaluating your goals and don't let things get away from you.
- Get help. Don't do it all yourself.
- Build a social support network with friends and family.
- Don't sacrifice relationships for business.
- Wake up early and go for a walk.
- Eat properly without sitting at your desk.
- Drink lots of water.
Work can be a huge source of stress, but when negative emotions become unbearable, it's important to use the methods that work best for you to combat them.
Better business management reduces work stress
Just as important as finding time for yourself is finding ways to manage your business that reduce stress. Finding employees to share responsibilities with can also go a long way in reducing stress. It's even more important to set them up for success when you're not around.
In his research on shared leadership, J. Richard Hackman, a former professor of social and organizational psychology at Harvard University, wrote, “The heroic singular leader no longer meets the burden of leadership demands today.” said.
“The most important conditions for effective shared team leadership include that the team is a mature and reasonably bounded group,” Hackman said in a statement. “In order to identify who to ask for a particular task, they need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. It’s about being there.”
We offer training and wellness programs to help you and your employees learn strategies to manage stress levels.
Benefits of improving stress management
Moscow believes it's important to focus on why you started your business in the first place.
“This is the hardest job in the world,” she said. “But when you're running your own business, you feel like you're in control of how you do things. That's the biggest stress reliever.”
Stress management is good for you and your business. Without leaders who model proper stress management and work-life balance, staff can take more sick leave and decrease productivity. Effective stress management increases employee morale, reduces sick leave, reduces turnover, and creates a positive company culture.
Relieve stress and lead your team to success
The best way to lead is by example. So managing your own stress in healthy ways and giving your team the tools to do the same is key to developing a workplace culture rooted in wellness. The result of doing so is not only a healthier and happier work environment, but a more successful business. So, if you need stress relief at work, start implementing the tips in this guide now.
Tejas Vemparala and Sammi Caramela contributed to this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
