As An Entrepreneur, Do You Feel You Live In a State of Constant Stress Lately? (And What You Should Do About It)

If there’s one thing that’s certain when we refer to entrepreneurship, that’s stress, essentially

I sincerely believe that any entrepreneur out there will openly admit they felt stressed out at least several times while executing various business duties and tasks. Things couldn’t be any different from that – when in charge of a business or a platform of any sort, it’s virtually impossible for you to be relaxed all the time. The dynamic is just way too overwhelming at times.

In today’s article, I’d like to refer to work-caused stress with the hope of explaining to people that a) that’s a fairly common state of the mind and body, and b) you should do something about it as soon as you feel stress washing over your face and consciousness.

Throughout my entrepreneurial years, I’ve felt stressed out so many times! At first, I was ignoring all the symptoms and clues but, as time went by, I started to realize that I must do something so that I won’t be suffering more damage and negative circumstances. Because the thing with stress is that it is capable of sneaking in and rocking your world without you even realizing it at first.

There are many people out there who face burnout in its full form and then come to the realization that they’ve been under stress for quite some time. But stress doesn’t only have to do with your temporary disability to work. Research states that stress can be potentially much more harmful to your overall well-being.

No work is worth the overall negativity that comes with stress in the long run

As I’ve stated above, stress has its own hidden ways of creeping into your life.

At first, you may not notice the initial symptoms. Usually, people who are overall busy on a daily basis (entrepreneurs being at the top of the list) face a lot of negative changes due to stress.

How can you know you need to take a step back and reboot

• lack of enough sleep – when hustling, we aim at being everywhere anytime so we don’t miss a chance of skyrocketing our business
• lack of healthy nutrition – when at the office and in a hurry for the next meeting, we’re more likely to grab a bite of junk food instead of dedicating the time to a proper meal
• not engaging in enough physical exercises – being behind the desk all the day long is a typical scenario for any entrepreneur; you can imagine the damage we inflict on our muscles, joints, weight, and overall stamina
• stress usually quickly turns into anxiety – if you are under constant pressure, it’s quite likely for you to face the horrors of anxiety and depression
• not having enough spare time to have fun and communicate with friends and family – it’s actually quite stressful to be deprived of all social activities because of your long working hours
• your health may start to deteriorate – stress is a huge factor when we talk about the dysfunction of the immune system
• when under stress, the majority of people feel overwhelmed and find it difficult to focus – it’s funny how you welcome stress in your life because you overwork yourself while at the same time, this very lack of concentration prevents you from nailing dazzling career results

As you can see, stress can really affect every aspect of your everyday life. What’s important here is to ask ourselves is it worth it – if you are constantly under the influence of anxiety, tiredness, and feeling overwhelmed, how are you supposed to work effortlessly and successfully?

The good thing is that stress management is a powerful tool that can help you to get rid of work-caused anxiety

When I first started feeling way too stressed out back in the days, I witnessed all the above-mentioned symptoms and inconveniences. I was got lucky though – before even dipping my finger in the world of entrepreneurship, I have read plenty of information on stress, anxiety, and work-related tiredness and feelings of overwhelm.

So I quickly managed to take a step back and look at things from a broader perspective. There I was, at the very beginning of my entrepreneurial career, dangerously close to experiencing burnout.

Something had to change asap!

What I’ve always loved about stress management is first and foremost the realization of how troublesome and dangerous stress could be. With this being said, it’s only natural for any stress manager’s goal to be getting rid of all those anxiety-causing aspects of everyday business life. I started implementing different methods and tactics in order to check which of them influenced me the best. In the end, I’ve chosen the following strategies that I believe work wonders:

• I began using time management tools – okay, one of the top reasons behind the accumulated stress is the feeling of not having enough time on our hands. That’s why I figured I had to do something in order to ensure proper task distribution. With the help of proper time management tools, I managed to do more for a shorter period of time.
• I resurrected the habit of going out for a run after work – during my golden athlete days I was constantly on the move. With entrepreneurship, I witnessed giving away less and less time for doing sports so I decided it’s about time I change that. Physical activity and sports are proven to be excellent natural cures for stress.
• I began educating myself on stress, anxiety, and work-related tiredness – the human mind is a wonderful tool – once it starts to deeply understand the core of things, it manages to withstand the obstacles caused by them. I’ve come to the realization that the more I learn about stress and anxiety, the easier I manage to surpass their negative side effects in my life.
• talk to like-minded fellow coworkers in the field – sometimes having someone to talk to is a great stress-reliever since they can relate to your issues and even offer some useful guidelines
• set goals and aim at each one of them one goal at a time – this approach promises constant development and growth while also minimizing the stress levels
• if nothing works, then, of course, I recommend to anyone changing their job – as I said above, nothing is worth risking your physical and mental health. If a job position is not the right for you and you can’t find any way to dissolve the accumulated stress, then my advice is to find a career path that better suits you.

To wrap things up

Stress is really dangerous and the risk is simply not worth it. The key to a successful and fulfilling career is simply loving your job. If you manage to find a position that makes you happy in general, then you certainly will be able to get rid of any stress-related obstacles and issues. If not, well – the world is your oyster and you shouldn’t spend any more days feeling you don’t belong.

It’s just simple as that.