Starting your own business is never easy. It is a path filled with uncertainty, long hours and sleepless nights. There is an almost constant worry about money and your financial position and the stress can sometimes be enough to completely break people. Looking after your mental health whilst starting and running a business is extremely important.
Mental health is something that everyone needs to be aware of, due to the impact that it has on our day to day lives. It is easy to ignore, as there is still a lot of stigma which surrounds the topic. If the taboo was applied to physical illnesses or injuries, such as the flu, then it would be much more noticeable but as mental health affects the person suffering internally, it isn’t as widely discussed. New business owners often seem upbeat, with a can-do attitude and maintaining this whilst struggling through many of the issues that business owners often go through isn’t healthy.
Manage Your Stress
Managing your stress levels is one of the most important things that you must do, but it is also the hardest. Often, it can feel like everyone and everything is relying on you and your hard work and this can lead to exhaustion and, potentially, a burnout. Exhaustion helps no one and, if you are constantly worrying about this and that, then there is less time to spend actually problem solving and making rational decisions. All the stress you are going through to ensure your business’s future is also the same thing which is making it harder to achieve.
Stress can lead to breathing and cardiac problems if experienced for prolonged periods, but in the short term, it can make you feel exhausted, give you headaches or lead to stomach issues.
Manage Your Workload
When you start a business, it’s very easy to quickly fall into bad habits. You know no different and quickly this becomes what you know and do. Many new business owners want to oversee everything – every minute detail or piece of information to make sure the business is running smoothly. However, as your company grows, knowing what every employee is doing, getting to grips with every project which is running or just being involved in it all will soon become overwhelming.
Noone’s brain can manage everything which happens within a growing company and those that can often find themselves with delegation or institutional issues which is caused by a sheer lack of communication. Looking over everything isn’t a good way to run your business and is a surefire way to increase your stress levels and self-doubt that what you’re doing isn’t good enough. Preserve your energy for the essential tasks that only you can do, and the ones you can’t do, delegate onto someone else. You need to have respect for your limitations, capabilities and yourself.
Cut Yourself Some Slack
New business owners feel immense pressure to be perfect and do everything right, all of the time, but you don’t need to be perfect at running a business – no one is! You need to remember the reason why you started this journey and the ideas you had which got the ball rolling to be where you are now. We all make mistakes, so be sure to just take a step back every now and then, especially if it all becomes overwhelming, and look at what you have already achieved.
It is important when running a business, especially if you are a new business owner, to look after yourself. Stay fit and active, eat a healthy diet and stay on top of your vitamin and mineral intake, such as high strength magnesium tablets and everyday vitamins. If you feel as though stress is causing you health concerns, such as headaches and stomach issues, then visit your doctor. They may prescribe things to help, such as digestive health supplements or headache relief. Be sure to fit in time with friends and family regularly and enjoy this journey!