Being a successful business owner is not an easy job. It takes a great deal of motivation, hard work and discipline to be one. When working in an organization, your goals are already outlined and your performance is evaluated and appreciated from time to time; but entrepreneurs need to set their own benchmarks and their achievements often go unrecognized for a long time. Whether you’re launching a cable service like Spectrum TVor a makeup brand, bear in mind that dealing with challenges and obstacles is a way of life for entrepreneurs. So, you’ve got to be able to keep your calm at all times. Taking constant stress over every little thing would eventually lead to a state of burnout which is detrimental for your physical and mental well-being as well as your business. Here’s how you can reduce stress and burnout as a business owner.
1. Take Breaks & Time Off
When you’re not following fixed office timings like 9 to 5, work can easily start to encroach on your private time thereby keeping your mind constantly occupied with work-related matters. To be able to strike a work-life balance, you need to set certain rules for yourself. You should not mix work hours with your rest, leisure and family time. It’s important to take your mind off business worries from time to time. This freshens you up and allows you to keep a positive mindset.
If you are more comfortable working in the evenings, you should take some time out to relax during the day; if your work nature requires you to sit before the desk for long hours, remember to take breaks to walk and freshen up. Also, if it is not possible for you to take the entire weekend off, make it a point to have at least one rest day every week.
2. Remind Yourself of Your Purpose & Achievements
When dealing with various major and minor issues on a daily basis, business owners often tend to get stuck on short-term goals. They become so short-sighted in their approach that they often forget or overlook the primary purpose of their business. So it is important to remind yourself of your vision from time to time. At the end of the day, you’re working for yourself; so you should be able to reflect on your past achievements and draw some inspiration and encouragement from them.
Don’t just look back at the day to day happenings; look at the larger picture as well. Have you increased your sales in the past few years? Have you increased your staff strength? The answers to these questions would give you the motivation you need to get back to your work with full zeal and enthusiasm.
3. Learn to Say ‘No’
It’s good to have a ‘can do’ attitude but saying ‘yes’ to everything and everyone would burden you unnecessarily, affect your productivity and lead to disappointments and stress. So understand your limitations and learn to say ‘No’ when your plate is already full.
When you’re asked for a favor or a task, assess how much of your time it would take, whether or not it would affect your present work processes in any way and most importantly if it is worth the effort.
4. Delegate Tasks Where Possible
Entrepreneurs, particularly new ones, often have a mindset that in order for everything to go well, they must take charge of things themselves. While this may be true, there will also be times when getting everything done yourself would be impossible. Remember, jack of all trades is master of none. So if you don’t have the expertise for a particular function, don’t take the pain of doing it yourself. For example, if you run a company like Charter Spectrum, it wouldn’t be possible for you to supervise both Spectrum mobile phone number department as well as marketing. So it’s best to hire professionals for the job.
Also, you don’t need to be doing those regular repetitive accounting and monitoring tasks yourself. They would exhaust you unnecessarily and keep you from being productive. It’s best to delegate or outsource tasks where and when possible. This would not only ensure they’re being looked after well but also help alleviate some of your stress.
