Throughout every part of your business’ life, you are going to put yourself through the emotional mill. Whether it’s in relation to sourcing relevant financing or you are working overtime to ensure that your employees’ needs are met, the very likely side effect of all this hard work is stress, and lots of it! Minimizing stress is one of the priorities in life, but in order to minimize it, we have to truly understand it. What are the stages of stress, and what can you do, not just to benefit yourself, but your business?
Fight Or Flight
A very common gut feeling you have when stressed. Fight or flight is something that we all go through in life, but we have to remember that this was how we evolved to run away from mammals. While this triggers a short-term burst of focus, it is best for you to have control over your fight or flight response, by having specific rituals to calm down your nervous system. Box breathing is one of those very simple approaches that has a very positive impact.
Minimizing Damage
Because your body feels stressed, you think that the best thing to do is to push through. Instead, it’s far better for you to fix the problems before the damage gets worse. Look at your overall workload, can it be minimized? This is something that can be solved through outsourcing. You have to remember that there are so many other aspects of your business that you can outsource, from the IT duties that can be covered by companies like Dyrand Systems, to the financial affairs covered by an accountant, or a better in-house system.
The Recovery Period
Taking a break is essential to your overall well-being. And if you’ve been going hard at it for too long, you may be past the point of no return. But it’s at this point that you need to rest and recover. As an entrepreneur, the most important ways to rest is to sleep, but also, cut your output.
Adapting To The Stress
You can adapt to stress in a good way, by acclimatizing yourself, or you can adapt in a bad way, where you ignore the stage of recovery and decide to keep going. As a result, you will feel less energized, because you will struggle to sleep, but also you will be affected in a psychological sense. Adapting is one of those things that you might feel is an appropriate coping mechanism because the business takes priority, when in actual fact, you should prioritize yourself.
Burnout
And if you have gone through the previous stages without addressing any of the symptoms, burnout is the last stop of this stress journey. It could encompass depression, or you could actually end up going to hospital. It’s important to remember that you are as important, if not more important, then your business. Think of the scenario when the oxygen mask drops in an airplane; before you help everyone else, put your own oxygen mask on. It’s exactly the same thing!