If you run your own small business, you will know that there are endless sources of potential stress involved in the process. This means you have to be very proactive about looking after yourself. That can be a lot harder than it sounds. But there are a few things you can do to make it at least a little easier. Keep reading below to learn how to stop letting your small business stress you out.
For more on this topic, check out the full Work Life Balance collection
Focus on the good stuff
The fact is that you get to be your own boss now and work in your own terms. Perhaps you have a new product line that is selling better than you expected. Or that you’ve found a great new deal on the towing package on your commercial truck rental. If you want to fight the stress of running a small business, it’s imperative that you focus on the good stuff – the stuff that’s going right for you. Things are always going to go wrong from time to time. But if you only think about those challenges, and not the things that are going right, your mental health is going to take a serious hit!
Get serious about prioritizing
As a small business owner, you’ll know that there are always a million and one things that need to be done. But you do know that you don’t need to do them all yourself, or at least not all at the same time anyway, right? If you want to stay sane, you need to start ranking your business tasks from most to least important and focusing on only the most important tasks at hand. The rest can wait, or you can outsource them. You are only one person and you need to strike the right balance between work and personal life. Don’t try to be a hero and do it all because all that will lead to is stress and burnout.
Learn how to meditate
You might think that you don’t have time for meditation, working out, or taking time for self care with running your own company. You likely are also trying to juggle caring for a family, on top of countless of other commitments you have. However, the thing about meditation is that it gives you your time back. It gives you time back because it makes you a calmer and a more efficient version of yourself. Which is exactly why you owe it to yourself to learn the very simple technique. Or, if meditation sounds like to far of a change for your, at least be mindful about scheduling a little time for yourself. The goal is finding time that allows you to take a moment, reset, and be intentional moving forward.
Take breaks
In a similar vein, you should make sure that you take regular breaks for your work, even if it’s just 5 minutes out of every hour spent working. This will refresh your brain. So not only do you not get stressed, but you should also see your productivity soar. Working smart is what it’s all about – you don’t need to spend every second of every day working to be a success, you really don’t.
[Read: 9 Ways to Be More Productive While Working From Home]
Outsource
If you can afford to do so, outsourcing some of the more tedious aspects of work, such as bookkeeping and web admin, can be a great way to reduce your burden! It can also lower your stress levels, and it has never been easier to find great freelancers to help you out, so why not?
Time to stop letting your small business stress you out!
For more on this topic, check out the full Work Life Balance collection