Your business health is vital to the health of your business and your mental and physical health, even if you do not know it. The reality is that if your business is struggling, your health and mental well-being will also be struggling as you try to make things work and get back on track.
64% of businesses admit to struggling with anxiety, and 63% struggle to sleep, according to Mental Health UK. In the US, 75% of business owners say running their business impacts their mental health.
But is there anything you can realistically do to help you reduce the stress associated with running a business and improve your mental health at the same time?
Get Organised
Being unorganized can lead to feeling overwhelmed, and when you feel like you are on the back foot and struggling, negative feelings and mindsets can sneak in, making things appear worse than they are.
Use scheduling apps, communication tools, and calendars to help you organize your working week. From here, you can look at time-blocking methods to help you dedicate chunks of time to specific activities to get things done without any other distractions. Whether this is getting business insurance from a company like coterie or getting those overdue invoices paid from your clients or suppliers, Commit to doing one task at a time, stop multiple tasks, and get the task at hand done.
Get Help
If you are struggling with your workload, you might need some help to ease the load. Help for small business owners can come in many different ways. If you are a new business owner, a mentor can be beneficial at this time; if you are struggling with finances, talk to a financial advisor or accountant, look at outsourcing parts of your business that are causing you to stress or take up too much time or hire employees to delegate your workload to and hope you get to where you need to be for good mental health.
Take A Beak
It might seem counterintuitive, but taking a break can actually help ease the overwhelm. If you feel like you are drowning and can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, it might be worth stepping away for a short time to clear your mind and give you a fresh perspective. Or taking a day off, a weekend, or even a week. Concentrate on something other than your business worries and come back with things when you are feeling more positive and can think clearly. The more you stare at a problem, the less likely it is to resolve itself, so stepping back and moving yourself from the source of your worry can be highly beneficial to you.
A wide range of factors can cause business owners to become stressed, from poor finances to loss of customers, legal issues, and biting off more than you can chew. But knowing how to overcome your challenges, reduce your stress levels, and get back on an even keel can help you to push through difficult times and support your physical and mental health and your business, too.