It is not at all uncommon that you find entrepreneurs with anxiety issues in today’s world. As a matter of fact it has kind of became a ‘thing’ that they tend to look stressed out. It shouldn’t come as a surprise though, since the entire life of the company, its success or failure rests solely on your shoulders. You develop a feeling that you always have to micromanage everything and be there for everybody. The constant pressure will eventually get to you and it is best that you have a ‘safety plan’ when it happens. Let me start out with the fact that you cannot remove or cure anxiety, but there are methods that will help you reduce it to a manageable level. In the end it is not good being completely anxiety-free either, as you could come off as somebody who has just stopped caring.
1. Have a ‘happy place’
Now, I am not going to sell you that cliché stuff that you should imagine beaches or grassy meadows and ‘let the stress roll off of you like waves’. No; what I have in mind can be something as simple as creating a folder on your desktop where you can store all your lift-me-up’s. For example you could save a funny post you ran into on Tumblr or a motivational quote you read somewhere. Pictures of people you care about or your favorite tunes, anything that gets your mind away from work and puts a smile on your face can work quite well.
2. Connect with other business people
It is always easier to solve problems if you have somebody to help you with it. While your friends and family will always listen to you and try to help you there will be times where they will not fully understand what you are struggling with and so, won’t be able to help you in a right way. This is why you should connect with people who share your predicaments and hopefully you will able to solve all of your problems cooperatively. If your schedule does not permit you visiting entrepreneur meetups or similar events, you can always join online forums or chat rooms in search for people to share experiences with.
3. Meditate
As weird as it may sound, it definitely helps me get my mind back into the game when I feel that I am loosing focus. It does not have to be a long time, few minutes work perfectly well. Just close your eyes, take deep breaths and empty your mind. You will be surprised how well this can work if you run into a really rough patch with your work. And it is amazing how much few minutes a day can boost your concentration. Repeat this whenever you feel like you want to force through some task, since you cannot work around it in a way that satisfies you, and you will be well on your way to solving it.
4. Take a break every now and then
While this may seem obvious, you would be surprised at how many people forget about it. Try to remember when was the last time you ‘really’ took a break from work. I don’t mean going somewhere nice and then spending an entire day on your phone or laptop working. I mean, really isolate youself from anything and everything that has to do with working. It does not even have to involve traveling away from your favorite sofa. Try picking up a book, or for those more tech inclined a new video game. Take a step back from time to time to refresh your perspective and you will be amazed at how much it helps.
5. Back away from your computer after 7 PM
There is no point in checking your emails after you have finished working for the day. Best case scenario, you will get no sleep thinking about that one task that you were informed right after you wrapped up for the day. Worst case scenario, you will be stuck on your computer for god-knows-how-long and you will drain yourself out very quickly. Even though we were all taught that procrastination is a bad thing, nobody will mind if you decide not to work outside your work hours. Or at least that’s what I heard.
You should really try out these tips, they work wonders in my case. And if you know any other helpful little secret, feel free to share it with us; I’m sure we could all use it.
