Stress, in simple terms means the way we respond to any kind of demand on our mind, emotions, or physique… or all three. It is actually a survival mechanism. It helps us flight or fight when faced with any form of “demand”.
You see, it is not necessarily a bad thing as a certain level of stress is needed to make us go about our daily lives. But stress is not expected to last for too long. It becomes detrimental to your health when it takes residence in you.
Here’s how it works: Stress is accompanied by a release of chemicals/hormones which helps us react (fight or flight) to it. Release of hormones is a physiological process, and hormones are transmitted through the blood. What happens is that, you get so much blood flow to the organs in your body that is expected to react to the situation at hand, leaving your brain “gasping” for blood. The reality is that you will not be able to “think straight” when this happens.
As an entrepreneur, you are always faced with stress, (since Risk-Taking is part of your job description). So you need to be able to manage it and deal with it to avoid breaking down.
Your goal is to reduce stressors (what causes stress; it may be people, places, things, etc) and focus on planning and implementation.
So, read on let me show you how to effectively manage stress – the phenomenal entrepreneurs’ way.
- Ask Yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?”
The number one stressor all over the world is fear – Fear of success and fear of failure. Fear alone can make one decide not to get something done, and them introduce its relative “worry” to keep you stressed because you obeyed fear.
It can also make people refuse to live their dreams because they do not know if they can carry on to the end (fear of success).
Truth is, you must tell yourself the worst that can happen, and if you can deal with what you come up with, go ahead and do what you want to do. We many times think that failure does not happen to everybody. Lie! The one who has not failed is the one who has not been born.
If you can decide to move on, knowing fully the “worst case scenario” you have successful dealt with stress in that situation.
- Sit Down and Plan
When the demand of work, customers, staff, etc starts to takes its toll on you, the best thing to do is settle down and work on how to respond to whatever issues are on ground. Stress for entrepreneurs most times is caused by overwhelming workload. And the best way to solve that is to put all activities out, and fix a time and date to get them done.
Discipline also comes into play here. Discipline is a very smart way to handle stress. How do I mean? You should condition yourself to always keep your focus on your target/goal irrespective of what is going on around you. Yes, there may be unforeseen circumstances, but your mind and heart is on your goal, while you are ensuring that those circumstances are being dealt with.
- Positive Self Talk Works
Words have power; there is a relationship between what you say and what eventually becomes your reality. Knowing this, the best thing to always do is to use words in your favour.
Talking about stress, positive comments to yourself can help you to not just combat overwhelming stress, but also prevent it most times. You should not wait to be faced with stress before dealing with it. You can deal with it before it arrives.
It’s why having a personal creed and/or mission statement that you read to yourself is also good for you. You are reinforcing your resolve to do more.
Thing is, instead of complaining about what could go wrong or what has gone wrong, why not say to yourself that in the end you’ll gain? “Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn”, says John Maxwell.
There is so much negativity in the world. Don’t add to it by spewing negativity talk, be positive and talk positive at all times.
- Think Positive
This is like the precedent to the point above. I intentionally brought it after because some people might be asking how one can talk positive when faced with stress, particularly when one may not be “thinking straight”.
You do not prepare for battle on the battlefield, neither do you prepare for battle the day you heard your “enemies” are coming for you. You prepare for battle even before there is any trace of incoming battle.
Get all the negative dung out of your mind. Replace them with positive talks. At all times expect the best result. I understand that “life can happen” at any time. But that should not be your focus, otherwise you’ll keep expecting what is not coming all the days of your life.
The positive words you utter during stress are the ones you have lodged in your mind even before the stressor arrived. Keep feeding your mind with positives.
- Get A Mentor or Accountability Partner
The importance of communication during crisis or stress cannot be over emphasized. It is much more important when you are communicating with a more experienced (mentor) person.
Remember, a problem shared is one half solved. Do not allow stress stifle your productivity anymore.
Good luck!
