Of all the challenges that small businesses face throughout their existence, being overwhelmed and succumbing to stress is one of the most common. Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or you’re new to the game, stress can have severe consequences for your success as a business, and you never truly know when it’s going to rear its ugly head.
Of course, stress is a natural response, but this shouldn’t mean you accept it as an inevitability. Although there will be times you are stressed, you should know how to overcome it. Otherwise, you risk making bad decisions, experience a drop in productivity and creativity, and could suffer burnout. If you feel like the stress is getting to you, here are the top stress-busting solutions.
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Understand What’s Not Working
The first thing to do when faced with a stressful situation is recognize what is going wrong and how you can fix it. Suppose your systems are down across the office. There’s no point in panicking about it, as that won’t solve anything. Instead, inspect the source and check the connection.
This is just one example, but you can apply it to marketing campaigns that aren’t getting as much engagement as you hoped, you can look for reasons why this is happening. Doing so will put everything into perspective and help you take the first steps towards solving problems and beating the stress.
Identify Stress Triggers
There is a wide range of things that affect work-related stress. It could be clients, it could be coworkers, it could be specific duties that you’re not as comfortable with as others. Whatever these triggers are, you must identify them so you can find ways to overcome them.
From here, you can consider how to prevent stress triggers. Perhaps you delegate specific tasks to other people, maybe you find out why it causes you so much stress, so you get yourself prepared to make your life easier. Cutting this stress from your day can be hugely beneficial for you and your company.
Work On Your Schedule
Solopreneurs often have less time in the day than anyone else because they try to do it all. While this is admirable, it’s also a leftover symptom of the Hustle Culture that believed you must work 24/7 or you’re not really trying.
This attitude can be a significant contributor to your stress, which is why working on your schedule can make it easier to deal with all of your business-related struggles. You can’t work all day, every day. You need time to relax and unwind; to forget about work for a while. Improving your schedule and setting time aside for yourself will help you beat stress while still being productive at work.
Know What to Prioritize
It can be challenging to prioritize tasks around the office. It’s tempting to try the simplest tasks first, but as easy as they are, they can still take longer than you expect. Mammoth and complicated projects are often left until last, but this means you don’t have as much time to finish them, at least not to your best ability.
Everyone is different, so you need to find a solution that works best for you. If you know you might fall behind doing small tasks, prioritize the more important, challenging projects first. You might need to play around with your priorities at first, but you’ll soon learn what works best for you.
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Don’t Feel Guilty Saying No
When you first start your career, you might get asked to cover a range of different duties. Because you’re inexperienced, you happily say yes. But, this can cause an avalanche of responsibility that you can’t handle.
It is always difficult to say No to your manager when they ask you to cover a shift or stay a little longer. However, this can add unnecessary stress to your day and will affect your work-life balance. So, as difficult as it can be to say no, you must learn how to do it.
Embrace Outside Help
Managers soon learn they can’t do it all, especially if they want to save some time for themselves. But, not every small business can afford to hire an extra set of hands permanently. This is why it’s important to get your outsourced marketing department set up as soon as possible.
It’s not just marketing, though. You can also use it for payroll, content creation, and network maintenance or website building. You can use these services as little or as often as you need, which can save money without causing you stress.
Pick Useful Tech and Tools
Technology is here to help you through every stage of your business’ growth, so it’s only sensible that you embrace this technology to make things run smoothly. If you’re working with a range of remote employees, video conferencing software and collaborative document editing are lifesavers.
However, you can’t just pick any tools and tech. You need something simple, easy to learn, and most importantly, free, at least for the most part. This is especially useful for small businesses that are just getting off the ground, as it will help you maintain your budget with more confidence.
Switch Your Phone Off
Everyone is glued to their phones in the modern world, especially since they have become a way for clients, managers, and others to get hold of you any time they like. But, as useful as this can be for them, it also affects your health.
Being on-edge that someone wants you to do something after clocking off will affect hobbies like going to the gym or trying new recipes. It means you’re never truly relaxed, which will affect your mental wellbeing. If you want to beat stress for good, turn your phone off at the same time each day and make it clear that any issues will need to wait until the morning, because you’re on your time now.
Stress Busted
It is impossible to avoid stress. But when you’re faced with a stressful situation, the best approach is to know how to beat it without any issues. These stress-busting solutions are suitable for just about any scenario, so your small business or large corporation can continue to grow.