Are you burned out and tired, and have way too many plates in the air? Are you working late nights and weekends? I get it. Entrepreneurship is hard. We all have our own struggles and they all look different but we all experience stress. Unfortunately, unmanaged stress can affect your health, relationships and work performance. Some stressors are unavoidable and will affect most of us at some point during our lives.. Identifying your most significant stressors is the best way to start to manage personal stress.
Here are 6 stress busters to eliminate overwhelm and help you reclaim balance:
1. SET REALISTIC GOALS
Write down your objectives and goals in all areas of your life – revenue, self, family, friends, and work. Being realistic about what you can achieve will reduce stress. How to do this:
Write your goals
When you write your goals they become clearer and you have something specific to work toward. Also, when you write your goals down, you have something you can visibly see.
Break it down.
Break those big goals into mini-goals. Big goals can be intimidating which leads to overwhelm and overwhelm leads to procrastination. Broken into mini goals, they are waaaay much easier to accomplish. For example if one of my goals is to grow my email list by 12,000 in a year then I need to have list building opportunities like having landing pages in my website and creating opportunities in my social media posts where I am collecting names and emails every single day.
Crush them!
Take those mini-goals you’ve written and crush them. Focus on one by one and take them down! My tip here for you is to set that big goal for the whole year then break it down into mini goals that you strive to achieve every quarter, every month, every week, every day. This could be starting a new business, launching a new product, It doesn’t really matter.
2. LEARN TO SAY NO
If you want to be successful, be deliberate on how you spend your time. To do this, you will need to learn to say no. Being protective of your time will help you achieve your big audacious goals that you’ve set. Let me help you learn how to say no without feeling guilty. When a friend or co-worker asks for help and you know you have too many plates to juggle already, say no politely. Be honest, clear, and assertive in your reply. The first step is to acknowledge what is being said, it can go like this, “I realize that this is important to you and under normal circumstances I would love to help you (then say why), however I have my deadline to meet. Then offer a constructive suggestion like this one; Why don’t you ask Jane; she might be willing to help you?” Of course, don’t send her to Jane every time, otherwise she might resent you. By using this strategy, you communicate effectively with no distress to yourself.
3. ORGANIZING AND PRIORITIZING
Take 15 minutes every evening to organize your work for the next day in order of priority, deadlines, and importance. Stephen Covey, author of the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, says that if you do not plan, you will manage your life by crisis. Sort through your tasks and put them in order of importance – very urgent, urgent, and not urgent.
4. USE A PLANNER
A well-maintained planner will help reduce the worry and anxiety of wondering if you will remember all your appointments. Planning ahead helps you make sure you are working on the projects that will not only move your business forward, but will actually put you in that genius mode, that area where you are firing on all cylinders.
5. DELEGATE
Whether it is at home with domestic chores or at work, delegating reduces demands, avoiding stress. When you delegate at work, make sure you choose a person who is best suited for the job. Assure them that you will be available if they need your help. Hire a virtual assistant who can help you do admin stuff while you do the things that only you can do. Delegating gives someone else an experience they may need for their career advancement.
6. RELAXATION
There are many ways to recharge your batteries and relax; What fuels you? Is it yoga, meditation, exercise? Make it a part of your life just like brushing your teeth. I love to run every morning which helps me clear the mental clutter and get ready for the day. I also take evening walks after work which helps me stretch and enjoy the beautiful evening breeze which is always a welcome feeling after a long day of work.
These are just a few stress busters that can help you to deal more effectively with stress. It is my hope that they will be helpful to you as they have been to me.
The number one thing that I want to accomplish through this blog post is for you to be motivated to take action and reclaim balance in your life and business. To help with this, I created this freebie sharing my 6 daily habits Click here to download the guide!
