Running a business can be hugely taxing on your mental health and mood. In addition to the usual challenges most of us face in their our daily lives, business ownership and management presents a tonne of different challenges that can negatively affect your mental and even your physical health. This blog aims to share some tips you can apply to reduce your stress levels and boost your mood. They may seem a little bit “woo-woo”, but they’re absolutely worth trying.
Why is important to have a good mood as a business owner?
Before we jump into the tips and strategies you can apply to your life and business, it’s first important to understand why it’s important to have a positive mood.
While running a business can be very rewarding, the challenges that come with running a business can have an enormous impact on other areas of your life, including your relationships with your friends, family and other loved ones. If you’re constantly stressed and troubled at work, taking this home can bring stress and troubles into other areas of your life, which can create a horrible negative cycle and really affect your self-esteem and satisfaction with life.
While there can be other factors that cause issues in your personal life, taking steps to manage your mood and attitude when it comes to your business can be the first step to improving other areas of your life.
Having a good mood and attitude in your business can also help improve the performance of your business, and make it easier to achieve your goals. If you show up as your best self, or as close to your best self, each day, you’ll likely be in a better position to seize opportunities and solve the problems that arise in your business.
Try to focus on the positive aspects of your life
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the problems arise in business, especially when they seem to rear their head at the worst times. Whether they’re financial issues, staff issues, client issues or other things, they can really take a toll on your mental health. If you fall into the trap of only focusing on the negatives, it’s common to fall into a cycle of negativity, which ends up becoming a self fulfilling prophecy, as there’s a tendency to focus on more negative events in this state.
If you’re noticing problems keep coming and coming, try to pause for a moment, take yourself out of that emotional state and take a moment to reflect on some of the good things in your life. It’s easy to lose sight of these, but it could something as simple as how delicious your coffee tasted this morning or how grateful you are to see your significant other each morning. This might seem hard, and almost useless at first, but it works like building a muscle. The more you start to feel gratitude, and notice the positive side of things, the stronger that muscle becomes and eventually it can become a natural state.
When it comes to focusing on the positives, it’s important not to become delusional. It you’re experiencing cash flow pressure and your company is at risk, and your company continuing to trade is important to you, you shouldn’t ignore this and just think positive thinking will get your out of it. The key here is to prevent yourself from sinking into a negative cycle. If a problem rears it’s head, it’s important to build an attitude of “how can I solve this problem”. Once you approach things from this perspective, you’ll feel less helpless and be in a great position to start making steps to solve the problem.
Reframe problems as challenges
As humans, we love solving problems and overcoming challenges. Yes, they’re a pain at the time, and we all feel like we’d rather not have them, but problems and challenges can give you the opportunity to challenge yourself. The satisfaction that comes from solving a problem, no matter how small, can give you a feeling of accomplishment that money can’t buy.
Let’s say you lose a big client which represents a significant portion of your revenue, you can challenge yourself to see how you could solve this problem. Once you start to entertain the idea that the problem can be solved, and it’s a challenge to overcome, it becomes a lot easier to take action on the steps that could help fix the issue.
Regular exercise
This is usually the first thing to go when running a business. It’s easy to neglect exercise as it can feel time consuming. Taking time to exercise can bring about feelings of guilt, especially if you think you should be spending more time trying to solve issues in your life or business.
Exercise can promote blood flow to the brain and give you a mental break from the problem, which can serve as an outlet for stress, but also give your brain the downtime to start connecting the dots and finding solutions in the background. Your brain is like a super computer, it doesn’t just stop working because you’re doing something else. Taking time out to focus on something like exercise can be hugely beneficial for problem solving and your overall emotional wellbeing.
If you’re not currently active, you should consult a doctor before under going any physical training plan. You can start with something simple like walking, and build from there.
Sunlight
The benefits of sunlight are huge. Sunlight can help your brain produce compounds, known as neurotransmitters, which can promote feelings of happiness and wellbeing. In the winter, it can be a real challenge to get enough sunlight as the days get shorter and the mornings become darker. Investing in a light box (SAD lamp) can help mimic the effects of sunlight. They can be really useful in the morning, especially if you rise before the sun.
Restorative breathing exercises
Ok, this one obviously seems esoteric (woo-woo), but high performing athletes and Navy seals use restorative breathing to “centre” themselves and to return to a calm state, ready to take action.
Box breathing, in particular is hugely useful in this regard. There’s videos on Youtube which explain it better than I can, but at a high level you take a deep breath into your diaphragm (your stomach should expand) over 4 seconds, hold the breath for 4 seconds, breath out for 4 seconds and then hold for 4 seconds. You can repeat this as many times as you like.
Maintaining a good state of mind and mood is hugely important for everyone and is often neglected by business owners. I hope these tips help you. Obviously they don’t replace medical advice and it’s worth consulting a specialist if you feel you may have serious mental health challenges.