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Key Takeaways
- Action is the antidote to stress — avoidance only compounds problems, while decisive action creates solutions.
- Entrepreneurs must focus on high-value tasks and lean on employees, tools and systems.
- Unexpected events are inevitable, but curiosity, creativity and willingness to pivot separate thriving businesses from failing ones.
Let’s get this out of the way from the start: If you’re looking for the path of least resistance, entrepreneurship is not the right fit for you. There’s no way around it — as an entrepreneur, you are going to face stressful situations. However, stress is not a fixed state. Part of developing into the best entrepreneur you can be means developing stress coping mechanisms that will support positive solutions.
As an entrepreneur, I know all too well the stresses that can come with the job. Issues with payroll? That’s on you. Glitch in marketing campaign? That’s on you, too. Ensuring day-to-day operations are intact while steering the larger ship? That’s definitely on you. These pressures can add up and learning how to deal with them requires thoughtful and intentional coping skills.
The singular definitive truth I have discovered is this: the antidote to stress is action. Not avoidance, not pretending issues don’t exist, not kicking the can down the road – action. Below, I’ll outline three main buckets of stressors that I’ve observed that can derail you as an entrepreneur — and how to combat these stressors through action.
Overwhelmed with tasks
We hear it all the time – “There aren’t enough hours in the day.” Especially as a new entrepreneur, you will find yourself with more tasks than you can possibly complete in a day. Unlike a professional job that outlines metrics for your success, KPIs to hit or deliverables that can be easily measured and presented to a manager, owning a business doesn’t. There are nuances, situations that need your attention, systems to set up, plans to make, projects to develop — and that’s all before anything goes wrong.
This ambiguity can lead some to become workaholics, trying in vain to check as many boxes as possible. It can lead others to neglect important tasks, allowing small dents to splinter into larger cracks over time. So what’s the solution here? Delegation within resource constraints.
First things first: prioritize based not on how much you can complete, but on the value of each task. I often say that there’s no such thing as time management, only priority management. Prioritize tasks before you dig into the nitty gritty of any one thing. Think of yourself as a triage doctor who needs to hone in quickly, focus on the tasks that are most dire and tackle the to-dos that have the greatest payoff first. Next, delegate tasks that are not absolutely necessary for you to complete as the business owner. Lean on employees, tech tools and automations.
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The sheer vastness
One of the things that is the most difficult for entrepreneurs to overcome is the sheer vastness of options for how to spend your time. Those broad stroke questions like: “What ‘should’ I do?” or “What if I make the wrong move?” can lead to inaction and fear. Entrepreneurs can be paralyzed by not knowing.
To resituate yourself in relation to these questions and gain some perspective, accept that entrepreneurship will include many, many tasks that will make you uncomfortable. Discomfort is often viewed as a “bad” thing. Change this narrative. Ask for help, dig into research, discover how other entrepreneurs have handled these questions.
Then, be willing to make changes and adapt your approach. By letting go of the judgement associated with not having all the answers and, instead, approaching challenges with a sense of curiosity and possibility, you may not end up exactly where you imagined, but you may find yourself in a situation with greater opportunities than you ever thought possible.
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Unforeseen events
There are some things that can’t be predicted. Maybe the stock market crashes, maybe your storefront floods, maybe there’s a global pandemic. Let’s consider Covid-19. Every business owner in America had to deal with this and, in some ways, this event was an unprecedented equalizer for businesses. There were plenty of failures, plenty of missteps, but there were also many who were able to turn this collective challenge into an opportunity.
At some point, what became apparent was that sitting there and doing nothing was a surefire way to close up shop. Where some businesses accepted their fate, others got creative. While it’s certainly unfair to suggest that every business that was confronted with the pandemic could have remained open with enough gumption and creativity, it’s important to learn from the businesses that survived and thrived despite these circumstances.
Give yourself the best chance possible, make a contract with yourself to do everything in your power to remain successful, and develop a willingness to stand up and fight for yourself and your business at all costs. Look, it can sound a little “woo-woo” but if you aren’t willing to go to the mats for your business every single day, then you’re signing your own business’ death warrant. Put aside what you thought business ownership would be, do the unglamorous work, and keep a firm eye on the end goal instead of the current frustration or roadblock.
If you are willing to take the leap and become a business owner, you are signing up for a certain level of stress in your life. But the key to harnessing that stress and turning it into something productive is action.
Key Takeaways
- Action is the antidote to stress — avoidance only compounds problems, while decisive action creates solutions.
- Entrepreneurs must focus on high-value tasks and lean on employees, tools and systems.
- Unexpected events are inevitable, but curiosity, creativity and willingness to pivot separate thriving businesses from failing ones.
Let’s get this out of the way from the start: If you’re looking for the path of least resistance, entrepreneurship is not the right fit for you. There’s no way around it — as an entrepreneur, you are going to face stressful situations. However, stress is not a fixed state. Part of developing into the best entrepreneur you can be means developing stress coping mechanisms that will support positive solutions.
As an entrepreneur, I know all too well the stresses that can come with the job. Issues with payroll? That’s on you. Glitch in marketing campaign? That’s on you, too. Ensuring day-to-day operations are intact while steering the larger ship? That’s definitely on you. These pressures can add up and learning how to deal with them requires thoughtful and intentional coping skills.
The singular definitive truth I have discovered is this: the antidote to stress is action. Not avoidance, not pretending issues don’t exist, not kicking the can down the road – action. Below, I’ll outline three main buckets of stressors that I’ve observed that can derail you as an entrepreneur — and how to combat these stressors through action.