Whether you are a business owner or manager, you are certainly going to have to deal with many stresses. No matter if you are managing a small company or a large multinational corporation, the aspects that will stress you out remain the same.
Is the business generating enough revenue? Can I pay outstanding debts? Are my creditors looking for their cash? How can my employees become more productive? Can the business expand? These are questions that are familiar to all those in a position of running a business.
How can you manage these stresses?
In this post I outline simple tips on how you can reduce the stresses of running a business.
1) Get Plenty Of Sleep
There seems to be a notion some have that successful business owners should only have a few hours sleep because they need to spend their time growing their business. This follows the fact that CEOs such as Jack Dorsey of Twitter reported that he only got around 4 hours sleep each night.
Sleep deprivation is something that affects most business owners. How much sleep you need is something that you need to decide yourself. What amount of sleep makes you feel at your best is something that you should stick to.
A lack of sleep can affect your judgement on decisions. This is a very important aspect for managers and business owners. Your decisions could potentially make or break your organization. Similarly, sleep deprivation can also affect your relationship with your colleagues at work, which could add to your stress levels.
2) Prioritize Your Tasks
You may feel like you get stuck in a rut when your to-do list keeps on expanding over time. It is important that you learn to prioritize your tasks. Having lots of tasks to do and when it seems like nothing is getting done can cause a lot of stress.
Ranking your tasks based on your goals or revenue added for the company should be prioritized. You could try order your to-do list from greatest priority to least priority. This is one thing that you could do to structure your work day.
You should also delegate your tasks to your staff. If there are tasks that you do not like to do, there may be staff members who may relish the challenge. Delegating tasks in some cases can promote trust in your team and help members to feel they are more involved in the operation of your business.
3) Meditation
Meditation can help you to regain your focus and relive your mind of stress. Try to schedule a daily routine of 15 minutes to 30 minutes where you switch off and relax. This could be done before work, after work or whenever you think is best for you.
Meditation is like a reboot of your brain, when you are stressed, your mind gets overloaded with your problems. With a relaxed, empty mind you can better handle your problems and you may find more positives.
Taking a break from your fast-paced work is essential for your well being and if you find that meditation helps you, ensure you make it your routine.
4) Keep Your Devices & Sensitive Data Secure
One of the latest stresses for business owners is the management of customer data, employee data and phishing attacks on their business.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was implemented in the EU in 2018 and has heightened the regulation on data privacy and punishments for organizations that fail to respect personal information.
Personal data is a valuable commodity for hackers and businesses have become a prime target for such attacks. Any company that has suffered from a data breach have suffered consequences from a tarnished reputation, fines and loss of revenue.
This constant threat causes stress for business owners. A solution is to implement cyber security awareness programs for your staff and implement frameworks to keep all data held by your organization safe.
5) Trust Your Team
Some business owners want to control all aspects of their organization. As a business grows this becomes impossible. It is important to trust employees to manage parts of the business for you.
By delegating tasks, putting people in positions of power in your company will help to promote a positive workplace culture. Instead of managing people you can monitor their progress to ensure they are delivering on achieving the goals of the company.
When you can trust your staff to provide a high-quality service, it reduces your stress levels and allows you to focus on growing the business.
Remember that you must take care of yourself and to reduce your stress levels. Stress affects your management of your business from the day to day operations to making micro level and macro level decisions.