Managing Stress

For Entrepreneurs & Business Founders

Life is full of uncountable obstacles, unwanted surprises and unpleasant shocks and counter shocks; Life is uncertain, that the most Zen of Buddhists or the Holiest Pope of the Catholics cant always escape the wrath of intense stress. For Entrepreneurs & founders the journey of growing and grooming your business and or idea is designed with stress; The Fear of failure is till date a powerful stress trigger churning out perfectionists who never quite make it and people who are just miserable; For most people, festive periods are dreadful, especially mums in big extended families, thinking about the expectations alone can bring stress, we will talk about Expectations another day; but for today will consider stress as a part of our lives and how we can live with it and manage it.

Stress comes with Leadership, Management and genuinely working to meet expectations, some times these expectations are natural or unsolicited, whatever the case; stress is a fundamental part of our lives. There are too many potential stress triggers in life to cover all in this piece, but we can talk about how to pacify and or mitigate/manage these stress before they become a burden and weigh us down into the bottle of pills and drugs.

Stress can both be mental and physical, for most optimist and or people in general they:

• Feel stressed when they need to make an unpopular decision or take an unpopular route to achieve something;

• Go great lengths to avoid stressful situations;

• See sex or physical exercise as a good outlet for stress;

• Need time to pull themselves together when involved in something stressful;

• Often worry about saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time

Some other people try to hide the emotional draining associated with intense stress – and also others are willing to work hard to get their anxieties, worries, and feelings under control. Here are some ideas that can help one manage stress:

• Embrace your emotional awareness as a pro rather than a con;

• Take the time to minimize your natural “catastrophizing” tendencies – such as jumping to conclusions;

• Seek out encouraging environments and positive people, avoiding those who are relentlessly pessimistic or highly critical of your ideals;

• Single out one priority at a time instead of spreading your energy – this is especially important as stress can easily make you lose track of your priorities;

• Remember that perfection is a path, not a destination.

start viewing stressful situations as learning opportunities. Stress may be an inseparable part of our lives, but being aware of its triggers and effects can help you handle it better.

How does stress affect you? Do you see it as an opportunity to flip a situation on its head, or would you rather ignore the world for a while? Share your thoughts