Stress in Building a Business and Becoming an Entrepreneur

Hello, being an entrepreneur in a way is asking for stress! You are trying to fix problems in a way that has never been done before. This unknown and newness is what provokes stress. I think most people would agree that the definition of stress is your body/mind adapting to something new and difficult.

The right amount of stress motivates us and too much stress causes burnout. I would say their are many ways a person can meet burnout but, as an aspiring entrepreneur and a trainer of many successful entrepreneurs lets stick with the most classical sense of burnout… working too much.

Your brain and body need very specific things to perform optimally. If your goal is to recover from burnout the first thing you may need is space from your work. If you can, take time off. Do things that bring you joy and happiness like exercise, eating well, playing sports, building things, travel somewhere, spending more time with family or friends.

In other words, unplugging and creating enough distance from you work is most likely the most effective way to recover from burnout.

I have seen my own friends take a year off from work after selling their start-ups. As personal trainer I always think about rest/effort cycles or feast/famine cycles for optimal performance.

If you want to reduce your chances of future burnout I would try and think about your rest/effort cycles with your next venture. If you want longevity in life and in your business you need to round yourself out with experiences outside of your work. If work because your only identity, you are going to run into the same problems. The individuals that seem to handle stress and ward off burnout are ones that have a complete life- they eat well, sleep well, spend time with family, take time off, workout, play in sports, socialize, spend time with family and work really hard. They learn how to prioritize their time.

I think as entrepreneurs gain wisdom and experience burnout themselves, they physically and mentally learn that they can not work like they use to. The young buck, 100 hour week mentality is not lasting.

If you want to learn more about stress in entrepreneurship I recently wrote an article you may find interesting:

Stress in Building a Business - Entrepreneur Stess Management