How would you rate your ability to manage your stress and anxiety? If you feel that you can improve this ability, this video is for you.  

In this video, I share three practical steps that you can start doing today to help you manage your stress and anxiety.  

In 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 15% of Australians aged 16-85 years experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress. 

Entrepreneurs and business owners have some of the most stressful jobs because they deal with a lot of uncertainty. Things become more stressful for them when their business experiences some difficulty, such as when the economy goes through recessions or the markets feel the inflation pinch. 

It’s important for business owners and entrepreneurs to learn how to manage and cope with stress—it’s a personal and professional responsibility to take care of yourself because your well-being impacts on how you drive and grow your business. 

What can you do to manage your stress and anxiety? 

1. Identify the source of your stress 

The first step to addressing a problem is by identifying it. 

Reflect on the situation and figure out what is causing you all of this stress. More often than not, it requires us to think more deeply about what is causing our frustration, anger, or short fuse. Negative feelings are often symptoms of a deeper problem.  

What can you do to identify the source of your stress? Keep a journal and write down how you feel. Take note of each time you feel stressed out or experience anxiety. In your entry, describe specifically what triggered your adverse reaction. Do not generalise. 

Once you’ve written a few pages, you will likely find a pattern than will help you understand your source of stress.  

2. Find a healthy way to cope 

The next step is finding a way to cope with or healthy manage the stress. Journaling is one such way because it helps you articulate how you feel and why you feel that way. And if you do decide to journal, know that you are in the company of many famous entrepreneurs, like Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson. 

Other famous entrepreneurs get active, engage in hobbies, or meditate. If you want to know who these entrepreneurs are and what they do to manage their stress, I invite you to check out a previous video.  

Another way is developing a healthy mindset. One of the reasons why people get so stressed out is because they focus too much on things that they have no control over. As entrepreneurs and business owners, we can’t control the economy, we can’t control inflation, and we have no control over disruptions in our industries. What we do have control over is how we react and respond.  

Focusing on the things we can control prevents us from feeling helpless and frustrated, which then creates a vicious cycle of stress.  

3. Get support 

Don’t try to solve things yourself when you have a team who can help you, especially if your stressor is something you have no control over. Don’t be afraid to involve your team or even think that doing so will unnecessarily get them stressed out. In fact, withholding information from your team may even cause more stress for you and your organisation. 

Aside from your team, you can also seek help from your mentor and business coach—someone who is detached from the problem or stressor so that who can help you identify how best to deal with it.  

The best thing to do is involve everyone in finding ways to solve the problem and what’s causing you so much stress and anxiety in the business. More heads are usually better than one—and having many people look at the problem gives you different perspectives and ways of finding a resolution. 

If, despite these efforts, you still feel a lot of stress and anxiety, it also helps to seek professional support in taking care of your mental health. It’s OK to seek help, it may be the best option for you. Many entrepreneurs work with mental health professionals because doing so keeps them healthy, grounded, and feeling supported.  

Our well-being as business owners affect our businesses. This is why we need to learn how to manage our stress and anxiety. It begins with understanding of the root cause of this stress and anxiety before we figure out what to do to manage it. Finding a healthy outlet is enough for most to manage stress and anxiety. For others, they may need to seek professional support to help them better manage their mental health and well-being. What’s important is that you take care of yourself.