Stress and anxiety are part of the human condition. However, undue stress and anxiety are detrimental. As small business owners, we cope with numerous responsibilities. Besides delivering our products and services, we manage marketing, sales, accounting, and customer service. It's no wonder that many business owners feel stressed and anxious.

In this week's "I Hate Numbers" podcast, we discuss four strategies for coping with stress and anxiety, maintaining productivity, generating profits, and preserving well-being.

Identify Triggers

Firstly, identify what triggers your stress and anxiety. We must recognise when stress becomes excessive and causes discomfort, fatigue, or irritability. We cannot solve a problem without understanding what the root cause is.

Find Healthy Outlets

Secondly, find healthy outlets for you to relieve stress. Once you know the triggers, you need a healthy outlet. Physical activity, meditation, yoga, journaling, and spending time in nature are beneficial. Choose activities you enjoy and make time for them daily.

Find a Mentor

Thirdly, find a mentor. A mentor with business experience can offer advice, support, and empathy. They help avoid mistakes, saving time, money, and reducing stress and anxiety. Choose someone you trust and feel comfortable talking to.

Rely on Your Team

Lastly, rely on your team. Whether it is paid staff or freelancers, your team is there to help you. Delegate tasks, ask for advice, and lean on them. It makes running your business easier and helps you stay sane.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these strategies help manage stress and anxiety. Remember, you are not alone. Many small business owners face similar challenges. If stress and anxiety are excessive, seek qualified support. Join the Numbers Know How community for additional support. Listen to the "I Hate Numbers" podcast for more tips and join the Numbers Know How community. Keep stress levels at bay and stay productive.

Stress is part of the human condition. It's the undue stress and anxiety that we don't want. Now, as a small business owner, you will have an incredible amount on your plate to cope with. It's not just what you're good at. It's not just what your service and product is to be delivered. It's going to be involved in marketing, sales, accounting, customer service, add to the list as you see fit.

And it's no wonder that a great too many business owners feel stress and anxious in excess levels much of the time. Now in this week's I Hate Numbers podcast, I'm going to look at four ways that you as a business owner, or somebody who's involved in the business, can cope with stress and anxiety so you can maintain productivity,

generate that return generate your profits look after your customers, but most importantly preserve your sanity and well being Let's get on with it straight away, and by the way folks, if you've got some tips to share, I'd love to hear what they are.

So firstly, before we do anything, you've got to identify what's the triggers, what's behind your stress and anxiety. Now, we're not talking about normal levels of stress, that's part of the human condition. It's when it goes overboard, and it causes you some discomfort, makes you tired, maybe a little bit irritable.

Those around you will probably recognise the signs more easily than you will. You cannot solve a problem unless a, you admit what that problem actually is, and secondly, you understand the drivers, what's behind it, what's the cause. Nobody can actually deliver a solution unless they know what's going on in the first place.

It could be that you're always busy. Could be there's not enough hours in the day. Are there ever? It could be you're trying to please too many people. It may be very difficult for you to say no to something. You may be doing everything by yourself. You're very bad at delegating. You're very bad at outsourcing tasks.

And that DIY attitude, perfectly understandable, can actually be detrimental to you, both in the short term and the long term. It could be money is an issue, not getting paid on time, not generating enough. And when you start having money anxieties that will overspill into other areas of your business life and your personal life. You may just feel lost when it comes to managing your finances.

And if you're constantly worried about what could go wrong, taking on too much, then obviously learning to say no managing those boundaries would certainly be helpful. But whatever the answer whatever the root cause is you've got to be able to understand what it is before you can start managing it. And it may be that you ask those closer to you be prepared to actually hear the truth what are the triggers. This is not medical advice I'm giving you by the way folks but if you don't find out what's the driver what's causing it you can't really manage it. Now, number two, find a healthy outlet for this.

Now once you know what's causing that stress and anxiety, you need to find a healthy outlet for it. And in fact, there's no harm done in actually having that healthy outlet sooner rather than later. We understand quite easily the idea of keeping our body healthy and physical activity for that. But you also need to exercise what goes on between your ears, your mind.

And there are a number of ways open to it. All with varying time pressures, time considerations and cost. A lot of these can be done with very minimal cost but they do need a commitment from you. Now more of the popular outlets include meditation. Don't knock it until you've tried it. I find a 5-10 minute meditation exercise at the beginning of the day is really helpful. Yoga, and it's not just being able to do down dog or the plank, but it's a great way to get into the zone and exercise your mind.

Some people like journaling, where you actually vocalise your thoughts on, in a document, on paper, on an app, whatever suits you. Physical exercise, again, very beneficial, those endorphins that get released. Reading, doing something that's not necessarily connected to your business here, whether it's fiction you like, whatever your genre is, make time to read.

Spending time in nature, going for that walk, feeling the earth beneath your feet, where else would it be, can be a really power and productive thing. You don't necessarily have to hug a tree, but there's nothing wrong with that if you choose to do that. But choose an activity that you enjoy and makes you feel good, and then make time for it every day.

It's about building up good habits. Doesn't have to be excessive amounts of time. 5-10 minutes a day, as long as you make a routine of that, will make a big difference. Every now and again, you need to blow off steam. So whether it's dancing, obviously if it's drinking is your thing just be very careful not to imbibe too much. But just like everybody else you need to make sure you have that release valve to do something away from the day to day running of your business. Tip number three or step number three if you prefer, find a mentor.

Now, one of the better ways to cope with stress and anxiety is to find a suitable mentor. Having been a mentor myself and a business finance fixer for quite a number of years, I know that when I support clients, it's really beneficial for them. You could find a mentor for a community like Numbers Knowhow.

Please check the show notes out at the end. But it always is useful to talk to somebody who's been through what you've gone through. It doesn't have to be the same industry. It doesn't have to be the same sector but actually somebody who's got experience of being involved in running their own business. They can offer advice, support, and empathy and understanding.

And furthermore, having a mentor to show you the way can help you avoid making the same mistakes that they did saving you time, money, and more importantly, stress and anxiety. Now a mentor can be anyone from a family member. Again, choose carefully. It could be a business buddy. It could be your own accountant.

It could be a financial advisor. But choose somebody that you feel comfortable talking to them about your worries, and they're willing and able to offer helpful advice. But make sure you do your due diligence. Make sure you check that person out before you form that relationship with them. What's the last thing you can do?

Well, you can turn to your own team, whether that's your paid staff or your freelancers. Don't forget, you're not alone in this. Most small business owners feel the same way as you do. Those feelings that you might have will not be unique to you necessarily. So turn to your team for support. You'd be surprised how understanding and helpful they can be.

Now your team, by its very nature, is there to help you. So you need to get into the habit of delegating tasks, asking for advice, leaning on them when you need to, and it's going to make your small business much more enjoyable, easy to run, and it's going to help you stay sane in the process. Your team is there to help you, so delegate those tasks, ask for advice, and lean on them when you need to.

It's going to make running your small business so much easier, and it's going to help you to stay sane in the process folks. Let's have some final thoughts to wrap up with now. Obviously, I hope these tips have been helpful for you If you've got something to share I'd love to hear from you. You are not alone in this and many people struggle with stress and anxiety and following these tips, you can certainly go in a more positive direction and healthy and productive way forward.

Now, if you feel the stress and anxiety is excessive, then please do seek qualified support. Be very careful who you get advice from. And remember folks, check out the Numbers Knowhow Community, where you're going to find a welcoming space for you. Until next week, keep those stress levels at bay. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show.

We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.