Startup Burnout: How to Manage Stress for Better Business

Running a startup can be a major source of stress. You’re tasked with not only keeping afloat in a competitive industry, but with scaling sensibly and consistently. Your aspirations are tied to those of each your employees, and while you can share in the joys of success, ultimately it’s you that shoulders the burden of failures.

According to Medium, startups are more stressful even than an MIT degree, and those are notoriously, hair-pullingly difficult. The question then becomes, at what point does that stress go from being productive to counter-productive. When does the stress stop motivating you to improve, and start becoming an obstacle?

It’s important, for the health of your startup – but, more importantly, for your own health – that you avoid de-prioritizing your mental health. Your startup will run smoother, your work will seem easier, your culture will be better and your own wellbeing will be more secure if you take proactive, actionable steps toward managing stress.

You do that by incorporating basic stress management techniques into your daily life.

Leave Room for Meditation

Leave time in your schedule for self-reflection, mindfulness and calm. And leave space in your working environment to facilitate that goal. Designate a space in your office or remote workspace where you, or anyone for that matter, can go and meditate. It may seem like some highfalutin, Silicon Valley bull, but it works – psychologists are often quick to recommend it, and journals have corroborated its efficacy.

When meditating, practice mindfulness: the practice of letting things go, observing your reactions to events with a dispassionate, third partygaze. Over time, you will learn to reshape your relationship with work stressors.

Try CBD

With the widespread legalization of cannabis, CBD is everywhere now. The non-psychoactive element in cannabis is no longer stigmatized, and continues in fact to be studied for its potent anti-anxiety qualities.

You don’t have to puff on a joint outside, or find a corner of the office in which to pull out your dropper, in order to reap the benefits of CBD. Products like Olli teas – makers of cannabis-infused herbal teas –make a CBD line of teas that you can sip on while you look over your accounts payable reports or sales reports.

Sleep, Exercise & Diet

This is the trifecta of basicself-care, but it often gets neglected in startups. Oftentimes, capital-minded entrepreneurs are will willing to sacrifice one, or all, of these basic necessities in the quest for growth and success. That’s a big mistake – even from a business standpoint.

Without proper sleep, your decision-making abilities decrease and you become irritable, creating both an inefficient process and a toxic culture. Without exercise and a proper diet, your overall wellbeing suffers, and that’s when undue stress creeps in. To reduce stress and improve your capacity in the startup, it’s imperative that you tend to your basic needs.

Resist the urge to give every ounce of yourself to your startup. Short of being personally detrimental, it can have injurious effects on your business. It’s better to meditate, sip a little CBD tea and get an early bed.