If you are someone like Lloyd Claycomb II and running your own business then you will be no stranger to the stresses of daily life which come from having your own company. The truth of the matter is that this stress is not going to go anywhere whilst you are in business and in actual fact you need to use the stress levels to your benefit and ensure that the pressure which you are under is actually used to energize you. With that being said, there is a limit to how much stress you should be under and if you are feeling the weigh to the stress then here are some ways in which you can reduce those stress levels.
Working Smart
Many people often confuse working hard with working smart and whist putting in 100 + hour weeks may help you to feel as though you are working hard, you are unlikely to be effective during that time. For this reason, you are going to be far better putting in 12 hour days and making sure that you are absolutely on it for the full 12 hours. If you are putting in a crazy amount of hours then you are doing nothing more than giving yourself more stress and you will be much better off from a stress point of view if you take time away from the business to recharge and refresh, and then return at 100% the following day.
Delegate More
It can be very easy to take on everything yourself, especially if you are running a small business but this is not possible and it is important that you learn to delegate tasks. If you do not have the confidence in your staff that they can deliver the jobs well which you are asking them to do then you need to spend some time with them as the leader, and train them to a level whereby you will feel confident in giving them a wide range of tasks to complete. You may feel as though you do not have the time to spend with your staff and whilst this will cause you timing issues in the short term, it will greatly help you in the long term.
Relax
Of course you will need to work hard in order to make your business a success but it is not life and death and it is certainly not worth risking your health over. For this reason you need to find ways in which you can relax when you are away from the business. This will vary greatly from person to person and the method by which you find that place of relaxation is irrelevant, what is important is that you make some time for yourself, to forget about the stresses which your business brings with it and focus instead on recharging your batteries. If you can make a commitment to doing something which relaxes you two or three times per week, then you can ensure that you will be more prepared to deal with stressful situations when they come along.
