7 Main Causes of Stress for Entrepreneurs and How to Cope

Entrepreneurs worry about a lot of things, and sometimes it gets the better of them. Before they know it, they’re already stressed. Here are 7 main causes of stress for entrepreneurs and how to cope with them!

1. Competition

Concern about what the competition is doing is something that constantly worries entrepreneurs. Everyone is continuously planning to get ahead and in doing so, this stress becomes translated into internal work stress. This has ironically become detrimental to the development of one’s organization instead.

While it is important to keep updated of what the competition is doing, startups and organizations should not linger around them too long. It’s important to focus on things that are more tangible; to focus on the work at hand and improving the inner circle of one’s own company. At the end of the day, the biggest competition would be the self. Aspiring to get better each day is one way to take off fears about the competition and before you know it, you’ve already gone ahead of them.

2. Limited Resources

Most entrepreneurs are used to working under limited resources, but having limited resources is not exactly what they would prefer to have. Because of this, their work is not maximized to its full potential.

The guilt of the thought that they could have done better had they had more resources always takes over and gets the better of them.

Instead of thinking about how bad a project is, compliment yourself for being able to complete them despite the few available resources to work with. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Working with a limited number of resources may be a con, but being resourceful isn’t, and the two mean very different things.

3. Lack of Support

Having no support system around is something that not only entrepreneurs stress about. With no one to confide in, tasks and projects would feel difficult to complete. People feel much more weight being alone than having people around to support them.

You don’t have to do things alone. On the contrary, as much as people think that having someone to confide in is a sign of weakness, it’s actually a sign of strength.

Find a friend, a relative, or a coworker. Tell them your stories and your struggles. Maybe that way, they may have solutions for you that you wouldn’t otherwise discover had you kept everything to yourself.

It feels great to have safety nets behind you – people who would morally guide and support you every step of the way.

4. Commitments

Entrepreneurs are fond of committing to a number of tasks that they don’t realize are actually difficult to juggle. By the time they choose to go back, it’s already too late. It’s either they are stacked with commitments that are difficult to manage all at the same time or they end up creating subpar outputs.

As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep these commitments to a minimum and to keep them realistic. Do not accept commitments when you’re unsure of whether you’ll be able to finish them on time or not.

Entrepreneurs must be desensitized with declining commitments. There’s no harm in not overestimating oneself and keeping the workload in the right amount. Otherwise, these tasks will just pile up and your stress levels will skyrocket.

5. Industry or Business Changes

Adapting to constant business changes is difficult. It means no day is ever the same for an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs will constantly fit in every change and are expected to deliver good service and output each day.

Always stay updated with industry developments. Allow yourself to learn through every process and accept the changes. Only by doing so will you be able to excel every day and in every way.

6. Growth and Expansion

As much as it is a good sign that the business is growing and expanding, it’s going to add more stress because then it means more responsibilities.

The process of growing is already stressful enough, and the thought that this continuous growth will keep adding more responsibilities makes entrepreneurs go crazy.

Looking at growth as a form of evolution or leveling up is a more optimistic way of looking at it.

Entrepreneurs should think of growth as a door to more opportunities instead of it creating bigger responsibilities. This way, people allow themselves to face developments head-on and accept that this growth is something that will benefit the whole business.

7. The Unknown

The unknown always scares us, and this unknown gets even scarier the more we look into it. The future will always be something that’s somewhat unpredictable and that makes it frightening.

The truth is, nobody can truly predict what the future holds. Focus on solving the now, and before people know it, they’re already in the future not realizing they’ve gone through a lot of days that the fear of the future isn’t so scary after all.

Entrepreneurs should worry about the future, yes, but deal with the present more than the future, because it’s the present that stitches the future together to create the whole fabric.

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