Handling Stress at a Startup

Fast-approaching deadlines. Customers to satisfy. Burn rate paranoia. All of these are common in startups, regardless of what stage they’re in. There are always fires to put out, buyers to please, and potential investors watching your every move. Honestly, if your goal of creating a startup is to make money and sail away to paradise, you are going to be in a lot of trouble. Not mention stress.

Stress is common in startups, like everything else. However, there might come a time where it catches up to you. That excessive rise in cortisol doesn’t do anybody any good. So when that does happen, it’s important to find ways out of it. How do you do that?

It comes down to what role you play within the startup. The bigger the impact you make in the startup, the harder it’ll be to de-stress. This is because your impact could make or break a sale, product feature, or implementation. If you’re the CEO, you’re pretty much out of luck. You always have to be on, especially early on when nothing is certain and you could go under at any point. If you’re a junior employee, you might have it a little easier. Overall there are a few things you can do to place yourself away from the stress:

PTO

Also known as “Paid Time Off”, this is the allocated time given to full-time employees that gives them the right to take time off from work while still getting paid. The number of days may differ from one startup to the next, but the benefit is clear – taking time away from work for yourself can absolutely help you lower stress levels. Disconnecting from your work devices and not checking it every so often while on PTO can help clear your head. You can literally do anything you want during your time off – travel, sleep, whatever you need to clear your head and restore yourself

Meditation

Meditation can certainly help if done right. It allows you to increase your focus and provides a momentary way of reducing stress by concentrating in the present state and sometimes repeating some sort of mantra. The earlier you can do it, the better since your willpower and energy are the greatest in the morning. Simply set up a timer for however many minutes you think you’ll need and start with breathing in and out and focusing on that.

Getting Out

Simply enjoying the outdoors or a weekend on the town could be enough to lower stress levels. Actually getting out and exploring new activities can actually be a refresher. Things like hiking and other outdoor activities gives people the opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on life and what really matters. It’s great for realigning your self and identifying what you should be focusing on when you come back.

Pursuing a Hobby

Everybody has a hobby. Whether it’s boxing, doing jigsaw puzzles, or gardening, it’s important to have a side activity outside of work that you can enjoy and rely on when things get stressful. It also shows your creative side and what you like to do in your spare time (if you have any). Having any hobby can keep you sane when you’re on the brink of insanity. If you don’t have one, think of some things you enjoy seeing or wanted to do but never had the time to.

Although working hard is imperative to making startups work, it’s important to know that you shouldn’t exhaust yourself to the point of a mental breakdown. If the above suggestions don’t work, look for ways to just recover from a mental standpoint so that you can tackle all the fires with a renewed sense of self.