Entrepreneurship is a highly demanding profession. A success rate of as low as 10% and the immense pressure and stress that comes with failure or even the daily operation can take a toll on your mental health.
Talking about women entrepreneurs, lack of finance, lack of support, and the patriarchal society makes the matter worse for them. The rate of depression, ADHD, and substance abuse is significantly more than women practicing any other profession.
Women entrepreneurs wear many hats. Handling household activities and business operations is an uphill battle for many. Such immense stress can be detrimental to mental health, so women should be earnest about their mental health. This article has shared 15 tips to help women entrepreneurs live a healthy life and maintain a work, life balance.
1. Get A Therapist
Entrepreneurship comes with a lot of stress and it is not easy coping alone. Loneliness adds up to all the factors that deteriorate your mental health. In such situations, a therapist can be your savior. Having someone to talk to and share your problems reduces half your stress.
As women entrepreneurs are most vulnerable to mental health issues, having a therapist is always advisable to help at times when you don’t know which way to turn and stay focused.
2. Surround Yourself With People You Admire
You become who you spend more time with. If possible be around people you admire and look up to. You can’t help but be inspired by them. The right circle will help you can turn your life around for the better. Filter your friends and you can bring out the best in yourself within no time.
Having smarter people around you will surely push you to the edge but eventually will force you to be as good as them.
3. Spend Time With Yourself
People often tend to overlook this point, but spending time with yourself is crucial to keeping healthy mental health. With all the flow of information in and out of your brain, you don’t get much time to stay in a peaceful state of mind and know more about yourself.
Spending at least 30 mins a day with yourself can bring unanticipated positive changes in you. Often people come out to be more creative, self-aware, and confident. Studies have shown that people who set time for themself are happier and mentally sound.
4. Make Healthier Food Choices
Women entrepreneurs should choose the right food to stay in the right state of mind and be productive throughout. What goes inside your body heavily impacts your mental health. Although there is not much difference in men’s and women’s diets, there are specific areas to consider when it comes to surrounding women’s health.
The right diet may vary with age, sex, and activity but the chart below is a general guideline for women:
- Protein: 40 gm
- Fat:60 gm
- Salt: 4-5 gm
- Calories: 2000kcal
5. Practice Gratitude
Practicing Gratitude has changed people’s lives for good and women entrepreneurs can benefit a lot from it. Women experiencing a drastic improvement in mental health by practicing gratitude indicate it is high time your start practicing it too.
Being thankful for the little things in life can be a way to live a happier life. Being grateful to your colleagues, family, clients can be a great way to practice gratitude. Staying optimistic and cheerful in life will help you improve your mental health.
6. Daily Exercise & Yoga
While trying to prosper in business, entrepreneurs often disregard physical exercise. A huge chunk of your time goes on creating business plans, attending meetings, and managing the team all this while sitting in a chair.
It is time you add physical exercise to your daily routine. Regular exercise and yoga significantly reduce stress, keep you calm, and help manage metabolism.
7. Take A Break
Everyone needs a break from their daily routine now and then and it’s no different for entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneurs have so much to handle with the responsibility of kids, family members, and their business that leads them to burnout so taking breaks is vital for recreation and return to work rejuvenated.
8. Set Achievable Goals
“Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground.” Theodore Roosevelt
Being ambitious is always good but while doing so, don’t forget the reality. Goal setting is where most entrepreneurs get very ambitious. Trying to attempt beyond what your think are your limitations, you can end up overworking yourself which deteriorates your mental health.
It is much better to set simple goals and work your way up than to set unfeasible goals and never achieve them. So, as an entrepreneur, you should always set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals.
9. Meditation
The extensive use of social media has drastically decreased our attention span. Scientists say today humans have a shorter attention span than goldfish. Research has shown that people with a shorter attention span are prone to suffer from mental health problems.
Women entrepreneurs have too much on their plate and it’s difficult to be fully focused throughout the day. Meditation has proven to be a magical way to improve overall mental health and increase the attention span and stay productive. So, for a businesswomen meditation can be a knight in shining armor.
10. Avoid Addictions
Some qualities of a successful entrepreneur and addict overlap. In the hope of building the next big empire, entrepreneurs often take great risks and on failure, the stakes get even higher. This goes on to a point they financially ruin themselves. There is too much going around an entrepreneur and to cope with it many turn to drugs or alcohol.
Many types of research have shown that entrepreneurs have a way higher risk of substance abuse than anyone. If you have symptoms of addiction, you should immediately seek treatment.
11. Get Enough Sleep
While trying to go get more work done, entrepreneurs often cut down on sleep. This is proven to be extremely dangerous and unproductive, especially for entrepreneurs. A business to grow requires consistent undivided focus and the right decision making which are not possible without a good sleep cycle.
Sleep charges the mind and repairs the body. Lack of sleep invites many mental and physical nuisances and disturbs the normal functioning of the body. The sleep hours vary with age, diet, and the type of work you do. But an average adult requires at least 7 hours of sound sleep.
12. Spend Time With Nature
As a businesswoman, you have a busy and stressful life and very less time to think about your mental health. However, mental health is crucial and should be taken more seriously. Spending time in nature is a great way to relieve stress and stay calm. The positivity and peace while being in nature is unparalleled in any other form of recreation.
13. Plan Your Day
Planning your entire day can lessen the stress. Although the day almost never goes as per plan, you will have a rough idea of what has to be done throughout the day. Priority-based planning can be very effective, where high priority tasks can be completed in the first hour of the day making the entire day productive and organized
14. Divide Work
Most of the work and responsibilities of a small business are single-handedly fulfilled by the owner. They can not afford to divide the responsibility. Whether it’s for financial or any other reasons, you should Stop doing things yourself!
Successful entrepreneurs never work alone and you shouldn’t either. They choose the right person to do the right job. As the business expands the workload increases with it comes increasing mental stress. So, it’s always good to divide the workload to keep healthy mental health.
15. Don’t Let Negativity Affect You
People who question your decisions, career, and potential are in abundance and you have to learn to show them the cold shoulder. Although it’s changing slowly, there is still a stigma around female entrepreneurs in society. In spite of the widespread awareness about equality and impartiality, female entrepreneurs still struggle to be taken seriously. The constant intervention of society and lack of family support is a common problem woman entrepreneurs face even in this modern age.
To thrive as a women entrepreneur it’s crucial to stand strong and be resilient. Avoid distractions and most importantly don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t!