Nothing a little CBD can’t cure: Dealing with business stress
For many of my clients, holiday markets and shopping tsunami’s are a CRAZY time of year. Non-stop sales, daily trips to the post office, market set ups and tear downs…all while trying to get things ready for YOUR families’ holiday. It’s a lot.
For me (and other accountants), this is our Christmas rush. The final hour. The moment of the movie where either everything falls apart, or it comes together at the last second. The truth is, it will all come together, but yeah, it isn’t always pretty.
The pressure of juggling a ton of tasks, managing a team, and striving for perfection can leave even the most resilient of us stressed out. Add to that an incurable need to say “yes” to everything and we’re talking burn-out city.
Whether its holiday chaos or tax time turmoil, are there times where you feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders at work? Here are some things I do…and a few that I SHOULD do to try to alleviate this stress and get my blood pressure down to normal decibels.
Share the Load, Frodo
It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have to do it all yourself. I get it; its sometimes just easier to do it myself than to try to think of 5 different ways to explain how to do something…then have to review it another 2 or 3 times, only to have to do 60% of it myself cause they didn’t get it. I’m not jaded? No!?
I haven’t always had the best luck with this one when it comes to more complex tasks, but when its simple, straightforward, and repetitive, it seems to work out. Look for ways to delegate tasks to your team members and build in reporting or metrics so you can make sure that it gets done.
I’m not one to just hope they do it right; I’m building in steps to ensure that things get done right. It’s your business after all; a mistake by one of your employees is basically a mistake by you. A little too Type A?? Yeah, I know. I did say I was basically always stressed right? Now you get why.
Does it need to be perfect?
This is a tough one…I deal with money and government reporting. It kind of needs to be perfect!?! But the truth is almost perfect still works. When it comes to other area’s though – I totally like to get scrappy. I’ve got some fun stuff coming up that I’m totally just diving in and ignoring my “perfectionist” tendencies.
Choosing when to obsess over the details vs. letting go is a great exercise in figuring out how to balance your time and energy. Remember there’s only so much of each so instead of fixating on every little detail, embrace a "get creative and get scrappy" mindset. Focus on progress over perfection, and don't be afraid to think outside the box.
Set Expectations
Most of the stress we feel is totally self-imposed. I don’t know about you, but how many times have you said “yes I can have that to you before the weekend” only to realize that there’s no way in hell that you can get it done by then?! Yep, that’s me. Now I’m losing my mind (and sleep) try to meet that unrealistic deadline – and I did it to myself!
We have this Chinese-food restaurant that we always order delivery from. Every time we call to order they always tell us it will be 45 minutes or even an hour if it’s a Friday or Saturday night. But do you know what? Most of the time, within 30 minutes there’s a lovely man at my door with yummy food and every time I’m like “oh wow that was quick!” The magic to my happiness?? They set the expectation and then when the delivered (literally) sooner, I was impressed.
So, guess what I need to start doing in my biz? Yep, you got it…I need to give myself and communicate to clients reasonable deadlines, and if I beat it, and get things done sooner, yay – happy client! But if not, I’ve still delivered as promised – without the sleepless nights.
Punch it out
I’m kind of serious…there is one tried and true stress buster that I honestly can’t believe I’m writing about. A bit of context – I hated gym in school. The first chance I got to opt out, I did and I never looked back. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago, when I hit my 40’s and realized that my “youthful” metabolism had abandoned me and was never coming back, that I begrudgingly joined a gym.
After my first year of working out 3-4 times a week and not seeing ANY change in my body (seriously, I don’t know how it’s possible), I was understandably ready to give up. But I realized something WAS coming out of me going the gym…I wasn’t wanting to murder people as often ;) I could handle curve balls better; My patience threshold was much higher; and things that used to drive me insane – well, they were a little more “meh”.
So here I am, almost 10 years later, still hitting the gym, still haven’t seen a change in the scale (FFS), but hot damn, no one’s been maimed, so we’re call this a WIN!!! Seriously though – its been a HUGE game changer for my mental health. Try it.
A little help from my friends
When I’m in the throes of a busy season, or have stupidly taken on too much, it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. And the reality is, I’ve probably taken on so much that there isn’t. But here’s one thing that I’ve learned: A glass (bottle) of wine with my BFF, movie night with the family, or dinner and drinks with our crew can propel me for DAYS. The laughter, connection, and even the booze totally helps me to chill out. This not only gives me a much needed break, but taking time for FUN refreshes me to keep going on the mountain of work still waiting to get done.
Take time for yourself. Thinking about, talking about, and doing something other than work is more important than you realize (yes, I’m writing that as much for myself as I am for you! LOL).
There you have it. I’m not winning any Zen awards anytime soon. My Type-A personality won’t let me. But we can all do a bit more to help our minds and bodies deal with our over-achieving selves. You got this!