Time to Switch Off

Stress is an ever-present worry for the small business owner, but a variety of simple techniques can help you get on top of it and refresh your mind. The simplest thing is something many entrepreneurs find the hardest – to sever the communication link with work.

Sometimes it seems that part and parcel of being an entrepreneur is having more than a passing acquaintance with stress.

That passion and control of your own destiny, the things that made you want to be in business for yourself, have been replaced by financial stress, professional isolation, long hours and poor work-life balance.

Small business owners are prone to stress

The inaugural Officeworks Small Business Wellbeing Index1, compiled in 2015, found that Australian small business owners were under immense pressure and risking their well-being, with almost half (45%) claiming their stress levels had increased in the past 12 months, and a quarter feeling “burnt out.”

The Index, based on research of more than 1,000 small business owners nationwide, revealed that 40% were struggling with trying to juggle everything themselves, and a further 22% were experiencing loneliness and isolation.

Despite these significant issues, only a quarter of business owners were seeking support for stress, while a slightly higher percentage (29%) said they were seeking help for the business issues causing their stress.

They are alarming figures – but something can be done.

The importance of downtime

The first thing is to “switch off” says executive coach and International Coach Federation (ICF) master coach, Belinda MacInnes, of Belinda M Master Coach. And that is not just a saying – she means it literally.

“The main thing is to get away from your technology – get offline, turn your phone off, don’t look at your computer or your tablet. Disconnect yourself.The main thing is to get away from your technology – get offline, turn your phone off, don’t look at your computer or your tablet. Disconnect yourself.When you say that to an entrepreneur, it nearly kills them. They say, ‘I can’t, what if I miss this call, that call.’ When they say they can’t leave their technology, they’ve simply lost objectivity; they’re getting burned out,” she says.

MacInnes says an executive coach will negotiate: “What about half a day, what about two hours? Afterward, you ask them if they noticed what it was like not being online or connected. Once they do it and experience that relief, often they are able to think more clearly – and you can get them to do it again.”

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Whatever the business owner chooses to do in their technology-free time is up to them, she says – as long as they’re not connected to the outside world. “Ideally, it would be to do nothing, but usually that doesn’t even compute. To switch off, a lot of the entrepreneurs I work with will sleep, or possibly binge-watch a box set of a TV program – but at least they’re not in contact with work. It could be watch a movie, get out in the garden, go for a walk, play with their kids or the dog – it’s really anything. We’re just trying to demonstrate to them that if they miss the phone call, or the text, or the email, that the world still turns and their business still goes on,” says MacInnes. We’re just trying to demonstrate to them that if they miss the phone call, or the text, or the email, that the world still turns and their business still goes on.

Topically, she says the analogy she uses is of Olympic athletes. “They’re not high-performing all the time, they have times when they peak, times when they rest and do nothing, and times when they’re building up their training. Most entrepreneurs have to be told and convinced and cajoled into switching off – that it works and brings them a benefit. If they can do it, they generally respond,” she says.

The Gym for the Mind

Beyond simply switching off is mindfulness training, which is all about focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness trainer, Gillian Coutts, Australian director at consultancy The Potential Project, says basic mindfulness techniques can be very helpful in combating stress.

“Just focusing on taking deeper, longer breaths, for example – doing that for ten minutes – that sounds pretty trite, but we say it’s like going to the gym for the mind. The three core skills you’re developing are to hold something in focus, without distraction; second, to notice when your mind wanders; the third is the ability to let go – that moment when you notice that your mind wanders and you deliberately bring your attention back to your breathing.”

The three core skills you’re developing are to hold something in focus, without distraction; second, to notice when your mind wanders; the third is the ability to let go.

Those are the three metaphorical mental ‘muscles’ that you work on in the gym of the mind. And that third muscle is incredibly powerful at 3AM when you’ve woken up with something on your mind, that thought you can’t get rid of: you can literally train your brain to think, ‘I won’t focus on that, I choose to focus on something else,” says Coutts.

Building your own successful business was not meant to be easy; otherwise, everyone would do it. Nor does it have to result in crippling stress, with all of its possible mental and physical consequences. Learning to recognise when you’re stressed, and how to redress that, is a crucial business skill. Whether it’s learning to switch off, delegating, finding professional support through your accountant, insurance broker or other business adviser or talking to other small business people about common issues – help is never really far away.