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Every entrepreneur can attest that creating and running a company is an incredibly stressful endeavor. Long hours, financial uncertainty and the weight of responsibility for employees' livelihoods create a perfect storm of ever-present stressors that can significantly impact a founder's mental and physical well-being.
At the same time, the leader cannot falter. The ultimate responsibility for the company's survival and success rests on their shoulders, which unfortunately means the obvious answers — take it slower, don't let work creep into your personal life, go on an extended vacation — are rarely considered as realistic options.
As the founder and CEO of a CPG startup operating across both the U.S. and Europe and a father of two, I've had to develop strategies that work within the constraints of reality rather than idealistic advice. The truth is, there's no magic solution that completely eliminates the stress of entrepreneurship while maintaining the pace and dedication required to succeed. Instead, I've found it's about building sustainable practices that help you bend rather than break.
Here are three key practices that help me maintain my sanity. I recommend them to anyone seeking to manage entrepreneurial stress more effectively.
1. Journal everything
With reporting comes clarity of mind and purpose. Most entrepreneurs know how easy it is to get caught up in the daily whirlwind of pressing to-dos and meetings and feel like your grasp on what's really going on is slipping. That is until a report lands in your hands, and suddenly, the high-level vision returns, priorities become clear, and you're back in control of the ship.
You can achieve this effect through journaling—think of it as an anchor that keeps you constantly grounded, no matter how rough the seas.
Journaling doesn't necessarily mean keeping a personal diary, though if that works for you, then fantastic. Its primary purpose is to keep your goals in sight and constantly review where you stand. For me, journaling takes multiple forms: formal business reports that force strategic reflection, LinkedIn posts that distill key learnings and events, Instagram Live discussions with customers that provide unfiltered insights and other documentation methods that pull me out of the day-to-day trenches.
Each report, post and reflection becomes a timestamp of your journey. You're not just documenting what happened but processing why it happened and what it means. In that sense, it isn't just record-keeping — it's a form of continuous strategic thinking that helps keep stress at bay and has a direct positive influence on your business.
2. Take care of your health
For me, health is a daily, non-negotiable commitment. This means two fundamental practices: taking the right supplements and consistent physical activity. I'm not talking about extreme fitness regimens or complicated nutrition plans. I'm talking about sustainable, practical approaches that keep me functional and sharp.
Every single day, I ensure I'm supporting my body's baseline needs. Supplements aren't a magic solution, but they're a necessary layer of defense against the inevitable wear and tear of entrepreneurial life. More importantly, I've made movement a non-negotiable part of my routine. I even went so far as to install a minimalist gym space in our office so that exercise can be squeezed in when possible. Some days, that's a quick bike ride to work, other days it's a 20-minute workout between meetings.
The goal isn't peak performance but consistent, sustainable energy. If you're running on empty (literally), no amount of motivation can compensate for physical depletion.
3. Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness means different things to different people, but it typically converges at living in the present. As entrepreneurs, we're planners, risk evaluators, reporters, all of which force us to constantly think about the future and reflect about the past. This, in turn, makes us worry about things to come and lose sleep over previous mistakes.
Forward-thinking is inevitable, healthy and critical for running a business. But it's easy to go off the rails, where you're constantly worrying about everything that could — and did — happen.
Be mindful. Understand that you can not do anything about the past and stop worrying about the future, as this gives you anxiety. Take one day at a time and try to do your best effort each day. If you put in the best effort and work, things tend to fall into place.
I know it's easier said than done. I am good at forgetting about the past, but I still struggle to not live in the future and worry about it. But by making a conscious effort to keep yourself grounded, you will gain a healthier perspective on your business and a better handle on your stress.
To each their own
This is a combination of active practices that I've put together over a decade of my intense entrepreneurial journey. These work for me, and part of the reason for that is an enabling environment—I have an incredibly supportive spouse and highly motivated business partners.
While I recommend these to anyone in a high-stress position, they're not a silver bullet. Take what works for you and your specific situation, personality and environment and discard the rest. The goal isn't to play a healthy entrepreneur. The goal is to be one.
