As a business owner, the success of your business depends on how healthy you are. If you can’t effectively manage your business due to ill health, your business will definitely suffer the consequences.
Most times, a small business owner is a driver, the account manager, the recruiter etc because they want to maximise profit.
When it is a woman’s business, the responsibilities may even be more. And it has been advocated that HR has a role to play in assisting in this direction.
As busy as you may be, you need to pay attention to your mental health even if you do side hustle jobs to make an extra income.
Staying fit mentally is key even as you combine more than five roles as a business owner.
As you prepare yourself for the week ahead, below are 15 practical ways to take your general well-being seriously:
Rest
A sole proprietor may never have enough time to complete their everyday tasks, but that shouldn’t be a reason why you should overwork yourself.
You need to take a break when necessary. During the day, if possible, taking a nap of 30mins to one hour will help and after the day’s work have a good night’s rest.
Stay Active
If your role is basically selling online, converting new leads, sending emails to customers, and engaging with customers to provide solutions to their complaints, you may be required to sit for hours.
But you can take a break to walk around to re-energise yourself. You can get a pad that enables you to perform some of the roles on a phone.
Ask For Help
Even a robot needs human coordination to perform effectively well. Sometimes, you get tired or get confused at a certain stage in business. If this happens and feels you can’t do it alone, it isn’t a crime to ask for help.
Have Support Group
Similar to No. 4 point is by creating a support group. They can include your confidants, mentors, friends, even family members you trust.
You can always run to them for help. A friend who is a website designer can assist you to put your business online at a minimal cost instead of paying $500 or more to an outsider.
A mentor who is successful in a similar business as yours can also motivate you on how to surmount some business challenges.
Instead of overloading your brain with so many worries, your support group can help you solve some of them. This will in the long run improve your mental well-being as you would be able to focus on other areas.
Create Worklife Balance
How do you manage your time? Do you take office work home? You really need to create a timetable for yourself.
So, try to stick to work especially during designated work hours to create ample time for rest. It’s very important.
Drink Enough Water
According to healthline.com, drinking enough water would enable you to recover what is lost through sweat and urination.
It also “increases the brain’s temperature and gets rid of toxins and dead cells,” primowater writes.
All the activities you perform every day as a business owner are as a result of the capacity of your brain to process them, so, it’s important to drink enough water to make cells in the body and brain active.
Exercise To Keep Active
Dr. Debra Fulghum Bruce at WebMD hinted that chemicals known as endorphins is released when you exercise. Apart from that, regular exercise boost your self-esteem and keep the brain active.
It doesn’t have to be one hour, it doesn’t have to be at the gym, and a few minutes’ walk within your apartment can do the magic and keep you active for the rest of the day.
To improve your mental health at your workplace, experts suggest that you do at least a 30-minute exercise five days a week.
Eat Balanced Diet
Day 1: carbohydrate in the morning, afternoon, and night; day 2: protein in the morning, afternoon, and night. That isn’t balanced.
The combination of food you consume will have a long-lasting effect on your mental well-being, writes mentalhealth.org.uk.
Your food should contain fruits, bread, nuts and seeds, oily fish, and plenty of water as we earlier pointed out.
Do Something You Enjoy Doing
Another mental health tip for an entrepreneur to defeat boredom and stress is to take time out to engage yourself with something you enjoy doing.
It could be watching a movie for a few minutes, playing a game, playing whot with a colleague or a few minutes painting. This will boost your self-esteem and improve your input in your business.
Don’t Abuse Alcohol
A small portion of alcohol can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease, medicaldaily.com, says, however, too much of it also can harm some cells in your body.
You must pay attention to the quantity and types of alcoholic drinks you consume, excess of it impedes your brain from functioning well.
Be Happy With You
The best thing is to show love to yourself. No one can treat you better than you do to yourself.
While there is nothing bad about appreciating successful businessmen around you, you may indirectly put pressure on yourself which may affect your mental health in the long run.
Show Love To Others
One of the mental health tips for businesses most especially after the covid-19 pandemic is to show love and affection to the people around you.
We all have challenges in our daily activities, at the workplace, at home, but as a business owner, you need to know how to manage the challenges you are passing through so that you don’t pass aggression on other people around you.
Aside from that, you can’t succeed alone in your business. You need the support of other people. You need referrals from the people you interact with.
Getting a ‘thank you message’ from the people we help can build self-esteem and make us happy.
Talk To Loved Ones
There is a weekly TV drama in Nigeria entitled, “Family Ties” it emphasizes the importance of love and support from family members.
They may not have the financial support you need to meet your needs, the love you get from them can really help to eliminate the possibility of feeling depressed as a result of the challenges you encounter in your business.
If you have younger ones, your kids could feel this gap. Kids will always have something to talk about.
Take time out to watch cartoons or animations with them, play games with them along with your spouse. The little time you spend with loved ones can boost your morale
Final thought:
Mental management for business owners is important to achieve their business goals. Adequate rest means increased productivity for them.
Pay attention to your mental well-being so that you would be able to discharge your day-to-day tasks.
References:
- blog.primowater.com/blog/well-hydrated-brain
- mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/how-to-mental-health
- facebook.com/DevBankNG/?_rdc=1&_rdr
- Photo credit: Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN)