Founder Hacks: Dealing With Founder Stress

Running a startup can be very stressful. When I founded my first company, as we scaled I had to adapt to having more responsibility over the company, and accept that I had to be a good leader in order to keep everyone motivated. This additional responsibility made me very stressed, especially considering I was a first-time founder and didn’t really know what I was doing. Founder stress can cause you to burnout very quickly, which is another reason why it is important to keep it in check.

Founder Stress is a real thing, and it effects almost every founder. The fact of the matter is that founding a company may not be causing that much stress, but coupled with other stuff like family events and political instability, it can cause serious damage to your mental health.

The first step to overcoming founder stress is recognizing the fact that you are stressed. After I realized how stressful things had become, I started de-stressing and identifying the causes of my stress, then addressing them. This is a key quality for founders to have as when founding a company, the stress continues to build up as you grow.

In this post I am going to share a few tips on how I overcame my stress and how you can do the same.

1. Recognize your stress

The first step in resolving your stress is recognizing that you are stressed. Take a few minutes every day to write down how you are feeling, or even keep a journal. Then you can start to think about the source of your stress. Why are you so stressed out? Have you started fundraising? Are your investors pushing you on something you think is wrong? Do you feel you are not an effective leader?

It doesn’t matter what you are stressed about, it is different for everyone. What does matter is you take time out of your day to find the root of your stress, so you can better attempt to overcome it.

2. Don’t get hung up on the little stuff

Founding a company is a very stressful and daunting task for everyone, especially first-time entrepreneurs. At any given moment, there’s always some sort of stress. Most daily stress is caused by bad news, and most news for a startup is bad. You should not let the little stuff get you down, especially the events that are out of your control. Focus on everything that you can control and applies directly to you or your company.

3. Focus on the long term and prioritize

As an early-stage startup you will have wild swings every day, however if you stay focused on your longer term goals, you won’t get worked up about everything that happens. If you set long term goals then you always have something to look forward to, which will help you correctly set your working pace and build a great working environment which will allow you to achieve said goals.

For the shorter-term goals, make sure you prioritize on a consistent basis. Instead of working on meaningless tasks which are causing you to become more stressed, work on the tasks that need to be done and ask a co-worker to do some of the tasks you don’t feel comfortable doing, and offer to pitch in.

4. Get more sleep

When I become stressed, I generally go to bed. This is out of my control, and is not only because I am exhausted, but because I need to feel like there is nothing to worry about. I always feel better after a full night of sleep and in the morning I am ready to tackle the tasks I couldn’t do yesterday.

Also, a lack of sleep can cause more stress and other mental issues. If you are under continuous stress, you will not be able to perform at your best. Also, being under continued stress can cause brain damage and other cognitive functioning issues. So, take a nap whenever you feel really stressed and catch up on your sleep.

5. Eat better

Founders frequently get into horrible eating diets (I personally lived off of ready-meals and snacks for the first few months). When you are starting a company, you generally resort to snacks to help give you energy, and alcohol to help you relax after a long day. By eating healthier food, you can help relieve your body of stress and clear your mind.

Take the time to plan your meals and try to find meals which are both nutritional and tasty. Don’t hesitate to have a snack if you are in the mood, but don’t rely on them as your sole source of energy when working.

In terms of alcohol, it can cause a whole lot of problems, even if it relieves stress in the interim. Although not common, startup founders can become addicted to alcohol if they use it to help relieve stress frequently. It’s fine to have a cold beer at the end of a hard day, but don’t let it turn into 6 or 7 just to help you calm down.

6. Stay optimistic

The odds of becoming a successful startup are very low. Approach each day as a chance to learn, and see it as getting a little closer to solving your problem. Stay optimistic in all of the work you are doing — and never lose sight of what truly matters. It may seem difficult to stay optimistic if say you have been rejected by 5 investors, however you should think of it as a deep educational experience, and take time to analyze how you can improve in your next pitch, as opposed to thinking about how badly things went.

7. Celebrate your goals

This is a really easy one to do. As soon as you have completed a goal, celebrate. Whether you want to have dinner with your team, or just open a bottle of champagne in your office and reflect on how your work has paid off. By celebrating your goals you can stay motivated to achieving your next goals, as startups are an uphill battle. If you are ever feeling stressed, reflect on how your hard work has paid off in the past, and use it as a motivator to continue to do hard work.

8. Relentless meditation and exercise

Meditation means different things to everyone. You can meditate at any time by doing things like putting in earphones and listening to a life coach or a soothing music playlist. You can even do things like yoga to help you get more in touch with your stress and open your mind up further. My way of doing this was leaving the office, driving to the local park, and putting in my headphones so I could listen to some jazz.

Exercising is a great way to deal with stress. Some of the things you can do which are easy to incorporate into your schedule are to attend the gym every week for an hour, walk to work, do a morning run, or even cycle around instead of using the car when attending meetings. Build your own exercising routine based on what you feel is best for you, and don’t deviate from it.

Dealing with founder stress is not easy, and you will encounter more stressful issues every day. Don’t expect that your stress will melt away in a week, as you will always experience some form of stress. However, by practicing some of the tips I have highlighted in this article, you can stay motivated and in touch with your mind which will help you relieve some of your stress.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and that it gave you some useful advice on how you can deal with founder stress. If you have any questions, tweet me @jamesstewartvc or shoot me an email at james@thedisruptivevc.com and i’ll get back to you soon.

Founder Hacks: Dealing With Founder Stress was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.