How Letting Go Can Improve Your Mental Wellbeing and Business Success

Do you feel like every moment of your life revolves around your small business and its needs? While being an entrepreneur can be an exciting and fulfilling calling, it can also demand the lion’s share of your time and energy. When that demand becomes too high — or comes at the expense of your personal life and the people you love — it’s time to examine the powerful benefits of letting go.

Let’s be clear, this article won’t discuss shuttering your business or giving up on your investment, but rather how making space for personal joys can boost your mental health — something that’s especially valuable to constantly stressed entrepreneurs — and even create openings for opportunity and innovation.

Letting Go of Your Entrepreneurial Obsession
As an entrepreneur, it is very easy to go from being a small business owner to being owned by your small business.

Your business is not only your livelihood and investment, but it’s also your legacy and the place where you grow your own community, all aspects that can drive the desire to intensely focus on its needs. In practice, this obsession can result in stress, long working hours, neglecting personal time and distancing yourself from your friends and loved ones in favor of fitting in “one last thing.”

If these behaviors go on for too long, when does the entrepreneur become owned by their small business? Is it when you decline an invitation to a family vacation because it’s the “busy season”? Is it when you work through a major illness because you only trust yourself to run it properly? Or is it when you stop receiving invitations to major life events and celebrations, because your family and friends know you’ll be a no-show due to a last-minute business emergency?

On top of the social repercussions, many entrepreneurs are so tied up in their businesses that they develop harmful physical and mental conditions from overwork, such as burnout, an occupational phenomenon resulting from chronic workplace stress. Other reported issues include slipping into unhealthy dietary habits — such as skipping meals — and sleeping less, which can increase stress and compound the effects of burnout.

Try implementing the following in your personal and business life to let go, recalibrate and attain a much-needed work-life balance:

• Make time for personal time – Your entrepreneurial efforts can be fulfilling and rewarding, but they don’t match the positive impact our loved ones have on our lives. If your business is successful, but you still feel alone or isolated, it can create harmful negative emotions, like stress, loneliness or depression. Instead of withdrawing, find opportunities to de-stress by reconnecting with the hobbies and people you love.
• Create and reinforce boundaries – When it comes to work-life boundaries, an entrepreneur can be their own worst enemy. A quick call, short email or a jog over to your business, especially when you’re spending time with others, can quickly eat into your personal time and diminish its positive health effects. Set and follow clear start and end times for your business so you can be present for your own life.
• Let others lead – If your business relies on you to keep your hand on the rudder in all respects, such as accounting, marketing, admin and any other important duties, your responsibilities can easily overwhelm you. Small delays or interruptions can cascade, creating more stress across the various projects you’re juggling. Instead, seek out assistance from your team, an outside contractor or even artificial intelligence (AI) to give yourself some breathing room.  
   

Letting Go of Your Need to “Be Right”
Nobody likes making mistakes or being wrong, especially when it comes to a powerful investment like your small business. However, having a strong need to be “right,” even in the face of evidence to the contrary, can harm your relationships with your employees, business partners, customers and others.

Let’s consider this scenario: You own a legacy small business started by your family many years ago. You’re proud of its history and place in your family — even though sales have been waning in recent years — and insist on running it the “right way,” as your parents did, with a marketing plan that only focuses on local print media, radio and TV placements.

During a morning kick-off meeting, one of your new hires recommends updating this plan for the modern era by developing social media accounts, updating the website, creating email campaigns and other efforts that are entirely new to you. As your employee shares their ideas, you find yourself irritated by the deviation from your parents’ hard work, overwhelmed by the effort this would entail and frustrated by the potential cost of these projects, which will cut significantly into your thinning bottom line.

Before your employee can complete their pitch, you interrupt them in front of all their colleagues and tell them you’re not interested in their costly plan and that your business is doing fine without all these newfangled digital tools. Your new hire is quiet and reserved for the rest of the meeting and into the workday, and you notice the rest of your employees are distant as well.

In this scenario, an emotional connection to the family business and a refusal to consider differing perspectives are resulting in lost opportunities, stifled innovation and eroded trust. Instead of shutting down your employee entirely and negatively affecting the work environment, you could have tried the following:

• Examine where your tension is coming from – For our example, businesses evolve over time, so embracing new plans, products and services won’t intrinsically change what makes it special to you — your family history. This can help control any knee-jerk emotional reactions stemming from your need to be right and encourage you to think clearly about the situation.
• Ask questions before saying no – The best decisions are backed by data. Ask your employees for information that supports their position or explain how they see an idea playing out in practice. This lets you gather important details and helps your employees feel seen and heard. And if your decision is a no, always pair it with the why, so your team understands you heard them and learns your rationale for declining the idea — just make sure your why is legitimate and not based in bias.
• Learn to pivot – Pivoting helps entrepreneurs survive changing economic or market conditions and remain competitive. While rethinking a business strategy can be stressful in the moment, being change-averse or rigidly sticking to your past expectations can leave you unprepared for the future.

Letting go in the context of your small business can help you find relief from the burdens of chronic stress and the dangers of burnout and free up valuable mental bandwidth for other critical tasks. It can also give your employees or vendor partners the opportunity to shine, empowering them within their responsibilities.

The American Independent Business Coalition (AIBC) helps our members by enhancing three key areas of their lives — their careers, personal lives and general health — through unique member benefits. To explore the business benefits available through your AIBC membership, visit aibcoalition.com.

Articles in this newsletter are meant to be informative, enlightening and helpful to you. While all information contained herein is meant to be completely factual, it is always subject to change. Articles are not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Consult a professional regarding any mental health concerns you may have. Benefits may not be available in all membership levels. For more information, or to upgrade your membership, please call 800.387.9027.