Learn to switch off

Discover the art of relaxation 

It may not be such a leap of the imagination to picture yourself in a situation where your bankers are becoming increasingly difficult or you are losing money and have to make job cuts among friends and colleagues to survive.

Back in rosier times, you might have experienced the frustration of a deal getting delayed (strangely, I always found a prolonged delay more annoying than when a deal fell through).

It all adds up to stress and heartache. You work long hours. When you do sleep, it’s broken. You’re irritable at home and your judgement at work is starting to go awry. In short, you’re falling to pieces. So what do you do?

One for the road
The temptation is to drink. Go to any restaurant or bar at lunchtime and you’ll see red faces and bloated stomachs and hear the corks popping from bottles of the finest wines known to man.

While there’s nothing wrong with a tipple, the real stress beater is exercise. That might mean joining a gym or going for a run, a bike ride or a swim. It doesn’t matter what you do, just so long as you undertake some exercise and you do it every day. Not only will it tire you out physically, you’ll be surprised how much happier you’ll feel after a workout. Another bonus is that it won’t take too long before you’ve shed those surplus pounds and start to look great. 

Been there, done it
Advice from a person you respect in business can also make a huge difference if you’re not sure how to cope with the pressure. Many senior execs in top companies take on business counsellors to help them to perform more effectively.

This is the expensive option, or can be, but there are plenty of experienced entrepreneurs who are willing to have a chat. If this person has real experience, they will help you to put things into perspective.

We all get far too close to our business’s problems, and to hear someone tell you how they went through similar circumstances and came out the other side successfully can be enormously uplifting and inspirational.
 
Chin up
It’s also necessary to have the self-discipline to remain positive. Think of the good points rather than dwelling on the bad. I find it quite useful to literally list all the positives and the negatives. Then the trick is to find a way of nullifying the negatives, but most of all spend more time and energy on the positives. 

Don’t underestimate what it takes to have started a business in the first place – not everyone can achieve that. Despite everything, at least you’re not just stuck in a job that you resent, taking orders from someone you find hard to respect, surrounded by people who only talk about sport, with your sole reason for going to work limited to paying bills for a place in an area you don’t like living in.

Making time
For the most part, the real tension builder for both you and your family is long hours. A lot of people confuse working long hours with effective working. In my experience it is how effective you are that is important, and that’s not determined by when you sign in and sign out. 

I believe you get better results if you have a range of interests outside your business. Be it music, sport, cinema, holidays or whatever, make sure that you have other things that you can put your mind to. If nothing else, it’ll make you more rounded and pleasant company to be around as you won’t only be talking about work (and your business might benefit if you have better social and networking skills). 

Consciously build on your social life. If you don’t entertain a lot, then start. Meeting different people from different walks of life is not only stimulating but fun.

And don’t forget about family! You’ll regret it later if you don’t make a real effort to see lots of them. Go home early to put the kids to bed – put time aside to go out with the wife/husband and do your utmost not to miss any children’s school events and the like. 

Last of all, take holidays. The Germans often insist that their top executives take at least three weeks’ holiday at one time. I am not suggesting you go that far, but you should aim to take at least two weeks in one go. Short breaks just aren’t enough to really get the full benefit.