04.09.20
Breaking Barriers—Take Care of Yourself. No one else will.
Karl R. LaPan, President & CEO, The NIIC
Graphic by Shutterstock
Starting or building a business can be an emotional roller coaster with some extreme high highs and some really low, lows. Entrepreneurial self-care is real and necessary.
Often entrepreneurs experience higher rates of mental illness due to loneliness, hopelessness, fear, anxiety, burnout, and depression. All the weight of the business—its success and failure—lies on the back of the Founder.
The Founder must have positive outlets and resources to combat these feelings. Nearly every entrepreneur has faced some crisis of confidence or moment of truth. In these instances, having a mentor, a peer support network, or access to assistance program resources can make all the difference in the world. Head trash—our negative self talk—can be emotionally damaging and draining. It can leave you spinning in decisions you need to make, cutting off valuable relationships. It can result in addictive behaviors (like overworking and micromanaging) and adversely impact non-business relationships and place self-care on the back seat.
As one blogger reminds us, “Therapy is time spent every week strengthening your mind.” We all can benefit from this investment in self-care.
To do a quick sanity check, take this self-assessment, and identify two strategies you want to improve. Re-check your scoring every quarter. As you improve in your targeted strategies, add new ones to your list.
https://www.mentoring.org/new-site/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/MARCH_2015_Self_Care_Assessment.pdf
