Ehsan Alkooheji, General Manager, Kooheji Systems
I think being an entrepreneur is stressful by nature and there is just no way around that. The key thing is to not stress too much about stress. You have to accept that stress is inevitable, and therefore focus on dealing with it instead of trying to get rid of it.
Managing stress as an entrepreneur means focusing on the big picture. Focus on why you are doing this, not how. Focus on successes, and if you’re going to fail accept that quickly and learn from it rather than let it bring you down. Take care of yourself first and foremost physically and mentally, so that you can successfully take care of your business.
Eyad Ebrahim, Director, Web Avenue
Stress is easily managed by organizing yourself and delegation. at some point in my first startup I was overwhelmed by all the tasks that I was handling, that led to long working hours and hardly anytime off. Doing everything yourself is a big mistake, it will more often than ever lead to total burnout and stress.
Delegating is always scary at first when you want to control the product and image, but having a reliable and capable team will make it easier and far less stressful.
Wafa AlObaidat, Creative Director, Obai & Hill
It can get super stressful times as an entrepreneur, you never switch off and you feel a great deal of responsibility to whether your company does well or not, wether you hit your targets or not, wether you can pay salaries and promote or not, and whether you can constantly innovate and beat existing competition. There is a great deal of pressure that comes with making daily decisions that can impact the company. I distress by exercising regularly, playing football a few times a week. I also pray five times a day, and meditate a few days a week. I also take time off in the mornings to catch up with my emails and complete my rituals before heading to meetings and getting caught with the day to day activities in the office.
Yazin Alirhayim, Entrepreneur
Every employee you add is another person (or family) depending on you, and the pressure can be debilitating. I deal with it by blogging .. sometimes publicly, but often privately. I find that the act of typing it out acts as a release. More importantly, you immediately begin to notice that looking back, even in a period as short as a week, you clearly see that the downs are not as bad as they seem in the moment.
Another thing that helps immensely is having advisors. Talking to someone who isn’t living your business can give you some perspective when you really need it.
Zaman AH. Zaman, Entrepreneur
I personally dedicate a couple of hours per day to go out and socialise or workout, I made this a routine for it helps me cope with everyday stress because I think of it as a reward to myself. I also make a weekly checklist of the number of tasks I need to finish and goals I need to achieve according to priority. This helps me measure progress and identify what things I can delegate, which I found eventually lowered my stress level.