Published:

06/18/2012 01:13am

The 3 Secrets to Running a Stress-Free Business

Running a stress-free business seems to be something of a fantasy on the surface, but if you really delve into the idea, you will find out that it is completely possible to run a stress-free home business. A lot of this has to do with your own personality, needs, habits, and reactions to situations. If you are a high stress person it will take practice to run a stress-free business, but you can do it. If you are laid back and the type of person to avoid stress, you may find yourself not running a business at all, but simply avoiding it. However, you too can learn to run a stress-free business.

Secret #1 Identify Your Stressors

The very first and most important step to take when endeavoring to run a stress-free business is to identify your stressors and adjust them to make them stress-free. For instance, if you're not a morning person why try to force yourself to get up in the morning to work on your business? Why not accept the fact that you're not a morning person and work during the time that works best for you?

Or, what if you have trouble meeting deadlines, and this is what is causing stress in your life. Check to make sure you that you're setting realistic deadlines. If you're constantly struggling to meet a deadline, and barely making it, figure out how to ensure that this does not happen by creating a more realistic schedule, putting the tasks into your calendar so that you can't forget, and better organizing your day.

Sit down and write down the situations that happen each day that cause stress. Once you've done that, it is also important to brainstorm on how to not just avoid the stressor, but to eliminate it. That doesn't mean you don't tackle the task, but it means you decide how to tackle the task without stress. For instance, the task is creating spreadsheet, you hate creating spreadsheets, so you avoid it, and then you rush to get it done at the last moment. Why not outsource the task! If you can't outsource the task, mark out time each day that you'll work on the spreadsheet in small components so that you aren't doing it at the last moment.

Secret #2: Quiet Your Mind

At any moment during the day if you start to feel stressed out it important to catch the feeling and take a time out. Clear your mind, breathe in and out, focus on something else for a few moments and then go back to the other issue. Taking quiet time out to just focus your mind on breathing, music, mediation or prayer will go far in helping you combat stressful situations. You can even take a time out in your mind right in the middle of any stressful situation if you create a movement or motion or thought that is designed to calm you. Practice this during your daily quiet moments.

Secret #3: Celebrate What is Here and Now

One thing that universally creates stress for most people is not living in the here and now. If you find yourself constantly focusing on "what if", this, or "what if" that, or what happened in the past, or what "might" happen in the future it, will be difficult for you to live a stress-free life and run a stress-free business. Some people call this being mindful. If you are mindful of what is happening right now, you'll find yourself being less stressed. Right now the air smells sweet, right now I'm conquering this spreadsheet (halleluiah!), right now I'm being quiet and enjoying the moment.

There is a Song by Sheryl Crow called "Soak Up The Sun" which has a verse that goes as follows:

"I don't have digital

I don't have diddly squat

It's not having what you want

It's wanting what you've got"

The last line, "It's wanting what you've got", is a very important line. Learning to be thankful for what we have right now, will create a situation that allows us to work stress-free today because we are satisfied with how things are right now.

Small business expert and author Linda Hampton founder of "Attract Clients Out of Thin Air." Linda teaches smart, simple ways boomer women can use their skills, knowledge and experience how to attract more clients, create profit-making products an