How to Get Work Off Your Plate and Reduce Stress So You Can Thrive

Running a business can be overwhelming. No matter how much time you spend working, there is always more that needs to be done. Always more preparing. Always more creating. Always more fires to put out. It’s not uncommon for a business owner to think, “Why did I get myself into this mess in the first place?’

Too often, we are our own worst enemy. This may be especially the case with the mindset of the small business owner. When we start our businesses, we are driven by a sense of optimism about what we are capable of doing. If we weren’t optimistic about that, we probably never would have would have gone into business for ourselves in the first place. So here we are, working for ourselves, because we believed we could do it.

I think that conviction right there is what often shoots us in the foot. It’s not hard for it to turn into an attitude of, “It’s my business, I can do it…and I need to do it all by myself.” On top of that, there’s a sense of urgency: “I need to do it all right now!” Add to that sense of urgency an attitude of “In order to get more, I must do more”, and suddenly we have more on our plates than we could ever handle.

Of course, we all know that we could just ask for help. But, knowing the option is available and taking advantage of the option are two different things. After all, inviting someone in necessarily entails losing a little bit of control over our businesses. That’s not something small business owners do gracefully.

So, the very mindset that empowers budding entrepreneurs to go out and create their own small business is often the very thing that also holds them back by preventing them from getting help when they need it.

Reduce Stress Before It Kills Your Passion and Burns You Out

What is your most valuable asset in your small business? It’s you. If you fall apart, so does your business. This is why it is so important for you to take care of yourself.

Living in a world of overwhelm, constant pressure, and never-ending anxiety can literally destroy your business by destroying you. The damaging effects of living in constant stress are well known. Beyond the physical and emotional harm caused by constant stress, small business owners suffer additional effects that undermine their businesses.

Starting a small business begins with passion. When you’re passionate about something and you’re good at it, you’re able to find a way to leverage that to change your world. But just as fire cannot survive after being buried under dirt, so to your passion cannot survive after being buried under stress. When you lose your passion, your business loses it’s drive.

And even if you are able to maintain a sense of passion, being overworked easily leans to burnout. You may love doing what you do, but burnout will steal away your momentum. You’ll find you just can’t bring yourself to do “it” today. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not. If you feel like you need a break in order to keep going, but the work keeps coming in with no end in sight, then burnout is right around the corner. This is why it is not only important, but vital that you reduce stress in your worklife.

Running Out of Balance Leads to Falling

Small business owners are at their best when they are functioning in their zone of genius. You’re focused and productive because you love what you do. Your energy increases. You enjoy your work. Part of you doesn’t even want it to stop. This is what happens when we enter that state of flow.

But high-stress environments disrupt flow. Even when you are engaged in tasks you enjoy, you may always have that deadline in the back of your mind that doesn’t give you enough time to do what you really need to do. Or, you may be thinking about all those things that aren’t getting attention because you’re working on “this”.

This level of stress derails the most productive time you have for your business. As your work becomes far less enjoyable than it should be, you become far less productive. You need to figure out how to reduce stress for the sake of your business.

Finding Your Balance Once Again

When you have too much on your plate, you’ll be thrown out of balance. You’re going to feel like a runner who’s carrying weights on one shoulder that slows her down and causes her to stumble and eventually fall. Shifting the weights back and forth may alleviate some of the pressure, but in the and it only delays inevitable. This is no way to win a race.

Getting back into balance requires relieving the stress. In order to relieve the stress, you have to get some of that work off of your plate. That means (and I know this is hard) asking for help.

Here’s something that might help. Try to imagine what it would be like if you could spend all your work time in your zone of genius. Isn’t that a wonderful dream? Can you imagine what it would be like to have all that stuff you don’t want to do completely off of your plate? Personally, I think it’s a beautiful vision to live in to.

But, as is the case with visions, it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon. You have to work toward it. That means slowly implementing a process of relieving yourself of the burden of undesirable tasks.

Until you can achieve your dream, the reality is that you still have to do tasks you’d rather not do. This is just a fact of life for a small business owner. But the good news is that the process of moving forward entails removing those tasks from your plate one by one. And that’s going to feel really good as you move forward and reduce stress one step at a time.

How to Reduce Your Workload

Hopefully, you’ve decided to reduce stress by reducing your workload. So, let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do is assess how you feel about the tasks in front of you. I recommend using a 1–4 scale.

1 = Love it
2 = Like it
3 = Meh
4 = Hate it

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen. Make 4 columns. Start rating everything you do. Overall, pay attention to your emotions. What will energize you? What do you dread doing? How much time does each task take each week?

Next, prioritize. What tasks can only you tackle, and what tasks could be delegated to someone else? If you don’t have help already, consider hiring a Virtual Assistant. Here’s an interview Heather had with Laura Licursi of Elite Virtual Assist.

Next, identify the repetitive tasks on your list. What can be automated? Some easy things to automate are sending invoices, paying bills, generating leads, nurturing your leads, onboarding clients, etc. Check out this masterclass to learn more about how we help our clients leverage automation to get leads and clients

Now, take a good look at your budget. You may or may not already have a team. Anything you move onto their plates will increase your cost. Get a good idea of how much help you can afford.

Here’s the biggie: estimate the Return on Investment (ROI). When you do this, don’t just focus on how much help costs. Keep in mind the bigger picture.

For example, let’s say you are a coach who works online with clients in one-on-one sessions that last 45 minutes. You hate doing the bookkeeping and it takes you a couple of hours each week. If you pay someone to manage your books, that will cost you. But, it will also free up two hours each week. Those two hours can be sold to paying clients. As a result, you get to do more of what you love, less of what you dread, and take in more money.

Use Incremental Shifts

I don’t recommend removing everything off your plate that you don’t want to work with all at once. Instead, do it gradually. Sure, dumping everything all at once will definitely free up your calendar and reduce stress. But you want to make sure you have the budget to pay for it first.

Look at your Assessment and start small. Move just the things you dread doing first. Start with just a few hours of tasks each week. Free up some of your time and then fill it with income-generating endeavors. Then, once you’ve filled that gap, delegate some more and proceed to fill that time up as well. Keep going until you have truly maximized your time, energy, and profit.

And remember, don’t wait until you’re buried to reduce stress by reducing your workload. If you can address the problem before it becomes overwhelming, you will be better off, and so will your business.