Mental health has become an increasingly important topic over the last few years. The stigma surrounding mental illness is finally beginning to fall away and society is becoming more open about the mental health struggles we share. This is great news, as mental health impacts every area of our lives, including our professional lives.
As a business owner, you might not be thinking about how mental health affects your success, but you should be. Gaining a better understanding of mental health will help you become a better leader and business owner. Here’s why.
Mental Health Impacts Performance
As an entrepreneur, you go through an early stage of building your business that requires you to wear many hats— maybe even all of them. This can take a toll on your mental health, as you’re constantly juggling lots of responsibilities, taking risks, and having to complete tasks that you find draining.
When your mental health suffers, your performance suffers. Understanding and being aware of your mental health can help you understand which tasks you should outsource as soon as you can. By passing those responsibilities on to other people, you can stress less and focus on the tasks that will help your business grow.
Sometimes, it’s challenging to delegate tasks to people, especially if you’re used to doing everything yourself. However, getting an appropriate work-life balance that meets your mental health needs will help improve your performance and make you a better business owner.
Preventing Burnout in Yourself and Your Team
Mental health is also an important consideration for your team. It can be tempting to let people work late and “go above and beyond” to get things done. In the short term, this might help your business. In the long term, however, it will cause you to lose some of your best people.
When people work too much and don’t take the time to rest, their stress levels go up and their mental health suffers. Over time, this can lead to burnout, which causes people to become exhausted and depleted.
As a leader, you need to be mindful of the goals and boundaries you set and the expectations you have for your employees. If you push the “grind” and you’re constantly answering emails at 10 PM, your employees might think that they need to do the same in order to keep their jobs, even if that wasn’t your intention.
Understanding mental health and our brains’ need for proper rest and boundaries between work and life can help prevent burnout and promote peak performance. Be mindful of you and your team’s mental health needs, and encourage employees to take regular breaks, vacations, and to “unplug” from work at the end of the day.
Self-Care and Professional Support Can Be Critical
By understanding the impact of mental health on your business, you can better prepare yourself to show up and make progress toward your goals. Self-care, such as getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, eating well, and making time for your relationships, is important for maintaining and improving your mental health.
You might also want to seek help from a mental health professional as well. If you struggle with problems such as anxiety and depression, getting support from a therapist and potentially trying medication could help you manage your mental health and improve your ability to build and lead in your business.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with needing clinical psychology treatment or medication. Mental health is extremely complex and although solid self-care habits lay the foundation for good mental health, it’s not always enough.
Good Mental Health Practices Can Boost the Bottom Line
Business practices that prioritize the mental health of you and your employees can feel expensive and time-consuming. However, it’s well worth the investment to have everyone in your organization operating at peak levels.
Being a good leader means understanding people, including yourself. By investing in your mental health and the mental health of your employees, you’ll serve as a role model and inspire people to do their best work for you. You’ll have a healthy work culture, which will attract the best talent to help your business succeed.
Encouraging healthy habits and creating a company culture where mental health is prioritized are win-wins. At the end of the day, good mental health helps people stay healthy, happy, and productive. It also helps them produce their best work, which improves the overall bottom line for your business.
Photo Credit
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Guest Author Bio
Sarah Daren
With a Bachelor’s in Health Science along with an MBA, Sarah Daren has a wealth of knowledge within both the health and business sectors. Her expertise in scaling and identifying ways tech can improve the lives of others has led Sarah to be a consultant for a number of startup businesses, most prominently in the wellness industry, wearable technology and health education. She implements her health knowledge into every aspect of her life with a focus on making America a healthier and safer place for future generations to come.
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