World Mental Health Day: How can entrepreneurs deal with stress?

One sentence I hear often from the entrepreneurs I work with is: “My mind is never really switched off.” It sounds like a glorious badge of commitment at first, and then the realisation follows that it is actually a warning sign. Chronic stress that never has time to recover is a real health concern, not the normal cost of doing business. And for entrepreneurs, who carry the job of designing, deciding, building and delivering largely on their own, it needs a different conversation from the usual advice to just take a break from work.

Entrepreneurial stress carries constant uncertainty. A founder often has nobody above them to make the final call, and no way of knowing whether the next month brings a term sheet or a shutdown. Research consistently shows that people find “not knowing” harder to bear than bad news. And for an entrepreneur, that state of not knowing can last a long time.

Many also feel they cannot let the strain show, so they carry it privately. But isolation is itself a risk factor for poor mental health, and decisions made under constant, unspoken pressure tend to be more reactive and less flexible. Add the harsh verdict that follows a failed venture, one that feels like a judgement on who you are rather than on a business decision, and it is easy to see how capable people get worn down.


The common response is to push through. That rarely works well as long term for our health, and this is where I find psychological presence to be a powerful thing. Here is what losing that presence looks like. You walk out of a meeting and realise you can’t recall what your CFO said about the cash flow, because you spent the meeting rehearsing your own answers to an investor. You were physically in the room, but not really there. The work still gets done, because habit and effort carry the visible tasks, so this lack of presence can go unnoticed for months.

Presence simply means being fully available and engaged in the moment: aware of what is going on in your own mind and body, and then of the people in front of you. I see it as the first step in managing stress, because you cannot manage what you have not noticed. It lets you catch your fear before it turns into a decision and gives you space to respond instead of react. Before a difficult call, take one minute: notice your breathing, put a name to what you are feeling (“I’m anxious about this number”), and decide what you want from the conversation. Research shows that even naming a feeling begins to calm the mind’s threat response.

Presence also opens the door to flow. Most of us have felt it without having a word for it. You sit down to write a product note, and when you look up, two hours have passed, and the work is the best you’ve done all week. Psychologists describe flow as complete absorption, where action and awareness merge, and time seems to disappear. It is most likely to happen when the goal is clear and the task is challenging but not overwhelming. Make it too challenging, too soon, and it can move into anxiety. And if you fill the week with back-to-back calls, it never happens at all.

The practical step is simple. Block two 90-minute windows a week, put your phone in another room, and pick one clearly defined problem to work on. Treat that time like a board meeting you cannot move, and protect it. For many entrepreneurs, it becomes the most valuable time on their calendar. Sleep deserves the same respect and is not the first thing to cut, and a single bad night of sleep makes us more emotionally reactive.

The other half of managing stress is our relationships. Psychologists point to something called co-regulation: our nervous systems settle more easily around someone calm and trusted. Picture yourself calling a mentor after losing a big deal and calming down within ten minutes, before addressing any problems. That steadying presence can come from a partner, a friend, a mentor with no stake in your business, or a founder you know who has been through it. It can also come from a therapist or coach, whose job is partly to stay steady and help you gain perspective. Think of it as personal risk management.

So, for any entrepreneur reading this: notice what you are carrying into any room before it gets decided for you, protect the quality of your sleep, and immerse yourself in deep work and flow as seriously as your business. And don’t do it all alone. The road will have plenty of hard days, and having guidance from trusted people around you make it far easier to navigate.

The author is a clinical psychologist, Founder, Dhira Wellness, and an executive and leadership mental health consultant.