In case you didn't know, I write several short posts like this each week on Instagram - check them out @diegofooter.

Ten years ago, I was working at a financial firm and noticed something weird. Every time the market was down, everyone's mood tanked. I hated that, and it became one of the reasons I left to start my own business.

Fast forward to now, and guess what? I've caught myself in the same trap. When my business is slow, my mood drops. It's a perfect correlation.

Life's cruel irony, right?

And it's not just me.

A few weeks back, I asked you all a question: How does an extended period of slow sales affect your mood, sleep, and personal life?

Over 98% of you said it affects things slightly or very much. A follow-up question showed that most of this stress comes from financial concerns.

Bottom line: When things are slow, we freak out.

Are we all just mentally weak?

Nah, science backs this up.

Here's the quick and dirty on some studies: Entrepreneurs deal with more mental health issues than non-entrepreneurs. We're talking depression, ADHD, substance abuse - the whole nine yards. And when money's tight, psychological distress goes up. Lower-income folks are more likely to face mental health problems.

Financial hardship creates stress -> if you business is your sole or significant provider of income and sales slow down -> you will experience significant stress.

Knowing that, how do you set yourself up for mental success?

I don't have all the answers, but here are some ideas:

1. Make your business successful. Obvious, but hard to control. We can all do what we can to increase the odds of success, but sometimes things are out of our control or we make mistakes. That said, we have to do everything in our power to ensure success. You can't expect success if you don't do the basic things.
   1. Do the work.
   2. Know the numbers.
   3. Be financially disciplined.
   4. Know when to ask for help.
   5. Know when to get out.
   6. Try ideas to increase sales.
2. Make the non-business part of your life as amazing as possible. When business is trash, the rest of life needs to be a banger—not scientific research. 😉 My thought here is that your life is a scale. And when business drags, you have a boat anchor on one side of the scale weighing it down. Can you offset that weight by having an amazing, uplifting time outside of business?
3. The business is what it is. Do everything in your toolkit to offload the stress it generates.
   1. Talk with someone.
   2. Get good sleep.
   3. Find healthy activities to destress
   4. Avoid degenerative activities
   5. Step away
4. Don't shoot another hole in the leaking boat. We don't need more water coming in.
   1. Curb spending.
   2. Don't take on more debt.
5. Find ways to make progress during the bad times. Random examples are below.
   1. Even though sales were slow, we managed to:
      1. Pay down some debt
      2. Cut expenses
      3. Save more
      4. Add new customers
      5. Cut deadweight
6. Accept the reality. Don't hide from it or run from it or pretend it doesn't exist. It does. Find a way to change it.
7. Create hope. Hope changes everything for the better.
   1. Identify what is going wrong
   2. Come up with ideas to try to fix it
   3. Compartmentalize the damage to keep it from spreading.
   4. Put a plan into action to work toward a positive outcome.
8. Find a way to make yourself realize that your business isn't your whole life; it's only part of it. Your business affects you, but it isn't you.
9. It's temporary—it always is. That doesn't mean your business survives, but this isn't forever, and most people find ways to pick up the pieces and move on.
10. Identity sacred tokens. What do you not want to be affected by your business - your kids, your wife, etc? If it matters that much, then what happens here shouldn't affect what happens there.

These are my thoughts - what about yours?

We'll all be here at some point. The idea is to be prepared for this financial wasteland when it hits - to know how to survive and adapt.

If you're there now, take some time to think about this. Don't let yourself go to the dark side - for your sake or others.

Diego

P.S. If this will resonate with someone, please share it.

Did you know I have several podcasts?

Carrot Cashflow here.

Farm Small Farm Smart here.

Farm Small Farm Smart Daily here.

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