Dealing with stressful moments

image courtesy of flickr user, Miguel Angel

There can be a lot of stressful moments when you’re working for yourself. A bad e-mail from a client, not getting the new client you thought was a shoo-in, a client contract ending early or things just generally not going your way. And what makes it more of a challenge is not being able to rely on anyone but yourself. It can sometimes feel overwhelmingly stressful.

I used to let these negative moments define my whole day or even week; worrying about the bad and never acknowledging what was going right. Working freelance for the past four years, I have seen my fair share of ups and downs. And while I can’t prevent all the downs from dropping, I have come up with some better coping mechanisms to bring me back up again:

• Call it a day early. One of the best things about working for yourself is having control over your schedule. Use this to your advantage. If I’m having a bad day or feel stressed out, sometimes I stop working at one or two in the afternoon (obviously assuming there aren’t any deadlines). I’ll go to the gym or even go home and walk my dog. I find that this is more productive than sitting at my computer not getting work done and stressing out.

• Be more active during the day. When I sit at my computer all day, with very few breaks, I’m more likely to feel stressed and antsy. Taking the time to walk around my office or meet someone for lunch helps to make me feel much calmer about daily stresses. These little breaks might seem like nothing, but they make a world of difference.

• Vent. One of my main issues is that sometimes I keep work problems to myself because I feel like those around me won’t be able to understand or relate to the pressures I’m under. I have always been the type of person who needs to talk about things, and work is no different. There have even been times when I think someone won’t understand, but then they surprise me. Now, when I’m stressed about something I try to share it, and sometimes people with no frame of reference about PR or running a business give the best advice.

• Over-communicate with your clients. This is something I’ve learned along the way, and it’s saved me a great deal of stress. I always try to check in with clients every few days and share what is working and what is not working. This had made a huge difference to keep clients updated on my status, rather than having them send me a panicked e-mail about where I’m at. If something isn’t working or going to be held up, it’s best to let them know up front before they come to you about the issue. And it’s often easier to come up with a solution by working together than trying to tackle it on your own.

• Ask if it is really important. I am the first to admit that I sometimes worry about the little things that don’t matter in the bigger picture. They’re either petty or I’m worrying about things that may or may not happen in the future. I find that when I sit down and really ask myself if I should be stressing about it… most of the time my answer is no. By consciously realizing what isn’t important I am able to get over things quicker.