Annihilating Stress & Burnout in Tech
By Jason Komosa & Dan Tyre
I am a very big believer in an entrepreneur cultivating three important things in their business life to ensure success
1. A coach to help you ask the right questions, understand an outside view and double down on the specific activities
2. Three business advisors who will ensure that you can see around corners and double check your critical decisions
3. A good cadence of asking for at least 2 weekends off a quarter to gain clarity and pause for reflexion
My friend and scale up expert Jason Komosa talks about stress below
How to Proactively Address Today’s Mental Health Needs at Your Start-Up
Scaling your business can sometimes feel like running barefoot on a Lego-filled treadmill. With ~75% of Entrepreneurs self-reporting at least one Mental Health condition while growing their brand, it’s no surprise that folks are eagerly seeking help to detox the anxiety, stress, and burnout that oftentimes plague their daily operations, rendering their time and energy spent “working” inefficient, unproductive, and extremely costly.
Okay…but does coaching actually make a difference? How does it work? What’s the ROI?
A study commissioned by the ICF and conducted independently by PwC asked companies about their ROI from coaching to discover that 86% recouped their investments. Even better, ~50% saw an ROI of at least 10x, and 19% saw an ROI of 50x or more (!!!!!!!!!!). Ho. Ly. Cow.
I’ve been fortunate to support the Mental Health of Leaders at tech companies like Uber, 500Start-Ups, and Compass. Here are a few helpful tools you can actually utilize, starting today, to help diffuse any tension, stress, or anxiety you or your Team might be feeling:
1. 90 Day Rule: Our days can be plagued with issues/problems/challenges, whether at home, work, school, or in-between; one basic Tool I love utilizing is the 90 Day Rule. It’s pretty simple–anytime you incur a problem no matter how big or small, ask yourself ‘Will this matter to me in 90 days?’ Virtually all of our perceived problems will have zero effect on our lives in three months. Live with that mantra at the forefront of your thinking and watch stress melt like hot butter on some sugary kettle corn.
2. Control vs. Uncontrollable: Imagine that we all have two buckets, one in each hand. One bucket contains all the things that are in our control (inputs). The other bucket contains all the things in life that are completely out of our control (outputs). Take the hand that holds the bucket with the stuff that is out of our control, swing it around in the air a few times and fling it as far away from you as you can. Now, you have one bucket in your hand with all the things you can control in it. Focus all your energy and attention on that one bucket.
3. Starving Fear: What’s Fear’s favorite food? Time. Fear is only able to survive with more time. That means if you need to have a difficult conversation with someone, or you’re procrastinating an unenjoyable task that needs to get done, the longer YOU choose to wait to act, the bigger + scarier the Fear Monster gets. So, how do you kill Fear? Cut off its food supply (time) so it starves to death. With no food (time) to eat, the Fear will shrivel up and die.
4. Parent Yourself: Adults are, for the most part, really awesome at parenting kids, pets, nieces/nephews etc., but when it comes to self-compassion, it can be very easy to beat ourselves up. If your 9 year old nephew came home and was upset because he didn’t get a good grade on the test, how would you respond? Most likely, you would shower him with love, kindness, empathy, and positive energy. You’d say things like “it’s okay to feel sad”, “I understand you’re upset and it’s okay to feel sad”, or “let’s make sure we keep trying your best””. But at some point in our lives, we lose sense of how to self-parent and that kind, loving voice has now evolved to constantly beating ourselves up. Didn’t get the job offer you wanted? He didn’t call you after the first date? Failed to hit all your desired exercises at the last workout? Cool. Let’s keep trying our best and giving it my all > I’m a complete idiot for even thinking I could get that job/date that guy/do those exercises.
5. Microwins: Sadly, we were never taught microwins in school (at least I wasn’t).
A microwin is the opposite of a macrowin. A macrowin could be a new job, moving to a new city, earning a degree, or having a baby–something REAL big. And more often than not, folks wait until there is a macrowin to celebrate. And that’s a shame.
A microwin, on the other hand, is a tiny burst of joy that can be felt upon flawlessly completing a task. The concept is to string along microwins throughout your entire day, keeping the momentum of winning from morning til night.
Did you flawlessly take off that dirty diaper and put on a fresh, clean one without issue? Microwin.
Did you park in the best spot in the lot, at the exact time you were supposed to arrive? Microwin.
Did you cook your pancakes to the exact fluffiness your Grandmother’s used to have? Microwin.
Did you have one awesome conversation with a Prospect? Microwin.
If your day is continuously filled with microwins, then your week is filled with microwins, then your month is filled with microwins…….you get the idea.
Struggling with stress? Jason Komosa, Founder + CEO of The Start-Up Stoic specializes in diffusing fear and annihilating anxiety through prescriptive, action-based Mental Coaching specifically tailored to the tech-world. Burnout, one of Forbes Top Ten Threats to Businesses and dubbed ‘An International Crisis’ has been the giant, overlooked elephant in the room–especially in tech. After helping scale and exit start-ups like Vitamin Water and Groupon, Jason made it his mission to support others through a unique approach that combines ancient wisdom, modern science, and the power of technology to overcome any and every challenge life presents. Whether it’s large groups or 1:1 support, learn more at www.JKCoach.me and use Referral Code ‘TYRE’ for a complimentary 1:1 session.
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