Those who suffer through insomnia know it’s worse than any monster under the bed, and while insomnia is a chronic problem for many people – best left to the sleep experts and doctors to tackle – I’m here to address a specific type of insomnia, found among CEOs and entrepreneurs alike, and it’s called Entrepreneurial Insomnia.
What is Entrepreneurial Insomnia?
As you might have already guessed, Entrepreneurial Insomnia is simply the lack of sleep found amid business owners. The contributing factors to which are most likely to be stress and anxiety stemming from a concern for their businesses.
These business related concerns could be practically anything under the sun. Why is my business’s growth plateauing? Is my business going to survive this economic volatility? How is it that I’m struggling to make payroll despite bringing in money? Am I making the correct business decisions?
There’s also a sizable chunk of business owners who voluntarily put themselves through this sleeplessness, hoping to get themselves ahead in the race by trading in their health. But voluntary or not, its severe impact on health and general wellness is why Entrepreneurial Insomnia should not be taken lightly..
Why should Entrepreneurial Insomnia be a cause for concern?
Insomnia of any kind is known to be detrimental to physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. According to a John Hopkins study: insomnia sufferers may have a ten-fold higher risk of developing depression as opposed to people getting healthy sleep. Insomnia also puts sufferers at greater risk of developing higher blood pressure and diabetes.
Moreover, another study has revealed that people with insomnia tend to have poorer cognitive performance. This has serious implications for the CEO or the entrepreneur who needs all their mental faculties to be running on full steam, so that they could be of good use to their business.
What can the entrepreneur do to tackle their insomnia?
There are some small lifestyle changes that all insomnia sufferers can undertake in the pursuit of a good night’s rest. You’ve probably heard or read about some of these already, like getting the correct mattress or a pair of room-darkening curtains to help create the right environment for healthier sleep. Similarly, avoiding a meal before bedtime, reading a book in yellow light, and keeping your smartphone away from bed, are all well-meaning suggestions that can definitely help. It’s also perfectly normal and even recommended to seek out the help of a professional, such as a mental health expert, psychologist, psychiatrist, or a sleep specialist.
But alleviating Entrepreneurial Insomnia completely requires tackling the stress and anxiety that business owners regularly go through head-on. Here are some recommended tips:
- 1Practice meditation: This could have easily fit in above with the general advice for any insomnia sufferer but as I have personal experience on the subject – being an entrepreneur who meditates and teaches others how – to let you know first hand that the practice of regular meditation makes a world of difference in getting better sleep
- 2Write your concerns and share them: Simply lying in bed and engaging with your anxieties will only keep your mind restless. Instead, write your concerns down in order to properly understand them and their nature. As a next step, share them with other entrepreneurs who’ve been in the game longer than you have to get better insight and mental assurances. It helps immensely to know somebody’s been in your shoes before and how they made it out
- 3Stay in the know: Arguably the most important tip out of the three. As mentioned prior, Entrepreneurial Insomnia usually stems from lacking critical insight into your business. If you know exactly where your business is and have the right information to keep it on track, there are no more worries left to keep you sleepless. To this end, build a business dashboard that caters to your style of business, keeps you informed of the position of your business, and empowers you with real-time information to help your decision making process. I’ve shown how to do exactly this in another blog I wrote here
Entrepreneurial Insomnia is not a matter worth sweeping under the rug. It’s regrettable to see so many entrepreneurs and CEOs lose their health and their business prowess to something that’s completely avoidable.
As a small closing tip, I’d like to remind you to not buy into any pop business philosophy that advocates trading in sleep to further your business. Sleep is not for the weak, it’s for the smart.
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