Managing CEO Stress and Anxiety in Healthy Ways

This quote resonates with me: “Work on the business, not in the business.”. For me, part of working on the business is making myself more resilient, healthy and happy so that I can make the investments in the rest of the business. If I’m not stable, energized and able to bounce back from challenges, then how am I supposed to work on the rest of the business?

A big part of that objective for me is to handle stress and anxiety in healthy ways. I divide that into three areas: healthy body, healthy mind and healthy soul.

Healthy Body

I’ve made a lot of progress on this objective recently. When I was diagnosed by my physician in March of this year as pre-diabetic, it was a big wake-up call. I already exercised frequently, but my doctor told me that without changes in my diet, the exercise wouldn’t be enough. That very day, I signed up for a food tracking app, I stopped drinking alcohol, I started hydrating properly, and changed my diet in lots of positive ways. That includes little to no starchy carbs, cutting out dessert, lots of fruits and veggies, and emphasizing healthy proteins.

I’ve also upped my game in the exercise department, by running and swimming more, by increasing my flexibility through stretching and weight training, and on developing stronger breathing practices. Not only have I lost 50 pounds (from 238 to 188) since mid-March, but my dentist and massage therapist have both noticed dramatic improvements in my dental health and my muscle inflammation. My watch monitors my sleep patterns, which have improved remarkably, and my blood pressure and resting pulse have both also improved substantially. I run and hike faster and for longer without getting gassed, and my soccer teammates have noticed the improvements too.

Healthy Mind

For me, nurturing a healthy mind isn’t focused on reading more books. My role in the company focuses on building our software products, so my normal work day is already intellectually stimulating. Where I focus is on getting high quality sleep, sharing the burden of work challenges with my executive leadership team, collaborating with my executive coach, and reaping the benefits from my exercise regime (see above).

High quality sleep is probably the biggest personal area of growth. I don’t have trouble getting to sleep, but I’ve noticed I deal with stress and anxiety while I sleep, and I often wake up in the middle of the night with my mind racing around the latest challenge of the day. When that happens, I get out of bed, drink some water, and put my mind to work actively building something for our software product stack. I’ve learned that while I probably won’t be able to resolve the challenge that woke me up in the middle of the night, what I can control is to get the sense of satisfaction out of being productive and making something new that will address the challenges of the future before they become too much to handle.

I have also learned the best way to deal with the stress and anxiety of work challenges is simply to understand them and to address them as part of a team, which in my case is our executive leadership team (of which my coach is a member). Once we have put a plan in place, I’ve found the mental and physical stress takes a back seat to the positive energy we put into resolving it and learning from it.

Healthy Soul

I’m not going to dive into the area of faith-based spirituality, although I do take strength and solace from my own personal faith. Instead, I’m going to share what I’ve found is the power of my personal community on the health of my soul. I can’t quite tell you what the soul really is, but when I am feeling happier, more connected with friends and family, and more fulfilled, I know it.

I invest in several personal communities, starting with my family, my college buddies, my soccer teammates, my EO forum, my coach, and my executive leadership team. My family and friends make me smile, they often make me laugh, and I know they love me (and I love them right back). And if you’ve met me in person, you know I’m a hugger. That one small act can make a meaningful difference in someone’s day.

How you decide to manage stress and anxiety in your own CEO role is up to you, and I hope you take some inspiration and energy from my own experience.