Stress and Anxiety Tips for Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur brings its own type of stress. You’ll work long hours with little — or no — promise of a reward. Add financial worries and uncertainty, and it can become even more difficult to cope. If you’re suffering under the burden of anxiety, your business will likely suffer too. To increase your odds of success, learn how to better manage your stress.

Add exercise to your daily routine. Physical activity gets your endorphins going, lifting your mood. It stops the fight-or-flight response in its tracks. By exercising, you’ll reduce the physical damage that sustained anxiety does to your body. You’ll also boost your brain activity. A 2014 study from Stanford found that walking improved both divergent and convergent thinking.

Divergent thinking helps you to generate new, innovative ideas. Convergent thinking helps with problem-solving. If you’re in a difficult entrepreneurial position, getting some exercise could help you come up with a solution.

Try journaling. You don’t need to pour out your emotions, though venting can be helpful too. Instead, simply write down the current issues causing you stress. Writing it out gives you a high-level view of the situation. With distance, you’ll be more objective. Look at what you’ve written and make a plan to change what you can. If you can’t change something, practice acceptance.

Add mindfulness to your life. Whether it’s through yoga, walking, or meditation, mindfulness, these can all reduce stress. For more than a thousand years, people have meditated to find a state of calm. Mindfulness meditation is about being in the moment. You allow yourself to experience every thought, sensation, and breath. You then accept those thoughts and feelings without judgment. Experience it, let it go, then allow yourself to experience the next moment.

Various studies show that mindfulness fights anxiety, depression, and stress. It even strengthens the immune system and reduces pain. Since entrepreneurship often requires long hours of work, keeping your immune system strong is imperative.

Take better care of yourself. It might be tempting to fuel yourself up with coffee, skip sleep, and subsist on questionable food. However, lack of sleep impairs your cognitive processes. You won’t think as clearly when making important decisions. Sleepiness also makes it difficult to regulate emotions like anxiety. Prioritize your health.

Visit NHCC.us for more on New Horizon Counseling Center and Herrick Lipton!

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.net

What to Know About Imposter Syndrome

It is human nature to experience self-doubt in certain situations. Many people suffer from a more extreme version of this known as imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is a state where a person has constant doubt of their ability to do certain things. These could be anything from performing a task, handling a situation, sustaining relationships with others, and more. The syndrome brings internal self-doubt resulting in fear and worry of others as being incapable or being found out as a  fraud. Anyone can have imposter syndrome, although it is common in overachievers.

People with imposter syndrome often don’t realize what they’re struggling with. Imposter syndrome manifests what may feel like normal feelings and reactions to certain situations. However, the more self-doubt they experience, the more they plunge deeper into believing in their apparent belief that they may fail in something expected of them.

Imposter Syndrome in Friendships

A person may experience imposter syndrome in everyday relationships with friends and family. They may feel inadequate to their friends, prompting them to believe they cannot be who their friendship circles expect them to be. As a result, such people have low self-esteem and tend to have a different persona when with other people. It is dangerous as they continue to feel like an imposter, prompting them to withdraw from friendships altogether.

Some people suffer from social anxiety, but this does not necessarily mean that they have imposter syndrome. There is a slight difference between the two, but social anxiety is temporary, and these individuals may not experience these feelings away from a social setting. People with social anxiety have a lot of self-doubt in social settings, but they don’t necessarily fear failure.

In workplace settings, people with imposter syndrome may lack confidence at work and constantly fear being seen as incapable. As if this is not enough, even when they succeed, they might still worry that other people may not find them deserving of this success and accomplishment.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

There is no easy way to overcome imposter syndrome, and it requires a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy, positive affirmations, and conscious effort to replace negative thoughts with positive alternatives.

One of the best ways to do this is to identify their strengths and unique qualities and capitalize on them. Being conscious about these helps grow confidence which gives reassurance when feelings of self-doubt begin to manifest.

In extreme cases, a person may seek professional help if the negative thoughts persist.

Visit NHCC.us for more on New Horizon Counseling Center and Herrick Lipton!

A 5-Minute Exercise for Emotional Intelligence

Do you have days full of daily responsibilities? Does it often seem like too much? It is very easy to get overwhelmed with all the demands placed on modern adults. Things can pile up so fast that it’s easy to simply tune it all out and walk away.

While tuning out difficult tasks or things you don’t want to do has its perks, it can also be easily overdone. The serenity that comes with it can lead to complacency and even avoiding crucial tasks completely.

The more a person avoids work, the more anxiety they will face about the consequences of not getting things done. That’s why it’s important to have coping mechanisms that help people accomplish the tasks at hand that need to be dealt with.

It’s a particularly brutal cycle, but it’s also easy to break. There’s a technique that’s based on the fundamentals of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is being able to identify your emotions, understand them, and then manage them effectively. One way you can do this is by using the 5-minute rule.

If you don’t deal with your stress proactively regarding a particular task, then your brain is likely to get overwhelmed with thoughts of how long the task will take and how difficult it will be. Fortunately, big and challenging tasks don’t often happen in just one sitting or session, as you’re likely to handle it by nibbling at it one small bit at a time.

This is where the 5-minute rule factors in. Just decide to work on a specific task for 5 minutes, with the promise to yourself that if you need or want to, you can quit once those 5 minutes are up.

Your brain should acknowledge that 5 minutes is not all that long. That’s actually enough time for more than one funny cat video on YouTube.

Most of the time, once 5 minutes are up, you’ll get so engrossed in a task that you’ll have momentum and keep going. Still, the 5-minute rule has done its brilliant work, which is helping you get started.

The next time you’re facing some burden you just don’t feel like facing yet, consider giving it just 5 minutes. You’ll fall in love with this trick soon enough.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.com

Why Avoiding Toxic Positivity is Important

It is becoming increasingly popular to always look on the bright side of life, no matter what happens. Never acknowledging that bad things do happen in life can have many negative consequences on someone’s life, however. The following guide gives you a few reasons why you may want to try to avoid toxic positivity in your life.

Toxic Positivity Can Cause Mental Health Struggles

When you are going through a difficult situation in life, and someone tells you to “look on the bright side” this can affect you in a negative way mentally. It can make you question if the feelings you have are selfish, are unnecessary, or are childish. It’s okay to have negative emotions from time to time. While you don’t want to dwell on them nonstop, having negative emotions is normal and healthy. Squelching these emotions can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety, which can also affect your life negatively.

Toxic Positivity Can Create a False Sense of Security

Trying to always see things in a positive light can instill a feeling that everything should be great all the time. When something goes wrong, it can limit the feelings of responsibility someone has, which can give them a false sense of entitlement. It can make someone feel as though they are owed the positive things in life and when they don’t occur, it can lead to someone thinking they did something wrong, weren’t good enough, or cause them to blame someone else for their problems.

Toxic Positivity Can Cause Social Awkwardness

Being around people who are positive all the time can create social awkwardness. It can make you feel as though you have to hide negative feelings when they occur out of a fear of letting someone down or feeling you’ll be judged. Not being able to share your feelings openly and honestly causes things to become bottled up inside which is not a healthy way to live life. Avoiding toxic positivity isn’t always easy to do. You may need to limit your social interaction to people who live a more realistic way of life and don’t always try to find the good in everything that happens. Limiting social media allows you to avoid being exposed to toxic positivity unexpectedly and can help to provide you with time to process the way you feel about something in a healthy way.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.com

Treating a Negative Body Image

The pressure for both men and women to look a certain way in today’s society is real. Social media has not only perpetuated this stigma but magnified it. Consequently, many people struggle with accepting how they look and feeling good about themselves. Some things can help overcome living with a negative body image.

Take a Respite from Social Media

Whether for a short-term or a more long-term break, removing all social media from a daily routine is crucial to developing a more positive body image. Most platforms promote people who have a specific body type instead of realistically presenting all kinds of people. This false imaging can give anyone a false perception of how they should look, what they should wear, and what size makes them appear attractive. Studies have shown that more people are now getting cosmetic surgery of every kind to look like what social media often portrays as “the norm.”

Find other ways beyond social media to stay in touch with friends and keep up with the latest news through sites that are strictly news platforms and only private messaging friends. Then, beauty can be re-defined.

Assess Relationships

Take note of any parts of social, professional, and intimate relationships that promote a negative body image and remove them from your life. This step is probably the hardest thing to do since it could mean telling long-standing friends or relationships goodbye. Keep in mind that if they contributed to having a negative body image, the friendship was a toxic one. Changing a work environment can also be a daunting task, but if people at work make it nearly impossible to feel good about yourself, finding a workplace that is non-judgmental about how a person appears is imperative to developing a positive body image.

Consult with Professionals

Begin a program that incorporates mental as well as physical health within the scope of a specific timeline. Find a professional counselor to discuss anxiety, stress, and emotional trauma associated with long-standing negative body image feelings. Talk to a physician about meeting with a nutritionist and developing a diet and exercise regimen that is realistic and suits your timeline and goals. All of this will create a light at the end of the negative body image tunnel where the other side results in a healthier outlook on body image.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.net

Using Anxiety to Your Advantage: Is It Possible?

In the United States, 18.1% of the population suffers from anxiety and other related disorders. When we think of these statistics, it shows that every one in six goes through this condition. Seeing how common it is and how debilitating it can be for others, there must be some ways that people can cope with anxiety in a positive way.

Although anxiety is often seen as a negative health condition, there are some ways that one can use it to their advantage. Below are some ideas and mindsets people can pick up to make anxiety work for them.

Ways To Use Anxiety As An Advantage

Improving self-awareness

Being aware of the fact that a person has anxiety helps them to cope better. Some individuals can get blindsided because they are in denial or haven’t sought professional help on their mental health conditions. Thus, they can speak or act in ways that are harmful to their well-being and relationships with others.

Understanding that one has anxiety and knowing the right ways to cope boosts self-awareness. Being self-aware helps the person to be more mindful of their responses and thus take actions towards leading a better life not controlled by anxiety.

Practicing resilience

It’s amazing how others who have terminal conditions can show courage and strength. We see this time and time again from inspiring news stories on the internet, TV, and other forms of media.

People who suffer from anxiety can also use it as a training ground for resilience. Learning how to take a challenge from one’s way of thinking and working to reframe it is one of the ways to develop inner strength. Knowing that a person can grow despite mental health conditions can truly help in training for resilience that impacts one’s overall character.

Anxiety as motivation

Anxiety can also be used as a stepping stone for motivation. For example, the worry of not being able to pass an exam can be used to motivate oneself to study. The worry of not getting enough finances can motivate someone to find a job or start income-generating pursuits.

In these scenarios, anxiety is used as fuel to accomplish things rather than to stop one from performing.

Hopefully, these ideas can give people a better frame of mind when dealing with anxiety. As those with mental health issues see anxiety as something to benefit from, they can learn to feel better about themselves and cope successfully with their condition.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.net

Alternative Ways to Cope with Failure

Failure is an inevitable part of life every single person faces. It’s easy to get into your own head and think of every reason as to why and how failure occurred, which can spiral into some intense negative thinking. Anxiety and depression easily creep in when one doesn’t accomplish their goals, so coping with failure properly is all about knowing how to handle outcomes. Luckily, there is a proper way to handle failure rather than screaming into a pillow in agony.

Finding the Good

There is a silver lining to every single thing that happens in a person’s life. Losing a job could open the door for possibly getting a new, better job. Not getting into the dream college could make way for potentially going to a better college. It’s all about finding reasons to keep going because there is a silver lining in every situation. Failure can hit hard depending on how meaningful a certain dream may have been, but it doesn’t have to be impossible to seek the good.

Having New Goals

Being somebody who can jump up and start anew is the kind of person everybody should aim to be. Life can take some twists and turns, and certain goals can take a dive for the worst when things don’t go a certain way. Don’t be scared to reach for new dreams, have new goals, and find new ways to grow as a person. Creating new goals will help anyone cope with the loss of their previous dreams.

Reframing the Idea of Failure

The things people say to themselves can dictate how they end up feeling when things don’t go their way. They’re hard on themselves and refuse to take no for an answer. Reframing thoughts in regards to failure is the way to cope. It’s about acknowledging that this isn’t the end of the world. Putting their best foot forward is all that matters.

These are powerful new approaches to failure that can make it easier when things don’t go a certain way. It doesn’t have to end in bitterness or anger. Anyone can reframe their mind from anger to gratitude and being able to see the good in any situation. Just a switch can make a difference.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.com

The Correlation Between Excessive Screen Time and Poor Mental Health

Electronic devices play a large role in everyday life. In fact, most people cannot go 24 hours without using their cell phone, laptop, or television. Although there are many societal benefits to using electronics, some health experts are worried that overindulging in screen time may negatively impact mental health.

These findings impacted both younger children and adults. Here’s a list of ways screen time can impact the mind of different generations.

Screen Time Impacts Children Mental Development

Children who spend hours on their electronic devices reportedly had a harder time engaging in activities that weren’t electronic-related. For instance, these children had trouble developing their imagination, being creative, and even making friends.

Children who spent an excessive amount of time using electronics also had a thinner brain cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking. Behavioral intelligence and the ability to socially interact are lower in children who have numerous hours of screen time.

Screen Time Negatively Impacts Self Image

While social media is great for keeping in contact with loved ones, it can also play a negative role in self-image. People who constantly compare themselves to others online begin to devalue their own lives, especially when they follow high-profile accounts. People who find themselves routinely feeling insecure when they are on social media should highly consider limiting use immediately.

Screen Time Impacts Physical Health

Believe it or not, social media also plays a role in overall physical health. People who spend hours online are more likely to be sedentary, which leads to being overweight and obesity. This furthers mental issues because it discourages people from going to the gym or working out in public. If left untreated, this will lead to anxiety, depression, and other underlying health conditions like type 2 diabetes.

Using electronics can be a beneficial experience. However, too much screen time takes a negative toll on physical and mental health. Children who spend too much time in front of electronics also have a delayed mental and physical development that hinders them into their adult life. To avoid the negative aspects of being on electronic devices, it’s best to create a healthy balance on and off-screen.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.com

Ways Toxic Productivity Affects You

Productivity is part of our everyday routine, but sometimes we end up draining ourselves mentally and physically. Toxic productivity is when someone feels the need to be extremely productive in all aspects of life and it’s hard to recognize when it’s happening. It occurs when everyone around is pushing you to be extra productive, which can be good sometimes but also has brutal effects. Here are some ways toxic productivity may affect a person’s life.

Addictive qualities

The reason why this can be so addictive is that there’s a psychological rush you get from achieving things. Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that brings pleasure. These levels increase as a set goal is completed. Adrenaline is increased along with dopamine levels. As time moves forward, the body needs more of the activity causing the increase to keep feeling the rush it gave the first time.

Side effects

The body’s physical and mental energy can be easily drained. Working too hard only speeds up the process. For example, a woman named Erika Ferszt had spent 22 years suffering from toxic productivity until she ultimately had gone temporarily blind. Toxic productivity also has an effect that makes it hard or even impossible to enjoy a break and just relax without anything on an agenda. Every activity a person does with toxic productivity must also have a purpose for the end result. Hanging out with a friend or family member is an example of this effect because the person does not feel like they’re achieving anything if all they do is talk with another person. This is a very negative side effect of toxic productivity because it’s in our human nature to be social with others to survive.

Lack of excitement

Toxic productivity causes people to want to keep being productive and accomplish anything and everything. In turn, this means that people experiencing toxic productivity won’t feel that they succeeded at anything. Going down this road puts someone at high risk of depression. Many can’t even see others have fun around them without a purpose in the activities they do. They lose sight of seeing the fun and excitement in things getting jumbled with just wanting to get the job done.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.net

The Best Mental Health Books of 2021

Whether individuals are aware of it or not, mental health affects every aspect of their lives. It impacts how they feel and think, how they behave around different people as well as guides them in their decisions. In addition to that, mental health also has a direct effect on an individual’s physical health. The truth of the matter is that poor mental health can make a person prone to autoimmune diseases and chronic physical conditions.

Thankfully, in this day and age, society understands the importance of discussing mental health issues and accepting individuals who are suffering from them. Plus, a substantial number of mental health professionals are playing a role in continuing mental health education through books that cover all sorts of mental health issues. On that premise, the following article presents the best mental health books of 2021.

This is Depression

Dr. Diane McIntosh’s This is Depression is a book that conveys complicated scientific concepts in simple language to any individual who needs to learn more about depression. McIntosh sums up in this book her 20-year experience with patients diagnosed with depression as well as talks about the causes, diagnosis, and possible treatment options for depression.

We’ve Been Too Patient

We’ve Been Too Patient is an assembly of stories of the sad reality of people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness. Written by a consultant and keynote speaker, and an advocate and author, this book aims to break the stigma that generally surrounds those with mental health problems. This book sheds light on a number of traumatic events that can forever change an individual’s life with the goal of educating readers and breaking mental health space stigmas.

This Too Shall Pass

In This Too Shall Pass, Julia Samuel, who is a psychotherapist, shows through the hours spent with her patients how each individual adapts in a different way when it comes to hardships. Proven by both medical and academic research, her analysis of her patients’ stories shows how mental health is totally different for each person, yet the polarization of the easily reinforced coping mechanisms have been the same for everyone. This book is certainly an outstanding portrayal of how people need to understand themselves in order to truly heal.

This article was originally published on HerrickLipton.net