It is a widely held belief that successful entrepreneurs have a balanced perspective about everything for without that they would not be there where they are. They have consciously nurtured and honed their networking skills, they are assertive and have strong minds of their own. They have an external locus of control and a strong drive to achieve success in their chosen endeavours. Passion for work and risk tolerance coupled with astute commercial sense makes them a formidable candidate to be called a successful entrepreneur.
While most of the above descriptions may be close to reality, a bit of scratching may reveal a completely different picture. And that has a lot to do with the influence of biological traits over psychological traits. All entrepreneurs face some kind of potential risk of failure in their ventures during all phases of their evolution. Despite their strong achievement motivation and drive the pressure of constantly meeting deadlines, achieving targets and more importantly getting them through others brings its own set of anxiety. Another problem in this context is the ever-changing goals and aspirations that constantly put pressure on and limit satisfaction. I have known personally cases of a few highly successful entrepreneurs who have major problems with insomnia and have to swallow pills all the time. In such a complicated scenario the first casualty is the work-life balance. Many entrepreneurs do have not so happy family life as their preoccupation with business gets skewed completely. It also takes a toll on their physical health. Worse still they start suffering an oscillation between hypomania and anxiety attacks. Let me dwell here about hypomania. Constant mood swings are a prominent feature. Entrepreneurs who suffer from hypomania become euphoric and develop a momentary sense of well-being. They feel unbounded energy. They become suddenly very creative(bohemian) and full of ideas and as a result of this become irritable with others for the lack of it. Their self-esteem and confidence reach unrealistic levels. Many a time this also results in promiscuous affairs as it boosts their ego. They can not relax and develop psychologically ‘loud’ behaviour. Because of these feelings and sensations, their behaviour gets manifested differently.
They start taking risks that normally a prudent person should not take. Marital infidelity happens most often. They start talking a bit too much, become expansive and indulge in over-commitment. They become fidgety and restless with details. In a meeting, their stance often is to order others to finish their point in two minutes. They have difficulty reading lengthier documents. Ideal situation to make serious errors of judgement.
On the other hand, the other dimension of business stress and anxiety is the onset of depression. In this phase, the person is unable to share his innermost fears with even his close family members. Emotional stress results in high blood pressure or ulcers. He can’t take rational and logical decisions. Have we not heard tragic stories of businessmen ending their lives unable to cope with the situation?
So, what is the solution?
We have to realise that the business scenario is fraught with many unknown variables. Developing what I call a ‘helicopter’ attitude is one way to avoid the trap of hypomania or anxiety. Metaphorically this ability helps us to be in the penthouse to have the aerial view (vision) as well as be in the basement (day-to-day working) seamlessly. You should have a detached attachment or attached detachment with business. Our self-efficacy needs to be improved. This implies that we develop the ability to judge our actions impersonally and continuously ask why we are doing what we are doing. Such an approach is possible if we learn to meditate regularly. We must keep aside a certain portion of our time for serious reflection, introspection and corrective action on a daily basis. This equanimous personality style will surely help us avoid the trap of hypomania and anxiety depression. I have also observed that those who discuss their business problems openly with their family members are often at peace with themselves and others than those who keep things to themselves.
