Every part of your business has the potential to stress you out and keep you up at night, lack of sales, too much debt, not enough money, issues with employees, problems with equipment and operations. Your brain will constantly be going. All your problems and thoughts will whirl around, making you tired and anxious. The pressure of constantly growing your bottom line in business builds up.

Owning a business is stressful, and you can’t really escape it. The sooner you learn small business stress management, the better. As a serial entrepreneur, I know a lot about small business owners’ anxiety and stress. Here are my five tips for combating small business owner stress.

Remember What’s Going Right

As you’re building your business, it is easy to only focus on the things that are going wrong. You can become stressed when you’re looking at all the things that are behind schedule, under-funded, or need to be fixed.

You can improve your stress management in business by reminding yourself of the things that are going right. List out all your accomplishments and any small business milestones you’ve achieved. There are probably more than you realize. Don’t neglect even the smallest accomplishments. Put your list somewhere you can easily see it, such as on your desk or the wall. Whenever you feel stressed about all the things that are going wrong, look at your list. Take a moment to remember all the things that have gone right.

Rank Your Tasks

One cause of stress in business is having so many things to work on that none of them get done. If you try to do a little of each task, you will complete a few of them. Don’t do everything at once. Try to focus on one or some tasks at a time. You need to prioritize your goals. Write everything that you need to complete. Then, rank your tasks from greatest to least. The things you need to do first should be at the top of your list. As you work, focus on the most important tasks. Once you finish those, you can move down the list. You’re essentially creating an agenda for yourself.

Remember To Delegate

By delegating tasks to your staff you’re not only easing the workload on yourself, but you’re doing your business a favor by ensuring things won’t fall apart when you take a day off. Whether you’re a perfectionist who feels it’s easier to do it all yourself or if you simply worry that passing on work will diminish your own importance, the story says the first step to becoming a better delegator is to recognize the signs that show you’re not doing enough of it.

One sign of under-delegating is that you can’t remember how you spent your day. Keep a diary of how you spend your time and see some patterns emerge after a few days. Seek the low-priority activities in the list and hand them off to someone else. And remember, when you delegate a task, don’t hang around and micromanage it.

Take Advantage Of Technology

If you haven’t already, make sure you’re getting full use out of that smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Thanks to mobile internet connections and cheap or free cloud-based storage solutions, it’s relatively simple to take yourself out of the office while still being able to get some work done. We can do pretty much anything from accounting software to banking to video communications and invoicing from afar, allowing you to take some time out of the office, without being totally removed.

Take Breaks

This is probably the simplest piece of business owner stress management advice — take a break. If you’re constantly spinning your wheels, not getting anywhere, and stressing about the problem, taking a quick break might be all you need. Stepping away from the stressor for even 10 minutes can refresh and calm you. Taking a break can even prevent burnout.

When you take a break, do something that relaxes you. Go for a walk. Get some coffee. Call a friend. Watch a funny video. Do nothing business-related. When you get back to your business, you will have a clearer mind. You will have fresh energy to tackle the task. And, stepping away might even open your eyes to a new and better way to complete the task.

Whether you choose to try some or all of the tips outlined above or come up with a plan yourself everyone benefits from having a boss with less stress in their life