Healthy Leaders, Healthy Business – Emotional Wellbeing For Female Entrepreneurs

Vesna Hrsto, Executive Wellbeing Coach and Mind-Body Peak Performance Specialist, shares tips on how female entrepreneurs can enhance their emotional wellbeing.

Emotions drive productivity, performance, and profits.

As Warren Buffet famously said, “if you can’t control your emotions, you can’t control your money”.

We should measure our energy, mood and wellbeing as part of business success. As one of my clients noticed, when she tripled her energy, it tripled her profits and work satisfaction.

It’s hard to imagine someone exceeding their best when they’re tired, in low spirits, and not taking care of themselves.

Being on an emotional rollercoaster is exhausting and not sustainable for business. Plus, it’s the biggest cause of burnout. 

Emotional wellbeing and resilience is the ability to tolerate feeling bad while still doing what’s important during the course of the day. It’s not stoically enduring everything thrown at you no matter what – but doing what’s important. Resilient people still feel bad and deal with heavy emotions, but it doesn’t stop them from showing up and doing what they need to do.  This comes naturally when our personal wellbeing is high.

Modeling that for your team, not only creates a better culture, high-performing team and work environment but attracts staff and clients to your business.

I have many entrepreneurs tell me that after a busy or stressful day, they have little left in the tank when they come home and it impacts their personal relationships – such as snapping easily at the kids or feeling disconnected from their partner.

Emotional wellbeing is the result of personal wellbeing. Our wellbeing (not mood) is the foundation of the quality of our life and work, and provides the resources for overcoming challenges.

How to strengthen your emotional wellbeing

1. Energy: you need the energy to take care of yourself and deal with challenges that come your way. Remove the energy drainers from your life: checking emails every 30mins, saying ‘yes’ to everyone, going to bed late because you’re ‘unwinding’ with Netflix, choosing junk food for a quick hit of energy and comfort, spending time with people who drain you…

2. Sleep: our brain resets overnight. If we’re had a good sleep we wake up feeling more relaxed about our stress from the day before because our brain has had a proper rest. I recommend getting to bed earlier, by around 10pm to align with circadian rhythms. Studies have shown that ‘night owls’ are prone to mood disorders like anxiety, depression and seasonal affective disorder.  Don’t drink alcohol too close to bed as it increases your body temperature causing poorer sleep.

3. Psychological skills: learn to tolerate feeling bad without letting it take over your mind and day. The best you can, practice letting go of negative thinking. Break the habit of over-analysing problems. Find ways to be responsive in the moment, rather than worrying about what might happen.

4. Gut health is an important area for personal wellbeing and resilience. The gut-brain axis shows the gut communicates with the brain and vice versa all day long. Poor gut health causes inflammation in the body, whole body inflammation including the brain. An ‘inflamed brain’ can trigger anxiety, mood disorders, and poor stress tolerance. Restore gut function by cutting out processed foods, improving digestion, and supporting the microbiome through a wide variety of different colored vegetables and supplement with probiotics. 

Vesna Hrsto has been voted one of the top ten naturopaths in Australia and New Zealand. For the past two decades, Vesna has made a name for herself as an Executive Wellbeing Coach and Mind-Body Peak Performance Specialist. She has worked with thousands of high-achieving women around the country to help them experience elevated energy, mental clarity & peak physical wellness so they can reach their highest potential – https://vesnahrsto.com

For more reading on entrepreneurship, check out:

Top 5 Entrepreneur Podcasts in 2022

How The Digital Economy Empowers Female Entrepreneurs

Tapping into the Power of 25 Female Entrepreneurs