MENTAL HEALTH AND BURN OUT IN THE EQUATION OF BUSINESS GROWTH

Victor Uche Obioma is Chairman, VICFAUS INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS LIMITED (Division of VIEWS GROUP Co.), He is International Partner for Nigeria; World Business Angels Investment Forum-WBAF and Member; Global Start Ups Committee. He is Member, Global Chamber of Business Leaders-GCBL; Global Entrepreneurs Network (GEN) Startup Founders Mentor at Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), TAKWEEN Accelerator- his Mentees placed 03rd & 02nd to WIN $15K & $12K USD Seed Fund, He is Advisory Board Member at VERTEX NEXT within the VERTEX GROUP and Advisor at Prosper Advisors Network, Kenya; He is Jury Member and Ambassador for Western Africa at Global Startup Awards- GSA and World Leader Summit- WLS. He is Founder of STARTUP AGENDA, Judge at 2021 Africa’s Business Heroes- Jack Ma Foundation & Draft/Research Committee team Member of The Nigeria Startup Bill.

OVERVIEW

???????Building and Scaling Businesses to be Successful can be extremely demanding and draining emotionally especially with the tough business environment and enabling landscape for businesses- which often lead Enterprise business owners and Startup Founders to Stress, fatigue, burn out and mental imbalance. According to Wikipedia, Mental health?is "a state of?well-being?in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community", according to the?World Health Organization?(WHO).[1]?Mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others.[2]?From the perspectives of?positive psychology?or?holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve?psychological resilience.[3]?Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health".[4]?Some early signs related health problems are sleep irritation, lack of energy and thinking of harming yourself or others.[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_health.

???????Mental Health is often an overlooked subject which requires attention especially as Seven- 7 out of every ten-10 Founder is estimated to suffer mental health issues due to struggles associated with connecting the growth dots for their product, services, solutions or business and the accompanying rejection, disapproval, depression that founders experience on a day to day basis making efforts to gain public wide acceptance for their products, services, solution or brand. The outcome of these experiences along their business growth journey may compel these founders to display anger, bitterness, aggression, stress, anxiety, loss of self-esteem and focus, depression, forced exclusion, illusion, withdrawn, low drive to chase their dreams, loss of steam and total inability to pursue and achieve GOALS they had set for their business GROWTH.

???????According to a release by Forbes, 72% of entrepreneurs are directly or indirectly affected by mental health issues compared to just 48% of non-entrepreneurs. That’s according to a?study by the National Institute of Mental Health- https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmurrayserter/2020/10/04/why-entrepreneurs-need-to-talk-about-their-mental-health/?sh=41dfb55d37d0 49% of entrepreneurs deal with mental health issues directly while only 32% of others experienced them. Similarly, 23% of entrepreneurs have family members who face these issues compared to just 16% of others with family members who face these same types of issues. Founders are?twice more likely to suffer from depression, suicidal thoughts and have psychiatric hospitalization. They are 3 times more likely to suffer substance abuse, 6 times more likely to suffer from ADHD and 10 times more likely to suffer from bi-polar disorder. Often Mental Health and suggestive patterns that point to stress and burnout of Startup Founders is overlooked while they pursue their business/enterprise growth GOALS. It is important however to establish that Mental Health, Stress and burnout be Included as topics in Incubator and Accelerator programs, Startup and Innovation Strategy Sessions, MSME conversations, Mentorship Sessions, Investor Matching and Business Financing checklist to ensure Mentorship is a bit more effective and that Founders business growth journey is more experientially rewarding and sustainable to avert business failures; seeing that PRODUCTIVITY is directly linked to a healthy MIND, SOUL and BODY for adequate supply and release of MENTAL Stamina for Entrepreneurship in relation to the hurdles and disappointments of business growth that may somewhat be OVERWHELMING for Business Owners who may have BIG DREAMS and expectations.??

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CAUSES OF MENTAL HEALTH AND BURN OUT

Mental Health Issues and Burnout are caused by a number of factors, but for this Article I will focus on only eight- 8 of them:

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1.??COMPARISON- Founders often compare their progress and Achievement with peers. Situations where they appear not to be meeting up with these peers, frustration may set in.

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2.??INGRATITUDE- Thankfulness and Gratitude for every Win, Baby Step and Milestones achieved is Medicine to lead a Cheerful, Fulfilling life and can avert mental health Issues if Founders abide by the practice of Gratitude.

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3.??MISUNDERSTANDING OF TIME: Founders may misunderstand that their difficulties, experience, outcomes, circumstances and Paths differ; and that time plays a key role to build patience, resilience, experience and new learnings that make up defining moments and portfolio of practical lesson notes for business growth.???

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4.??AVAILABILITY OF COUNSELORS’, MENTORS & CONFIDANT TO SPEAK TO: Founders who have access to Counsellors, Successful Business Leaders as Mentors and high impact Confidants to discuss their business growth struggles; in order to receive superior ADVICE are more likely not to suffer Mental Health issues nor Business Failure.

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5.??SOCIETY/PEER PRESSURE: Society somewhat creates non existing Stereotypes that exact unnecessary pressure which may cause avoidable mental health issues.

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6.??SEEKING VALIDATION: If Founders stay true to their UNIQUE stories, situation, experience and look away from seeking validation; they enlist themselves and businesses for growth while maintaining stable Mental Health.

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7.??POOR MENTAL & PHYSICAL EXERCISE: Meditation, Listening to Music, setting realistic achievable goals, engagement in discussions, work outs, stretches amongst other mental and physical exercises can help build resilience, stamina and energy to support founders from mental health issues.

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8.??BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS: Clusters of Business Development Service Providers who offer Advisory, Strategy, technical know-how, market intelligence and Superior business growth support will form Go to Solutions platforms for Business Needs Assessment for Founders to benefit from to maintain sanity of their Mental Health while growing their Businesses.

???????With constant counsel, mentorship, hand holding, superior business information, intentional Government support to create enabling environment for business growth, constant heart to heart or soul talk between founders and industry experts/seniors within the sectors they operate; the ugly menace of “Mental Health Issues” can be tackled to mitigate business failures, raise sound business leaders, strengthen innovation, enable startups and MSMEs to thrive, make impact, create opportunities for wealth flow, increase wellbeing of society, improve exchange, trade, commerce and economic prosperity.

REFERENCES:

????I.???????https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_health

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???II.???????https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmurrayserter/2020/10/04/why-entrepreneurs-need-to-talk-about-their-mental-health/?sh=41dfb55d37d0

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??III.???????https://minutes.co/72-of-entrepreneurs-suffer-from-mental-health-issues-heres-why-and-what-to-do-about-it/

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?IV.???????https://insights.omnia-health.com/management/covid-19-takes-toll-mental-health-entrepreneurs

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?V.???????https://www.forbes.com/sites/marenbannon/2020/02/10/startup-founder-mental-health-why-it-matters-and-how-to-boost-it/?sh=7694db701bf1

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