Becoming Adept at Managing Pressure as a Female Founder

By Rachael Alba, MA, LMHC, PMH-C, ISTT

It’s no secret that founding a business comes with its fair share of responsibility. The tasks can feel endless and the pressures can mount as growth multiplies. Leading an organization doesn’t have to be inherently stressful, it can also be energizing and amplifying. There are tangible ways to manage pressure while reaching your goals and keeping up with everything from hiring to filing a tax form. 

Training Your Mind to Handle Sustained Pressure

Sustaining pressure over time builds resilience. Connecting your value system to your work provides purpose and motivation to push through short-term pressure toward a larger mission. If your business is mission driven, you’re much more likely to see pressure as fuel toward progress, as opposed to crushing responsibility. 

Using your values as a mental tool toward reaching your goals is an invaluable way to train your mind to relate to stress in a positive way. The impact of stress on the mind and body is profound and your ability to reframe stress into motivation can mean the difference between a migraine or a post-run endorphin high. We hold so much power in the way we frame our experiences. 

Cognitive Habits that Improve Leadership Performance

Leadership performance hinges on your ability to respond out of reflection rather than reaction. When you take the time to identify your emotions and stressors, you’re better positioned to regulate yourself and respond from a place of grounded leadership. A practical tool for reflection is to write your experiences down when you feel heightened emotions and respond afterwards. Curiosity is another strategy to help you grow in your ability to respond reflectively vs. reactively. Ask clarifying questions with a genuine interest in furthering your understanding before jumping to conclusions when emotions are high. 

Psychologically, we know that decision making is best when cognition is high and emotion is low. 

However, most people feel an intense urge to respond when emotion is high and cognition is low. Asking yourself where you are cognitively and emotionally can help you to identify when to reflect and when to respond. Learning to reflect before responding as a leader not only improves the quality of your decisions but also enhances relational trust with your team and builds positive executive functioning skills. 

Strengthening Decision-Making Under Uncertainty as a Female Leader

When you are fielding too many decisions simultaneously, you’re bound to become mentally fatigued if you don’t have strong cognitive bandwidth. Uncertainty about how your choices will pan out can cause self-doubt, which may cause your judgement to suffer. An antidote to decision making uncertainty is cognitive load management. Strong leaders prioritize the decisions they make with a core criterion. This includes identifying high-level problems, simplifying the process of solving those problems, creating routines for yourself and your team, and knowing when to effectively delegate. 

If you have a framework for decision making, you’re much less likely to feel fatigued every time you come to the table to solve a new problem. Creating structure also signals intentionality and confidence to your team. It’s a win for everyone and instills confidence in your ability to tackle any decision, no matter the level of uncertainty behind it. 

The responsibility of leading a business is profoundly powerful. It has potential to cause burnout if not met with intention and strategy. It also has the power to drive massive change and motivate teams toward a common mission. When women come together with shared values, responsiveness vs. reactivity, and strong decision-making criteria, there’s no limit to the impact they can make in business and beyond. 

Connect With Rachael

www.rachaelalba.com

www.netherapyalliance.com