Being an entrepreneur is tough. As a business owner, you’re likely to deal with long hours, high stress, and responsibilities that never seem to end. Even on a slow day, it’s still a 24-hour-a-day job.
Not surprisingly, many entrepreneurs end up dealing with addiction at some point in their lives. Left unchecked, however, addictions can ruin lives and businesses, and shatter your dreams of financial freedom.
The question is, how on Earth do you untangle yourself from your business while you prepare for your time in addiction treatment?
As an entrepreneur, you need to prepare yourself mentally for the time off required to heal.
Here are a few key tips to help you push through those early steps.
Change Your Mindset About Taking Time For Recovery
Remember early on in your business when you saw marketing and advertising as just an expense that ate into your bottom line?
Once you learned to do it right though, you likely saw it as a revenue generator. An investment that needed to be made to achieve your goals.
You can think of recovery in much the same way.
Your company won’t be successful if you don’t take care of yourself first. If you’re truly committed to making your business successful, you need to invest in yourself.
Recovery is not about taking YOU away from the business. It’s about giving the business a better version of you.
Yes, taking time away will be uncomfortable, and it might even cause you some short-term consequences. But a month or so of self-care shouldn’t make or break your business in the long term.
Despite being busy, many entrepreneurs find the time to take vacations to recharge. That’s normal. That’s life. Clients expect you to take time away from time to time.
Abandon any guilt you may have for needing to step away.
Have Faith In Your Team
Somewhere inside, we all have a desire to help others. Don’t underestimate your team’s willingness to step up in your absence, especially if you’ve stepped up for them.
When you run a business, their success depends on you, and your success depends on them. They know that a better you means better opportunity for them.
Have faith that they’ll do the right thing when you need them to.
A final thought on teams: Your team may already have concerns about behavioural changes related to your addiction, whether they are aware that the changes are attributed to addiction or not. They will likely be happy that you are taking time for rest and recovery.
Plan Ahead For Your Time Away
As a business owner, you do a little of everything. But much of that can be managed with a little foresight.
Consider setting up your accounts for automatic payment. Block out your calendar so nobody can book appointments. Delegate new projects to others and start transitioning existing ones over to other people. Hire temporary help if you need additional bodies.
And if there are particular challenges you’re worried might pop up in your absence, make a list of them and come up with a few quick ways to solve them. Then include that as part of your brief that you leave behind for others.
Decide How You Want To Talk About Your Addiction
As the saying goes, “you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” In other words, once you open up about your addiction to others, you can’t take it back.
While some people are more than comfortable revealing their personal issues, others are much more private and hold their cards close to their chest. The important thing to realize is that you control the dialogue. You’re the one who decides who to share with, and what to share with them.
You might choose to share the news with close friends but not the people at work. You might tell everyone you need some personal time to recover and recharge. Or you might just say you’re taking some time for personal reasons.
There are no wrong answers here. It’s whatever you’re comfortable with.
Wherever you are with your business or your recovery: congratulations. Both are hard. But both are incredibly rewarding.
We Can Help You
Ledgehill’s two facilities in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, provide gender-specific treatment for men and women who need to heal in a peaceful, supportive environment free from fear or distraction. If you’d like to learn more about the addiction and mental health treatment programs provided by Ledgehill, enrol yourself in one of our programs, or refer someone else, please call us at 800-676-3393.
