Entrepreneurship: Mental Health, the Key to Founder Success

This post was written by MEST Portfolio Associate, Samuel Green.

What do mental health and entrepreneurship have to do with one another?

The simple answer:

More than you would think. Just as an athlete depends on his or her physical health being in top order to win, entrepreneurs — those at the forefront of the knowledge economy — depend on their mental health to propel them towards success. While athletes spend their days planning healthy meals and training their bodies to perform under stress when was the last time you saw an entrepreneur set time aside to look after their mental health?

So, what do mental health and entrepreneurship have to do with one another?

The complicated answer:

A whole lot more than you would think. A 2015 study of mental health among entrepreneurs revealed that 72% of entrepreneurs reported having a mental health concern in their lifetime, while 49% had reported one or more lifetime mental health conditions (anxiety, depression, ADD, etc.). Comparing this to non-entrepreneurs — of whom just 32% reported the same — paints an alarming picture. Does being an entrepreneur make an individual more vulnerable to mental health concerns?

There are likely two sides to this answer. On one side, there’s an intersectionality between qualities that make someone a good entrepreneur and qualities that make someone vulnerable to mental health issues. On the other side, there are the realities of the job — realities that cause huge amounts of stress, encourage unhealthy behaviors, and limit opportunities to seek help.

Let’s start with the qualities of a successful entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have to be creative. They have to be highly motivated. They have to be willing to take big risks. Most of all, they have to be independent thinkers, unafraid of moving against the social current, and thinking outside-the-box.

And, guess what? Somewhat unsurprisingly, independent thinking, risk-taking, creativity, and high levels of motivation are all personality traits that share a positive relationship with mental health conditions. In other words, the things that make you a good entrepreneur also make you more likely to experience mental health issues. That’s not to say an entrepreneur will necessarily have these problems — It just means it is more likely, and so, it is probably a good idea to take extra precautions and watch for common warning signs in yourself and others.

Then the other side — The life of an entrepreneur. Unpack it, and we can point to a few different facets of an entrepreneur’s life that can put a strain on their mental health:

Most obviously, there is the work-life balance issue. Entrepreneurs frequently blur the line between their personal and professional lives. After all, it’s not your typical day job. Early mornings, late nights, and every hour in between, you will find driven entrepreneurs working hard on their businesses. If they don’t do it, nobody else is going to. But at what cost?

Aside from simply wearing you down, long days at work come with big sacrifices. There is less time to visit friends and family, less time to sleep, and less time to eat a proper meal. There is little time left over to slow down, relax, and reflect. There’s the outright stress. Managing money, hiring and firing staff, and putting out the thousand small fires that pop up and threaten to burn the business down. Hard to deal with and hard to avoid, these pressures are a near definitional quality of entrepreneurship.

Many entrepreneurs are facing these pressures while also dealing with a huge amount of life stress. Often far from home, removed from the comforts of family, familiarity, and friendship, they have to find a place to live, familiarize themselves with a new country or city, and learn the intricacies of doing business in a new market. Of course, there’s dealing with all of the other people in our lives. For those that believe in the merit of a traditional nine-to-five day job, the entrepreneurial lifestyle can seem a bit strange. Some just don’t understand what it is that an entrepreneur does. How many parents have asked their young entrepreneurial son or daughter the most dreaded of questions: When are you going to get a real job? When there are bills to be paid and loved ones to care for, it can be difficult for them to understand what it is all really about.

While trying to manage the expectations of parents, friends, or family on one side, entrepreneurs are also trying to manage expectations among their cofounders, peers, and investors on the other. This is impression management. Entrepreneurs must make sure they give off the air of a confident, competent, and commanding person. Should they show any vulnerability or compassion, or even admit they are facing some challenges, others within their community could see it as a weakness.

Showing weakness means investors are less likely to invest, peers less likely to work with you, and customers less likely to purchase from you. Rather than admit weakness or ask for help, many entrepreneurs will push themselves even harder, work longer hours, or do nearly anything else in their power to craft this oh-so-important impression of invulnerability.

The end result of this cutthroat environment is that entrepreneurs, faced with these countless pressures and hemmed in on all sides by the need to appear confident and strong, wind up internalizing a huge amount of stress. The startup ecosystem has a built-in pipeline for offloading this stress — partying and alcohol. Unfortunately, it’s one of the least healthy, least effective ways of doing so, and for many, it results in future problems with substance abuse and alcoholism.

Entrepreneurs are predisposed to these conditions, are continually faced with countless sources of stress, and are largely unable to offload this pressure in a healthy way within the community. At the same time, an entrepreneur’s mental well being is, without argument, the most valuable asset any start-up has. As a community, then, we have an obligation to teach young entrepreneurs new strategies for maintaining their mental wellness and looking after themselves.

So, how can we help ourselves, and each other?

On February 27th, 2020, MEST Africa held its very first mental health-focused event, Start Up Your Mind in collaboration with Massira, a women’s wellness and reproductive health community, and Mental Health Society of Ghana. This event brought in speakers to share their personal experiences including a panel of experts to answer questions and provide resources to attendees. As the inaugural MEST mental health event, it was focused simply on starting up the conversation, and showing attendees that they have a forum within the community to share their experiences or ask for help if they need it.

During the event, we learned about a few simple strategies for managing mental wellness. First, it begins with learning to be aware of how we are feeling inside and to recognize the habits and behaviors that tell us something is off. This sounds a lot easier than it actually is — It can be hard enough to recognize self-destructive behaviors when we are in a good mood but add a dash of anxiety or depression to the mix and it can become near impossible to do without some significant efforts. The key here is intentional, conscious self-reflection. Take some time once a day or once a week — whatever works for you — and reflect. How do you feel? Why do you think you feel this way?

So, let’s say you sit down with yourself, and you notice that things aren’t going well. Maybe you’re just feeling down, or maybe you are acting a bit out of character. Maybe you know why and maybe you don’t. What do you do now?

As we learned at the Start Up Your Mind event, it’s good to have a trusted friend who you can talk to about these things. They don’t need to be an expert or have previous experience with what you are going through. They just need to be kind, patient, and non-judgemental. And you’re not looking for advice — It’s incredibly valuable just to have someone to talk things through with.

Share with them as much as you are comfortable with. If you are worried about how you behave when things start to slide downhill, tell them some of the signs to watch out for so they can flag these things with you and stop the snowball before it gets too big. If telling them you are having a bad day is the most you can manage — that’s fine, too. The important thing is to be open, honest, and vulnerable as much as possible. Once you start down this road, you’ll be surprised at how easy it becomes. You’ll also notice that your vulnerability encourages others to be vulnerable as well, and so will quickly learn that these problems are not as unique to you as you think.

But sometimes friends are not enough. It’s important, as a friend giving help and as the one seeking help, to recognize when a visit to the doctor is in order. If you suspect that you or your friend is a threat to themselves or to others, it’s definitely time for the doctor’s office. A visit might also be in order if you have tried — and failed — with other coping mechanisms, or if you’re just feeling overwhelmed with it all.

Of course, going to the doctor’s office also sounds a lot easier than it actually is for many of us. Especially with mental health conditions, there is a lot of stigma and shame attached to admitting something is wrong. Moreover, there are very legitimate concerns about losing your job or being outcast from your social circles. But your mental health, literally the state of your mind, is the most important aspect of your subjective reality. Taking care of it should be a priority over everything else. Better to have fewer friends who you can enjoy spending time with than many friends whose company you never enjoy.

And the stigma is misplaced anyways and should be given no time of day or consideration in our decisions. There is no reason to feel shame for being a human being with human feelings. And, as you’ll begin to realize as you start having more of these types of conversations, almost everyone can relate in some way.

Not everyone deals with mental illnesses, but everyone deals with mental health.