3 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Can Benefit From Therapy

Are you a busy entrepreneur who doesn’t have time to talk to a therapist?

Like many entrepreneurs, you might be struggling with managing stress, or worse, you’re dealing with burnout and questioning whether you should quit your business venture and work for someone else.

If you're an entrepreneur who is struggling, you don't have to figure it out alone. A therapist can help. There are better ways to handle stress, and better ways to respond to the inevitable challenges of business.

In this article, you'll learn the three main reasons why entrepreneurs can benefit from therapy. First and foremost, therapy can help prevent burnout. Secondly, therapy can teach entrepreneurs mental and emotional skills to better handle stress. Finally, therapy can help entrepreneurs find a better work-life balance.

The first reason why entrepreneurs can benefit from therapy is to prevent burnout.



The work ethic of entrepreneur superheroes like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos is legendary. Elon Musk brags about how he sleeps in his office at Tesla. We think business titans like this are immune to burn out, and therefore we should be too.

But burnout comes in different forms and in different ways for different people. And different people have different breaking points.

A survey from Harvard Business Review found that 25% of entrepreneurs felt moderately burned out. I don't know about you, but if one in four entrepreneurs are feeling even moderately burned out, that's a huge problem.

Another thing to consider is that burnout affects not just your business but your relationships and your physical health.

Talking to a therapist before you get burned out is key. Even if you've hit the burn out wall, therapy can still help. A recent study shows the effectiveness of web-based psychotherapy to treat and prevent burnout.

Feeling burned out at your job? Try these 5 actions. Check out my post on Medium.com

They say you don't know what you don't know. Entrepreneurs are smart – they have to be – but they can also benefit from learning some advanced mental and emotional skills.

I'm not talking about the standard therapy clichés here like vulnerability and empathy. Nothing wrong with these, but entrepreneurs require high-level mental and emotional skills to handle the roller coaster of emotions that come with building a business.

For example, one of the biggest skills that entrepreneurs lack is flexibility. As your business grows, so does your need to innovate. The do-it-yourself attitude you once relied on may now be a hindrance to your business's growth.

You're not going to learn these higher-level skills in isolation, you need outside help. A therapist can show you how to test out and apply new skills in a way that you don't feel overwhelmed.

Want to learn some quick skills on how to take control of negative thinking? Read my post Take Control of Negative Thinking.

3. Finding Work-Life Balance (yes, even for entrepreneurs!)

There are a lot of videos and memes out there about how entrepreneurs should just forget about work-life balance. It’s unrealistic, just shut up and grind, they say.

While grinding and perseverance are important for entrepreneurs, recharging and actually enjoying the life you're building is essential.

You see, having some sort of work-life balance provides perspective. It's so easy to get in your own myopic world and just grind away in your business. But oftentimes our best ideas come when we unplug from the pressure-cooker of entrepreneurship.

If you need some justification for taking time away from your business, know that having a work-life balance will keep you energized and keep burnout at bay. And that's good for business!

A therapist can help entrepreneurs craft their own version of work-life balance. In the process of therapy, the counselor helps the client finds the right formula for sustained success in business, and in life. 

Conclusion: Yes, Entrepreneurs Can Benefit from Therapy

Many entrepreneurs and high-performers have relied on mental health professionals. Olympian Michael Phelps is open about how therapy helped him, actor Brad Pitt brags about the benefits of therapy, and Marc Benioff of Salesforce credits personal development guru Tony Robbins for much of his success.

So, if you're an entrepreneur, hopefully this article has helped you think about therapy as a tool you can use to not only improve your business, but also improve your life.

If you're an entrepreneur looking to tap into the benefits of therapy, feel free to get in touch and see if I can help.

Do these five things to set yourself up for a successful counseling journey. Read my post on Medium.com