The High Cost of Hustle: How Entrepreneurs Are Actually Managing Their Stress
From forest hikes to sauna meditation, founders are retooling how they cope with the pressure.
New York, August 6: Michelle Volberg didn’t know she was burning out. Like most founders, she was too deep in the weeds pitching investors, babysitting backend issues, and solving team drama in the same 12-hour stretch. Then her hands started shaking during a board call. The next day, she canceled meetings and went hiking alone in Marin County. That hike turned into a weekly ritual. She calls it “forest therapy.” Says it keeps her company alive.
Turns out, nature walks aren’t a gimmick. They’re a line of defense. Founders are learning this the hard way: stress isn’t a badge of honor. It’s a business risk. And the ones still standing? They’ve built toolkits to keep their heads straight when the pressure peaks.
Stress Is the Job, Not the Enemy
Running a company means living in a pressure cooker. The mental load is constant. You’re the bottleneck, the bank, and the brand. According to Investopedia, entrepreneurs face some of the highest stress levels across industries. Financial instability, nonstop decision-making, long hours, and deep personal stakes they all pile up.
Self-employed individuals also report more emotional fatigue than salaried counterparts, says a 2024 Frontiers study by Kiefl et al. And most aren’t coping well. That’s not just bad for founders. It’s bad for the companies they’re supposed to lead.
Movement Clears More Than the Mind
When in doubt, move. Physical activity doesn’t just clear brain fog. It keeps founders from boiling over. Kyle Hanslovan, who built Huntress into a rising cybersecurity player, swears by hard workouts up to five a week. He also scrolls through curated inspiration first thing each morning. That combo, he says, keeps him sharp and out of the doom loop.
Science backs it. According to Wikipedia’s Psychological Stress entry, even a 10-minute walk releases endorphins and resets tension. Founders are taking note. Walking meetings, post-lunch gym sprints, or dance breaks in between Zooms are more common than ever, says Forbes.
Mindfulness That Doesn’t Feel Like Fluff
Forget the wellness buzzwords. Founders who meditate aren’t trying to be trendy. They’re trying to stay sane.
Megan Gluth-Bohan, CEO of Catalynt, uses weekly yoga and meditation to stay grounded. “If I skip it, I feel it by Thursday,” she told Business Insider. Her practice isn’t optional. It’s tactical.
There’s method to the stillness. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), an eight-week combo of meditation, yoga, and body scans, has been shown to reduce anxiety and improve executive function. Research by Bressler et al. also links mindfulness to sharper opportunity recognition a priceless edge when the stakes are high.
Other founders lean into quieter tools like progressive muscle relaxation or guided imagery. These aren’t soft skills. They’re survival strategies.
Emotional Armor Isn’t Built Overnight
Founders don’t crack from one bad day. They unravel from a thousand small hits. Emotional stamina matters as much as funding rounds. That’s why many now journal daily, check in with themselves, and rehearse how to say “no” without guilt.
Studies by Drnovšek et al. show that entrepreneurs use both active coping and strategic avoidance to stay afloat. That means dealing with what matters, ignoring what doesn’t, and learning to delegate fast.
Boundary-setting, time management, and emotional regulation aren’t luxuries they’re required. As Investopedia notes, founders who master these skills dramatically lower their risk of burnout.
Systems Beat Willpower Every Time
The most disciplined founders don’t rely on discipline. They build systems that protect their bandwidth. They fix their wake-up times. They unplug by 8 p.m. They calendar breaks like they calendar board meetings.
Sleep, food, hydration all foundational. The University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship lists nutrition, consistent rest, and time off as core drivers of performance, not perks. Founders who skip these don’t last.
Even micro-breaks matter. Time’s feature on work-life balance points to how structure down to turning off notifications keeps founders from frying their nervous systems.
No One Survives Solo
Let’s be blunt: loneliness kills more startups than competition. Founders who don’t talk, crash. Those who build trusted circles co-founders, mentors, therapy groups build resilience.
According to the EO Network, more entrepreneurs are turning to unconventional but effective tools. EMDR therapy. Smart goggles. Sauna meditation. Sounds odd. Works well.
Peer networks and support groups aren’t just about advice. They’re about being seen. Founders need that. Especially the ones pretending they don’t.
Real Resilience Is Proactive
Data from Kiefl et al. proves it: entrepreneurs who plan for stress, rather than react to it, report less exhaustion and better mental stamina. Meanwhile, the 2022 paper by Ahmed AE et al. points out that resilience isn’t innate it’s built. Through habits. Through trial. Through getting your ass kicked, adjusting, and getting back in the chair.
Volberg doesn’t preach forest therapy because it sounds nice. She does it because it’s saved her startup more than once. Same with Hanslovan’s workouts. Same with Gluth-Bohan’s yoga.
None of these people are zen monks. They’re operators under fire. They’ve just figured out how to survive it.
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Pakistani wellness coach focusing on burnout recovery and high-performance routines for founders.
