A few years ago I was sitting in a Big Red Group board meeting when the phone in front of me lit up with a message no operator wants to see. A platform issue had cascaded across bookings during peak trading, customers were affected, our operations team was already on it, and every minute we sat in that room the noise outside was getting louder. There was nothing I could do in that moment beyond breathe, listen, and make good decisions in sequence. The situation was genuinely not mine to control.
What I could control was how I showed up for it. My sleep the night before. Whether I had eaten. Whether I had water in front of me. Whether I had spent thirty minutes that morning thinking rather than scrolling. None of those things fixed the platform. All of them decided how clearly I could think while it was being fixed.
That is the honest starting point for anything I have to say about stress management techniques. I have not solved stress. I have built a set of daily non-negotiables that keep me steady enough to lead well when the day gets loud.
What you can actually control (and what you can't)
Stress, for founders and leaders, is rarely about one thing. It is the accumulation of uncontrollable inputs — a market shift, a team member resigning, a media call, a supplier failing, an inbox that filled up before you opened your eyes. Trying to eliminate that noise is a losing strategy. There will always be more of it.
What works instead is building a base layer that holds regardless of what the day throws at you. My non-negotiables cover mind, time, sleep, hydration, health, people, family, and forward-looking connection. Each of them is small on its own. Together they are the difference between reacting to the day and leading through it.
I want to be honest about the evidence too. Some of what follows is well supported by research. Some of it is drawn from my own practice over 25 years of running businesses. I will flag which is which as I go.
Manage your mind before the day manages you
The first hour of my day is not for other people. I do not open email before I have had time to think. I read, I write in my journal, I move a little, and I let my own thoughts arrive before the world's thoughts crowd them out.
When something difficult lands later in the day, I try to pause before I react. Not a long pause. Sometimes it is one breath. Enough to notice whether I am about to respond from clarity or from adrenaline. Curiosity is the antidote to catastrophising. Asking 'what is this actually telling me?' beats spiralling into 'why is this happening to me?' every time.
This is intentional leadership in practice. Your state of mind is a choice you can rehearse. The rehearsal is the daily practice.
Manage your time around what actually matters
Most founder anxiety I encounter — my own included — lives in the gap between what is urgent and what is important. When those two lists diverge too far, the nervous system responds accordingly.
I plan weekly, not just daily. On a Sunday evening I look at the week ahead and decide where my attention needs to go before the week starts making that decision for me. I block time for thinking, for family, for exercise, and for the two or three pieces of work that will move things forward. Everything else fits around those anchors.
Reducing the number of decisions I have to make under pressure is itself a stress management technique. If I have already decided when I will exercise this week, I am not negotiating with myself on Tuesday morning when a meeting runs over.
Sleep with rhythm, not just duration
For a long time I focused on how many hours of sleep I was getting. The research has shifted my thinking. A large prospective cohort study of more than 60,000 UK Biobank participants, published in Sleep in 2024, found that day-to-day consistency of sleep-wake timing predicted mortality risk more strongly than sleep duration alone. The research suggests that when you go to bed and wake up may matter as much as — or more than — how many hours you clock (Windred DP, Burns AC, Lane JM, et al. "Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality risk than sleep duration: A prospective cohort study." Sleep, 2024. Read the study).
This is an associational finding, not a causal one, so I hold it lightly. But the practical instruction is easy to try. Same bedtime, same wake time, every night — including weekends. My own rhythm sits around 10.30pm and 6am. When I honour it, everything else in this article works better. When I don't, nothing does.
Hydrate before you caffeinate
Hydration is a smaller lever, but it is a lever. Research by Ganio et al. published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2011 found that mild dehydration can affect mood and cognitive performance in otherwise healthy adults (Ganio MS, Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, et al. "Mild dehydration impairs cognitive performance and mood of men." British Journal of Nutrition, 2011. Read the study). It is worth saying that this is a contested area of literature — later meta-analyses have found more mixed results on the cognitive side specifically.
So I hold this one modestly. What I do is drink water before coffee, eat something before I caffeinate, and get most of my fluids in before mid-afternoon. Low risk, low cost, and on the days I skip it I can feel the difference by 11am.
Prioritise health as the foundation, not the reward
Movement, food, and sleep sit underneath everything else. They are not the luxury I earn after work is done. They are the base layer that makes the work possible.
My approach to nutrition is variety and rhythm rather than rigid rules. I eat real food, I eat regularly, and I pay attention to how different meals affect my energy through the day. Movement is non-negotiable — a walk, a swim, or something that gets me out of my head and into my body. On the days I skip it, my patience is shorter and my thinking is narrower. It shows up in how I lead.
The people around you are a stress management technique
The people in your immediate circle either replenish your resilience or drain it. This applies to your team, your peers, and your personal network. Not toxic positivity — I have no time for people who pretend everything is fine. I mean genuine energy, curiosity, and the willingness to grow.
I curate the people I spend time with. I read widely, I listen to people who think differently to me, and I stay close to the friends who tell me the truth. Continual learning and continual connection are how I keep curiosity alive, and curiosity is one of the best defences against anxiety I have found. It is also part of how I think about building a great team culture.
Family time is a boundary, not a bonus
Family time is the boundary that does not move. It is not something I earn after finishing work — it is a structural commitment that protects the whole system. Dinner, weekends, birthdays, milestones. If I let those slide when business pressure peaks, I am telling my family and my team that pressure is what I actually value.
The discipline of honouring this boundary when the temptation to break it is highest is where intentional leadership shows up most clearly. What you protect under pressure is what you demonstrably value.
Look forward, not just inward
I am not much of a gratitude-journal person. What works better for me is anticipation and shared experience. Something to look forward to — a trip, a dinner with people I love, a project I am building, a conversation I am planning.
Forward-looking positive anticipation, combined with genuine connection, is a more sustainable energy source than a solitary daily ritual. It is one of the reasons I still love what customer obsession looks like from the inside — building things for other people gives you something to lean into rather than only something to grind through.
A quick-reference summary of the non-negotiables
Non-negotiable: Manage your mind
- What it looks like in practice: Morning window before email; pause before reacting
- Why it matters: Keeps you intentional rather than reactive
Non-negotiable: Manage your time
- What it looks like in practice: Weekly planning, not just daily to-do lists
- Why it matters: Reduces decision fatigue and last-minute anxiety
Non-negotiable: Sleep with rhythm
- What it looks like in practice: Same bedtime and wake time every night
- Why it matters: Research suggests consistency may matter as much as duration (Windred et al., 2024)
Non-negotiable: Hydrate before you caffeinate
- What it looks like in practice: Water first; no coffee until after eating; fluids mostly in before 3pm
- Why it matters: Mild dehydration can affect mood and focus (Ganio et al., 2011)
Non-negotiable: Prioritise health
- What it looks like in practice: Movement, varied nutrition, and sleep as the base layer
- Why it matters: Physical resilience underpins mental and emotional performance
Non-negotiable: Surround yourself with positive people
- What it looks like in practice: Curate your team, peers, and personal network
- Why it matters: Energy exchange either replenishes or drains your resilience
Non-negotiable: Keep learning and growing
- What it looks like in practice: Read, listen, stay curious
- Why it matters: Curiosity displaces anxiety; growth is its own motivation
Non-negotiable: Family time is sacred
- What it looks like in practice: A boundary that doesn't move, even when work pressure peaks
- Why it matters: Honouring it under pressure is evidence of what you actually value
Non-negotiable: Look forward, not just inward
- What it looks like in practice: Plan experiences and shared moments to anticipate
- Why it matters: Positive anticipation and connection sustain energy better than solitary rituals
Back in that board meeting, none of this made the platform issue go away. The team fixed it. But my ability to sit in the room, listen well, ask the right questions, and support the people doing the work — that came from the base layer I had built long before the phone lit up. These are the same non-negotiables I talk about in my 'Live What You Love' keynote, and the same principles that thread through my books on building a business you love.
You can't control the market, the economy, or the inbox. You can control how you show up for it. If it is to be, it is up to me.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most effective stress management techniques for business owners?
The most effective techniques combine mental, physical, and relational habits: consistent sleep timing, planned hydration, regular movement, forward-looking thinking, and protecting non-negotiable personal time. The key is consistency — doing these things every day, not just when the pressure peaks.
Does sleep consistency matter more than sleep duration for managing stress?
Research published in Sleep (Windred et al., 2024) studied over 60,000 participants and found that the consistency of sleep-wake timing predicted mortality risk more strongly than sleep duration alone. The research suggests that keeping a regular sleep rhythm — same bedtime, same wake time — may be at least as important as how many hours you get.
Can hydration affect my mood and focus at work?
Research by Ganio et al. (2011) suggests that mild dehydration can affect mood and cognitive performance in otherwise healthy adults, though it is worth noting that this is a contested area, and later meta-analyses have found more mixed results. The practical habit of drinking water before coffee and getting most of your fluids in before mid-afternoon is low-risk and worth trying.
How do I protect personal and family time when my business demands are high?
Treat family time as a structural commitment, not a reward you earn after work is done. The discipline of protecting this boundary — especially when pressure peaks — is a form of intentional leadership. What you consistently protect under pressure is what you demonstrably value.
Is a daily gratitude practice necessary for stress management?
Not necessarily. For many people, forward-looking anticipation and shared experiences with people they care about are more energising than a solitary daily ritual. Planning things to look forward to, and then genuinely experiencing them with others, can be a more sustainable engine for positive mindset than a gratitude journal that starts to feel like a chore.
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