I want to continue to talk about the four things Robert M. Sapolsky says will reduce stress, from his book Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers.

First, let’s remind ourselves what those 4 were:
1)Outlet for frustration
2)Social support
3)Predictability
4)Control

Today’s topic is predictability. If you create more predictability in your life, you will reduce your stress. It is that simple.

As an entrepreneur, you have to be able to deal with unpredictability. You never know what your income is going to be, and there is no guarantee of anything. This is a huge stress, but it is just part of doing business.

Dealing with this stress will help you become stronger and more successful in the long run.

When I first started out, this unpredictability overwhelmed me, so I started charting my monthly earnings. This allowed me to find trends and identify a baseline for what was going to happen at a given point throughout the year. I began to trust this, and I slowly became more comfortable with not knowing exactly what would happen.

Things were still unpredictable, but not as much. As you move forward in your business, or just life in general, remember that whatever you can do to add more predictability will reduce the amount of stress you feel.