Today I had a call with a black male founder to him with his pitch deck. He's prepping for a competition and he said he was stressed. The first question he asked me was how do I deal with stress as a founder.

I feel like this question isn't asked enough but here's what I said.

1. Meditate
If I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed I try to take a step back a breathe.

2. Take a walk
If you can get up and walk around wherever you're at. I prefer to be outside somewhere on a trail in nature.

3. Find something to take your mind off what you're doing.
I go to my Spotify playlist, break out my Viola, and play along with different songs on shuffle.
Sometimes I work on different art projects I'm working on.

4a. Talk to another founder
Founders know what other founders are going through so they tend to be easier to talk to about stress that might be going on in your startup journey.

4b. Talk with a friend, family, or significant other.
Really just talk to anyone you fee comfortable with

5. Find a therapist
If you are African American you should really have a therapist. Not just because the time we are currently in but to also help with trama that you might have gone through in the past.

As an black founder there are many times I can get overwhelmed and stressed because of a number of things. I'm still learning, growing, finding new and more effective ways to deal with the workload and stress.

To the founders out there, what are some ways that you handle stress?