Entrepreneurship was tough before COVID-19. Now It's testing Entrepreneurs' mental limits. “It’s lonely at the highest.” before COVID-19, half CEOs reported feelings of loneliness and isolation. Now, with offices closed, in-person interactions minimized, and formerly meaningful relationships relegated to Zoom calls, each individual, particularly those in leadership positions, feel as if they face this pandemic somewhat alone.

My firm has been conducting research into how business leaders are dealing with the mental stresses of this pandemic. the first data suggests that the loss of our “social groups” personally and professionally, has compounded with stress, uncertainty, and disconnection. Isolation is taking a substantial toll on the mental wellbeing of America’s tech founders. Since the onset of this pandemic, an excellent deal of focus has been placed on how leaders can support their employees.

Some recent articles even suggest that in today’s age, every company may be a healthcare company — since they’re now within the business of protecting the mental and physical health of their employees and customers. While may be considered as true, what about the founders and leaders themselves? It seems that tiny attention has been paid to how those in leadership positions are literally coping with the situation.

While my firm’s focus is usually on helping tech leaders thrive, the importance of “self-care” and mental wellbeing applies equally to our senators, mayors and public-sector leaders. As we accept that this pandemic will continue for the foreseeable future, it’s important for those in positions of power — whose decisions impact the lives and careers of countless others — to carve out time for self-care if they're to sustain their ability to be of service.

Here are few ways leaders can stay mentally fit during these uncertain times: Renew your purpose… being a hopeful prospect of all the losses we are experiencing is the opportunity to ascertain what remains. As we divest of distractions, commute time, trips, and social gatherings, we are left with longer loneliness. While a degree of loneliness is inevitable, there is a chance to dig deeper and unearth new meanings.

Change of this magnitude are often the precursor for private transformation, if one is willing to travel into unknown territory — equipped with persistent curiosity and a tolerance for suffering.

Staying vigilant on this journey requires allowing discomfort long enough to look at what we truly want in life and the way we are becoming in our own way. If you select to maximize your solitude and clarify your purpose, you'll at some point reminisce on COVID-19 as a period of immense, positive personal transformation.

Finding a support group, will allow you to be less mentally vulnerable to the world’s rapid change or how fast technology progresses. The need for community and social connection is one enduring characteristic of our specie. As our traditional social groups are disrupted, many leaders become isolated from their peers. They maintain necessary communication with their superiors and other stakeholders, but relationships that bring objectivity, perspective, and genuine support are upended.

It is time to be deliberate about cultivating meaningful relationships with a community of people with same perspectives. I might suggest an “official” support group for your team.

For women, a corporation called Chief has pioneered a national women’s network. In Los Angeles, USA, a men’s group called "METal” gathers every Saturday (albeit through Zoom as of late). There are countless other groups like these — I even host one myself — during which people can meet regularly, offer structured support for each other, and gain perspective from others. Anybody during a leadership position can enjoy such groups, and within the absence of other strong, consistent, supportive relationships, they will function as a critical building block of one’s mental wellbeing.

Even Google Inc., famously encouraged employees to line aside Twenty percent of their time for innovation of their choice, you'll want to devote a slice of some time to exploring a subsequent version of your life.

Reflect on important questions, find wise counsel, write, and form new support groups with people that have similar commitments or values.

Your Work-From-Home Self-Care Guide Appreciate the people you're “stuck” with It goes without saying that we are now spending longer with our families — partners, parents, and youngsters — than we ever have before.

Apathy on the Homefront can quickly spiral into conflict. One cannot have a thriving business life if their home life may be a wreck, and keeping the enjoyment alive in your closest relationships is critical to avoiding this spiral. Have conversations that matter, including the difficult ones that build resentment once they go underground. While focusing on your personal life as you are trying to create a thriving career seems counterintuitive, it is actually deeply important. The more focus you place on making your closest relationships thrive, the happier you'll be and therefore the more capable you'll be of leading others.

Develop rituals around your personal wellbeing since our longstanding former routines got disrupted — like awakening, meditating, getting to an office, leaving at a particular hour, and hitting the gym.

Consistency is the sure way to build new habits, and with the help of a digital calendar, it’s quite easy to schedule time for things that you normally wouldn’t use it for. Treat your daily “walk” as a critical meeting in your digital calendar and honor that commitment to yourself.

There are countless philosophies around stress reduction and therefore the cultivation of a meaningful life. Frankly, many entrepreneurs don’t make time for most of them. Their work is their religion and their companies are their creative vessels.

If you take the above recommendations to heart and translate all the remedies into action, your experience of this pandemic is often transformed from one among stress and uncertainty into a more meaningful time of creativity, opportunities, joy, and personal growth.