By Levi King

If you had asked me twenty years ago to name twenty hardcore business concerns, I’d have rattled off a formidable list of issues, like finances, negotiations, technical skills, corporate management, innovative strategies, etc.—business school stuff, as serious as it gets.

Talk of mental health wouldn’t have crossed my mind. It took some challenging experiences for me to realize that the latter most definitely is a hardcore business concern—that it’s right at the top of the list.

For one thing, your state of mind is a matter of exceeding concern to your employees. And surely your loyal customers would prefer you not to be climbing the walls of your office at night in search of the egress from which the voices are whispering.

At the end of the day, however, this is all about you. To put it bluntly, you are your business. Whether you’re leading a team of hundreds or flying solo, it’s your mind and body that make the big decisions and carry them out.

The dangers of ignoring your mental health as a business owner

As a brand-new business owner in my twenties, I was no stranger to stress, but life was good. My thirties passed by in relative tranquility. It wasn’t until my forties that I learned the hard way what can happen when your private emotions are placed on the altar of ambition.

My schooling began during a business trip. Taxiing into Manhattan with a couple of colleagues for a meeting, I felt like hell. The second we reached our building, I raced to the restroom, locked myself in, and threw up.

Worried I’d pass out, I climbed onto a table to rest. What on earth was happening? The line of people waiting to use the facilities had a similar question and began pounding on the door.

Desperate, I fled to a park across the street and collapsed on a bench. I was pale as a ghost. Every time I stood up, I felt like falling down. The thought was real: I must be dying.

The Sopranos came to my rescue. Unlikely as it may sound, I had recently—and tardily—binged the HBO classic. A scene where Tony flips his car, thanks to a panic attack, now commenced replaying in my head.

The truth came in a rush: I was like Tony. I was having a panic attack. For forty years, I had taken my mental health for granted, ignoring or failing to recognize that something as vital and precious as my physical stamina was struggling to keep up.

Strangely encouraged, I managed to stumble back to my colleagues just in time to discover that I had missed the meeting. In retrospect, it seems a small price to pay compared to the priceless lesson I’ve learned since: when it comes to prioritizing our emotional well-being, better late than never.

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The mental signals you can’t afford to dismiss

When our bodies don’t receive enough nourishment, the signals are obvious. Same goes for sleep and exercise. Signals from our minds, while subtler, are every bit as urgent. These signals include:

• Snapping at your kid, spouse, partner, or coworker
• Falling out of love with work
• Feeling like your thoughts, normally crisp and clear, are surrounded by fog
• Thinking consistently in gloomy, end-of-days style, as if disaster is crouched around the corner waiting to pounce
• Procrastinating, or even forgetting, important deadlines
• Ignoring or resenting signs that an employee or team member is distressed
• Losing your appetite and missing meals
• Gaining an appetite for junk food, even though historically you’ve gone out of your way to eat healthily
• Resisting hints from folks you trust that you seem distracted, nervous, irritable
• Becoming untidy when you’re neat by nature; your desk is a mess, you leave your dirty socks where you drop them
• Sleeping less and less due to nagging worries and racing thoughts
• Waking up with a persistent sense of despair
• Looking for easy answers to difficult questions at work and home because searching for the right ones is too exhausting

Each of these bullet points is a warning sign, but when they start piling up, it becomes a loud, shrill siren announcing a breakdown in the system. When the normally smooth-running machine that is you starts sputtering, how long can it be before your business follows?

You went into business in the first place because you saw a gap that needed filling; your success is proof you saw rightly. In these economically challenging times, the fact that someone out there is routinely opening their wallet to pay for something you built is both a lovely compliment to you and a sacred bond between you and the one handing you their dough.

Switching the siren off

Thankfully, the business world has woken up to the idea that mental health is not merely a personal issue. I was fortunate in that I had an understanding team who encouraged me to step back from my responsibilities for a time, but that wasn’t nearly enough. It wasn’t until I ran the gamut of classical remedies, including medication, meditation, and therapy, that I finally got back on track.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t be. A healthy mental regimen doesn’t require a retreat to a Buddhist monastery. Your mind, like your body, just wants some basic attention. After all, you don’t have to eat like Tom Brady to feel energized; you just have to eat. Eight hours of deep, flawless, REM sleep is ideal, but five or six hours of imperfect sleep will keep you going.

Similarly, everyday remedies can do wonders for your mental health; the main point is that you pursue them. Therefore, talk to your mentors. Seek feedback from family and trusted friends. Pursue spiritual solace through mindfulness, exploring the beauties of nature, and activities with your loved ones where your one goal is to communicate and have fun.

In that green Manhattan park, I was plagued with a question: why now? In retrospect, I may as well have asked, “Why does steam billow from the hood of a car whose owner has neglected to refill the coolant?” Each of us has been blessed with a body, a mind, and a life in which to use them well. Join me in confirming 2025 as the year of the tune-up.

About the Author

Levi King is CEO, co-founder, and chairman of Nav.com. A lifelong entrepreneur and small business advocate, Levi has dedicated over ten years of his professional career to increasing business credit transparency for small businesses. After starting and selling several successful companies, he founded Nav both to help small business owners build their credit health and to provide them with powerful tools to make their financing dreams a reality.