Khaled El-Masry is a young businessman and the co-founder of 199X Digital. Over the years of running his business, Khaled has had to deal with his own share of stress and anxiety.
In this article, he shares some of the tips and habits that have helped him succeed in business and life while managing stress and anxiety.
Understanding Stress:
Many people do not realize what stress is and how it can affect the body. Any type of situation can elicit a stress response and be deemed stressful. Stress is a type of emotion that signals to our brain that something is wrong and we need to adjust our environment.
Our response to this signal can be to accommodate it, which gives rise to the deeper state of mind known as anxiety. However, it is more advisable to be intentional in a stressful situation and choose instead to confront it head-on.
Khaled El-Masry is a 23-year-old entrepreneur and digital marketing guru, who hustled in Dubai to launch one of the youngest digital marketing agencies in the GCC and now in Egypt. Now operating in 2 different countries, he’s working closely on elevating the digital and social presence for businesses from all around the GCC.
The best method that Khaled adopts to overcome stress is by working out and exercising. In the midst of running his multiple businesses, Khaled prioritizes his fitness as he sees it as an outlet for releasing stress. Exercising comes naturally to Khaled as it allows him to draw upon his past years as a professional swimmer in both Egypt and Dubai.
“I have been an athlete for most of my life and I have been trained to follow a healthy lifestyle. Now, it really pays off as it helps me avoid stress while running my businesses.”
Falling back into something that is familiar and comes naturally to you can be a very effective way to remove stress from your daily life.
Staying Productive:
Khaled El-Masry runs multiple businesses ranging from media to fashion and it can be tasking to keep up with his workday. Shuttling between different tasks can lead to multiple distractions and general stress and burn-out. Khaled’s remedy for this is to plan his day ahead and prepare for all his tasks in advance.
“Being an athlete for almost all my life taught me how to be disciplined, dedicated, and become a self-motivated person,” Khaled shares. “Time management is very important to me. I always strive to work hard with no expectations and without waiting for anything in return.
For Khaled, succeeding means realizing when to act and when to be patient.
His mantra is “Work hard, pre-plan, be patient.”
Stay Healthy:
Stress and burn-out can be classified as health problems. It is logical that one of the best ways to combat them should be through healthy living and maintaining an active lifestyle.
“I try to stick to a very healthy lifestyle because I have realized that this is what keeps me in the right mindset and finding this healthy balance,” Khaled states. “I follow and try to maintain a consistent lifestyle that has a balance between work, social life, health. “
Learning to Get Up When You Fall:
Khaled shares this very useful tip for anyone trying to overcome burnout and other stress-oriented disorders.
“It is not about being perfect. Some people might tell you that you have to be perfect but they are wrong. What is more important than perfection is how you bounce back when you fall. That is what makes you strong. Take life one day at a time and learn to see every action as an important choice that you make. Above all, don’t let anybody tell you that you must have everything all figured out. You have so much time. Do things at your own pace. ”