As a business owner, have you noticed that your personal identity, self-worth, and sense of accomplishment have gradually become completely intertwined with your company's success? This unhealthy phenomenon can have highly detrimental effects.

When you tie your identity to your business, it breeds extreme stress when things go wrong. It can make you stubbornly resistant to changing processes, strategies, or admitting mistakes for fear it will reflect poorly on you personally. You may engage in unhealthy coping behaviors like substance abuse when the business hits obstacles. In severe cases, you may struggle to separate fact from fiction around your business's true performance.

The key is to consciously realign your personal identity as distinct from your professional role. Your self-worth should be defined by your values, how you treat others, and measuring yourself against your own goals - not just by whether you hit a particular revenue target. Develop hobbies, community involvement, and other areas of life that provide enrichment and perspective.

Once you separate your sense of self from the day-to-day fluctuations of your business, you'll gain objectivity, better work-life balance, and ultimately improve both areas.