But what if I told you there’s a sassier, smarter way to navigate the chaos? Welcome to The Reframe Game – a mindset tool that every entrepreneur COULD have in their arsenal, especially during Stress Awareness Month.

Gamification, in my world, is about turning the hard stuff into something sweeter. Like Mary Poppins pulling tricks from her bag, I pull reframes out of my mindset toolkit daily – because I know I’m worth it. And you are too!

Reframing is the art of changing the way you look at a situation. It’s not toxic positivity or ignoring the tough stuff – it’s owning it, flipping it, and finding the lesson or even the laugh in it. It’s mindset mastery at its finest.

From curveballs to confidence

As an entrepreneur, you already have resilience and resourcefulness baked into your DNA. You’ve weathered rejection, pivoted through failures, and bet on your vision when no one else could see it. That’s your reframe. That’s your evidence that you’ve done hard things and survived them.

Every founder has their “R” story – this is the moment you realised your strength, your purpose, your grit. Mine helped me see myself not as someone life had knocked down, but as someone who kept getting up. That’s the power of the reframe. It doesn’t erase the storm; it helps you find the rainbow, and maybe even a pot of gold!

The beauty of imperfection

One of the biggest game-changing reframes I’ve ever used? Ditching the perfection myth. Startups are messy. Founders are flawed. And that’s okay. Owning your metaphorical crown – even when it’s sitting on the top of your head wonky – is the ultimate act of self-acceptance.

Try it this week. Embrace a bit of imperfection: wear odd socks to your pitch meeting, leave an email unanswered until the morning, let your desk look like a creative explosion. Give yourself permission to not have it all together all the time. Spoiler alert: no one does.

This kind of vulnerability doesn’t weaken your brand – it makes it human. And in a world of AI-generated content and polished LinkedIn posts, being real is your secret weapon.

Stress, meet strategy

Stress in startups is inevitable – but it doesn’t have to own you. That’s where reframing becomes your secret strategy. Instead of reacting with frustration, try asking: “What’s the opportunity here?” That client ghosting you? Space for a dream client. Missed funding round? A chance to refine your pitch. Late again? Maybe the universe just protected you from a bigger mess.

Reframing isn’t about denial, it’s about direction. It gives you clarity when chaos hits and helps you respond instead of react. And guess what? It’s also a major time-saver. Instead of spiralling into wallow, self-doubt or blame, you shift quickly into solution mode. That’s gold in the fast-moving world of business.

Your new startup superpower

The best part? Reframing is free, fast and fiercely effective. You can do it anywhere – on a walk, in the shower, during your third coffee of the day. And with practice, it becomes automatic. You’ll find yourself bouncing back quicker, leading with more confidence, and feeling less drained by the drama.

Entrepreneurship will always come with stress, but with reframing, it doesn’t have to come with suffering. In fact, it can come with sass, strategy, and even a little sparkle. And in a world that often takes itself too seriously, that’s a competitive edge worth having.

So, SASter (in my world, that means Strong, Ambitious, Sassy Entrepreneur), let’s play the Reframe Game. Let’s turn stress into strength, perfectionism into power, and challenges into cheeky comebacks. Because life’s too short to let the crap hit the fan without at least trying to turn it into compost.

And remember: rainbows wouldn’t exist without the rain!

For more startup news, check out the other articles on the website, and subscribe to the magazine for free. Listen to The Cereal Entrepreneur podcast for more interviews with entrepreneurs and big-hitters in the startup ecosystem.