This post is brought to you and contributed by an outside writer.

Being a business owner is not easy.

Being a female business owner is even harder. Society has unfair, unrealistic expectations of women. Women are consistently pushed harder, exposed to fewer opportunities, and paid far less than their male counterparts. This, in part, is why many women become entrepreneurs; they’ve been discriminated out of the traditional W-2 workforce.

Women are expected to do it all and to do it all well. Grant yourself some grace if you don’t always measure up to this unrealistic goal.

Instead, focus on cultivating these soft-skill habits that will help you cope with the unique challenges of being a female business owner.

Confidence

Confidence is one of the single most important personality traits to develop as a female business owner. You may not be able to control every situation, but by trusting yourself and projecting that confidence, more people will believe in you and want to follow you, too.

When you trust yourself, you’ll also be able to judge whether you’re being overly passive in a situation, as we’re often encouraged to act as women. In situations where you’ve been wronged, confidence can help you be more assertive about seeking representation should you ever find yourself needing legal help.

Be Kind to Yourself

If you stand a chance at being successful, you need to get out of your head. Be kind to yourself in the face of failure and humble in the face of victory. The entrepreneurial life can be difficult, so you have to choose to view every ‘failure’ as an opportunity to learn rather than an event you’ll never recover from.

Exercise

Angry that the gender pay gap is not likely to resolve within our working lifetimes?

We are, too.

Working for less is stressful, but it’s a reality we’re all being forced to live in at varying degrees. One of the best ways to beat stress is through exercise, as exercise releases happy hormones and can help maintain your overall health.

The stress is warranted, but it’s going to be there for most if not all of your working career. Dealing with it healthily makes everything a little easier to bear.

Set Priorities and Allow Them to Change

One of the hardest aspects to master when you are a female business owner is the ever-illusive, nearly-impossible-to-truly-obtain-in-real-life balance.

In reality, you’re probably going to need to perpetually assess and readjust your priorities. Work might take center stage one week, while child rearing is front and center the next.

Keep your communication lines open with your employees always and don’t be afraid to delegate.

Goals, goals, goals.

All business owners need their own set of goals. These can be personal or business goals — or even both!

Make sure your goals are smaller and more manageable in the beginning, just until you’ve gained momentum, after that, you can move on to setting (and smashing) any goal you like.

Plan and prepare for how you intend on achieving your goals, that way you will soon find out just how reasonable, and attainable, your goals are.