Most entrepreneurs take very little time out for themselves, particularly during the startup phase. And stress levels appear ever on the rise. A new study by Grant Thornton, a Toronto-based consulting and accounting firm, says that 40% of business owners worldwide consider themselves more stressed than a year ago.

James Yeagle, co-founder of Anteo Group, an Atlanta-based ROI consulting and tech-staffing firm, has found a way to include short "sabbaticals" in each work week. Shortly after starting Anteo in 2002, he purposely cut stress factors -- including trading his chore-filled 4,000-square-foot home for a hassle-free bungalow -- out of his life. Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein recently spoke with the 39-year-old Yeagle about how he finds time to unwind every day -- and why other entrepreneurs could benefit from a little R&R themselves. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.

Q: How have you found ways to cope with the stress of running your own company?
A: I think you have to find something that gets your mind and your focus off your company every day. If you don't, you can be consumed with it constantly -- especially during that 18 months or two years of startup. For me, that "something" is running. About six months after I co-founded Anteo Group, I really hit a wall in terms of pressure. I took a week off over Christmas break to visit my wife's family in Florida and I ran on the beach every day. That really helped and I decided I needed to do it regularly -- six miles a day, five days a week -- as a kind of mini-sabbatical for my physical health and my mental health.

Q: Was this your first startup?
A: Technically, yes. But the company I worked for prior to Anteo had offices all over the world and my job was to start international branches from scratch. So, in 1995, I started setting up offices in Europe and I got a real good taste of how difficult something like that is. You can't fool yourself into thinking you can handle everything while you're starting a company. Something in your life has to go, at least for a short time.

Q: When you started Anteo, a few things did go -- including your house! How did your family feel about that?
A: My wife and I sat down -- our daughter was 2 at the time -- and made a list of all the engagements in our lives. We have extended family around the country that we spent a lot of time visiting, for one. Because of our time in Europe, we have friends all over England and the Continent and we used to visit them quite frequently. Personally, I hoped to get an MBA and upgrade my pilot's license. We also owned a four-bedroom home with a swimming pool and three-car garage that ate up a lot of time in terms of maintenance.

Clearly, something had to give. My core priorities were my wife and daughter, starting my company successfully, and making room for the pursuits that would satisfy my need for time off. The house was nice but it wasn't the be-all and end-all for us. We were less concerned with the size of the house than with the people in it, and the stories we would one day tell our daughter and our friends about our experiences. So, partly to raise money for the company and partly to reduce time spent on chores, we sold the house and rented a 1,400-square-foot bungalow for two years. We only recently moved back into a house of our own.

Q: What about the MBA and all the friends who expected you to visit?
A: I called up family and friends and basically told them I'd be out of pocket for 18 months or so and I explained why. I also met with a couple of university deans to discuss their MBA programs and realized they were way too demanding for this time in my life. So, I put that dream and my pilot's license upgrade on hold. I'll go back to them eventually, I hope. And I think once the company gets bigger, the management and financial skills I learn in the MBA program will be even more applicable to that phase of company ownership. The first few years of a startup are really just digging ditches and keeping customers happy anyway.

Q: Other than running, what do you do to escape the rigors of startup life?
A: I'm a Type A personality, so I can't sit and watch TV to relax. To many people, getting away from things means lying on a beach. But that's not me. I'm energized by being mentally and physically engaged 110%. So, flying is my most effective means of getting away. As I pilot, I must focus on the task or I become a statistic. I can't drift off and start thinking about the company. Flying also gives me personal satisfaction and an alternate measure of accomplishment that's not all about entrepreneurship. I take time to fly once a month, sometimes bringing my wife and daughter along for an afternoon of hiking wherever we go.

Q: Is it difficult to keep your life more streamlined?
A: Not really. What's crucial is that once you've shaved down your schedule, you have to be disciplined about not letting other things creep in to take up your time. For instance, my wife and I attend church regularly, but we're not members and we haven't taken on leadership roles there because we know this isn't the right time.

Q: What about your daughter? A lot of entrepreneurs complain that they don't get to spend much time with their families.
A: Actually, starting the company was a way for me to spend more time with her and my wife than I had been able to before! Because of my position with my previous firm, I was on the road for a good part of every week. I knew with a startup that I wouldn't have to travel that much, so I could be home more. And my wife and I felt with her being so young -- she's 5 now -- it's a good time for this because she's too young to realize the risk we're taking.

Q: What tips would you offer entrepreneurs who want to build in time for regular mini-sabbaticals like you have?
A: Plan activities that are totally unrelated to your company. Make sure the activities won't increase your work load. Do things that are fun, that involve your family when possible, and are physically removed from work. For a lot of people, if they don't actually get away from the workplace, they can't get away from work.