"If you do not prioritize friends, family, loved ones, pets, plants, hobbies while working on a start-up, they will all decay and all you will be left with is a startup." - Ted Rheingold, VP Social of Say Media and founder of Dogster, Inc.
Startup founders are among the hardest working people on the planet – right? Most people – especially entrepreneurs have always celebrated the hard slog. Superstar entrepreneur Elon Musk is reported to have advised “Work like hell” and in a case of leading by example drove himself close to a nervous disorder after working 100 hour weeks regularly. If you belong to that particular tribe then there is some not-so-good news for you on the health front. Recent research has found that people putting in 11 hours
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Leverage your flexible schedule: Even though you will no longer be working regular work hours chances are there will be gaps over the course of your work day that you can exploit. Like Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, go to the gym in the middle of the day or meditate or read a book if you have a gap in your schedule. In fact many startups have found value in ditching the normal work hours altogether and adopting a flexible work schedule recognizing the ebb and flow of the startup life.
4. Hire good people and delegate: We have written in the past about how the role of the startup founder changes over time. One of the key founder-initiated changes follows the addition of fresh, capable new people on the team. After you hire such people make a conscious attempt to give them the space to do their own thing – your schedule no longer has room to address that is on your plate in addition to micro-managing someone else.
5. Make meaningful time for your family: This is absolutely key. There are stories of entrepreneurs who have taken the somewhat extreme step of scheduling time with their family and building it into their calendars – do whatever works for you but make that time. What is just as important though is being “present” through this time. This would mean no stolen glances at email or hurried phone calls to interrupt this time – in many ways the quality of the time spent matters more than the quantity of time spent