Building a business
is a marathon.
It’s not a sprint.
It takes years.
And it takes energy
from us, the business builders.
If you’ve been pushing yourself
to achieve a certain task
and you accomplish
that feat,
you are AWESOME.
Reward yourself
with a short break.
Take a day or two
to
sleep.
Socialize.
Laugh.
Relax.
Power yourself up
to achieve
that next key step.
Reward yourself
with short breaks.
When I graduated,
I warned my Mom and siblings
and friends
I planned to work
REALLY hard for about 20 years.
Then I planned
to semi-retire
(i.e. for business builders,
this usually means
building businesses
that might not pay back…ever).
Whenever they worried
I was burning myself out
(I did burn out…a bit),
I would remind them,
“I have X years left.”
And they would relax,
satisfied,
knowing I had an end date.
When I hit 20 years of working,
I had also hit my financial goals
and I stopped working
(that hard)
for a bit.
Right now, during the holiday rush,
you’re likely working
REALLY hard.
Your loved ones might be worried
about you.
They are likely missing your company.
Give them an end date.
Tell them on January 5th,
for example,
your work schedule will slow down.
Do that countdown with them.
Then SLOW DOWN on that date.
Deliver on your promise.
We can tolerate many challenges
in the short run.
Give your loved ones a date
when they can expect to spend time
with you again.
I am on a VERY tight deadline
and have been working
VERY long hours.
But every couple of hours,
I’ll take 5 or 10 minutes
and I’ll walk around the backyard
or I’ll watch a short video
or I’ll close my eyes for a bit
and dream
or do something fun
just for me.
Because we can’t work
full out
for long periods
of time.
We’ll burn out
and then we won’t be completing
ANY projects.
We NEED breaks.
We NEED fun.
We NEED a reminder
of why we’re working so hard.
Take a break.
You’ll work better
for it.