Take a Break. No Really.
In the startup world, we give a lot of lip service to mental health. And by that, I mean we talk about it – which is a massive improvement over what we used to do – but not much else. On social media, our industry still spends as much time, if not more, fetishizing about a culture of long hours and personal sacrifices.
This warped perspective — that if you’re not working long enough hours and not sacrificing enough personally you must “not want it” badly enough skews a lot of the narrative around what it means to be an entrepreneur. It’s wrong.
To be clear, I personally believe that long hours and some level of personal sacrifices are, in fact, necessary to be a successful founder, but it’s not something we should glorify. It’s not the goal.
A Story
In 2018, Rand Fiskin published Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World. It was a shockingly transparent look back at his experiences as the Founder and former CEO of Moz.
In his book, Rand recounts a session led by Brad Feld at Foundry’s first CEO summit:
Near the start of the session, Brad asked all the CEOs in the room to raise their hand if they had experienced severe anxiety, depression, or other emotional or mental disorders during their tenure as CEO. Every hand in the room went up, save two. At that moment, a sense of relief washed over me, so powerful I almost cried in my chair. I thought I was alone, a frail, former CEO who’d lost his job because he couldn’t handle the stress and pressure and caved in to depression. But those hands in the air made me realize I was far from alone— I was, in fact, part of an overwhelming majority, at least among this group. That mental transition from loneliness and shame to a peer among equals forever changed the way I thought about depression and the stigma around mental disorders.
I was one of the two hands in the room that didn’t go up.
And I was completely floored.
To this day, I can tell you everything about that room inside the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. What the tables and chairs looked like. How they were organized. Where I sat relative to the other CEOs, many of whom I looked up to and most of whom I’d only met hours before. My own nervousness at simply being in that room (the summit took place mere days after DataHero closed its first round of funding).
Most of all, I remember the heavy feeling of anxiety that hung over the room after Brad posed his question. I remember the eyes darting around, looking to see if anyone would raise their hand. I remember watching the first person slowly and bravely raise their hand. And then the second. And then another. And another.
I remember the overwhelming feeling of catharsis that swept over the room as literally dozens of CEOs exhaled their truth. I promise you that there wasn’t a single dry eye in that room, even if not everyone openly cried.
And I was completely floored.
For Rand (and I suspect many others in the room), that shared experience broke down a personal wall built from years of loneliness and shame. In my case, it allowed me to see for the first time something that I had been surrounded by yet oblivious to.
Truthfully, I had never thought much about mental health before that day. I had been lucky enough to not face the challenges wrought by depression and other mental illnesses. Until that day, I had no idea how lucky I truly was. But that day changed everything about how I see mental health and the importance I place on it as an investor.
Which brings us back to the title of this post: Take a Break. No Really.
It’s the holiday season. A time when most businesses naturally slow down. It’s a time where most people take a break to spend time with friends and family and to reflect on the year.
Unfortunately, many founders find it difficult to truly disconnect. They feel the pressure — both internal and external — to keep working. They forgo time with friends and family for an extra few hours of coding, some more time doing email, or a chance to work on an “important” project that’s been on the back-burner.
I’m here to tell you that it’s more important for you to take a break. Whether it’s for a few days or an entire week, allow yourself the opportunity to truly disconnect from your startup. Spend time with your friends and family. Watch a movie. Read a book. Resist the urge to open up your laptop and check your email. Unless you have end-of-year sales activity going on, I promise that your startup will be fine (and if you do, take a break in January).
That extra few hours of coding, replying to those additional emails, or getting a headstart on that “important” project (which can’t actually be all that important if it’s been on the back-burner all year) won’t change the trajectory of your startup. What will impact the trajectory of your company is for you to take a break.
Rest, relax and recharge for 2023.
You deserve it. Your company deserves it.
Happy holidays.
