The perfect cure for someone who works too much.

May 31

May 31 The perfect cure for someone who works too much.

Entrepreneur and work-o-holic are synonymous with one another. There's a popular saying that entrepreneurs are willing to work 100 hour weeks so they will never have to work a 40 hour week in their lives. Grit and perseverance are the two traits anyone with a lofty goal needs in order to turn idea into action, dream to reality. There comes a time, however, when the law of diminishing returns takes effect. The unwillingness to stop pressing forward becomes counterproductive. Focus starts fading in the rearview mirror like a billboard that slowly becomes less and less distinct. When faced with an obstacle the usual remedy is work harder. But what's the cure when working harder is the prognosis?

At some point, everyone reaches the crossroad of stress and fatigue. I think when faced with this dilemma, most people try to patch the hole with a short-term solution like a stimulant. Red bulls, 5-hour energy shots, coffee, etc. For a self-starter, getting motivated or having the energy to persevere is the easy part; getting back to a sense of restoration is not. Finding that restoring feeling comes from simple things, like fresh air.

Fresh air.

Fresh air is something that is abundant everywhere, yet is something we seriously take for granted. When we are fatigued from looking at a computer screen or research it is important to remember we are not prisoners of our work; we have the freedom to step outside, even if it's for a couple minutes, to enjoy nature's beauty. A walk, bike ride, even sitting on a patio can accomplish this. The main thing is to separate from work and enjoy the breath of life, even if it's only for a brief moment.

Sure, it's easy to dismiss when someone says to get some fresh air, but let's actually think about what productivity is. The false perception is that productivity is how many hours we are working in a day. Work more, be more productive. Wrong. Productivity is about how much we can produce in relation to how much time we put in. The goal should not be about trying to find more hours in the day--we're more than likely using all we can--but rather how to become more efficient with the time that we have. That increase in efficiency comes from being the most finely-tuned version of yourself.

"Your body is like an instrument: you can only be played so much before you fall out of tune."

High School entrepreneurship panel Devin and I were on

A story comes to mind when I was on a morning run with Devin O'Dea, one of the co-founders of Fayettechill. We had talked about business strategies, personal life, and our philosophies. Devin gave me some advice that I try to live by and relay to every aspiring entrepreneur that comes my way. It's the value of what he calls "tuning fork" days. If we think of our bodies as an instrument that we play every day, there comes a point where we will fall out of tune. Work overwhelms us, our diet is off, maybe we're just having a bad day. It is then that we need a "tuning fork" day; a day that allows us to do something that makes us happy and brings us that refreshing feeling of the perfect sleep. Tune the instrument, the instrument plays better. Very simple, very fayettechill.

For me, tuning fork sessions involve a bike ride, run, hiking, or traveling. I remember there was a time during the construction of Con Quesos when I was exhausted and needed a break. At 2AM when I finally got home I laid in bed and decided to spontaneously book a flight to Los Angeles for the following weekend. I rented a car when I got there and just went from beach to beach, going wherever locals suggested I go and visit. At night whatever city I ended up in was where I booked an AirBnB. It was the most free and relaxed I had felt in a while. If anything, the confusion in my dad's voice when I told him I was watching the sunset on Santa Monica over the phone made the trip worth it. I'm not sure he saw the value in what that trip, but I did.

There is nothing wrong with taking a step back from work when you reach a blank. There was a time when Kevin Systrom reached a blank with the development of Instagram. If it weren't for a vacation in Mexico, where him and his wife came up with the idea of filters for photos, he may have never gotten over that hump. My recommendation is to discover what your tuning fork exercise is, and to go and do that when you're fatigued. Keep grinding, but don't lose your mind over it. That's the only asset you have as a startup.

Work hard. Play hard.