Comments on: Founder Burnout and How to Avoid It. http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:23:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Fabio De Bernardi http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comment-192390 Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:40:05 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=476#comment-192390 Among the many things I read about starting up a business I found 2 things that are absolutely true. First, entrepreneurship is incredibly exciting and motivating but also lonely and depressing at the same time. The second thing – still to be verified in my case – is that later on you’ll miss the feelings you had during the early days… that mix of excitement, fear, doubt and instability will come later to your mind like “oh, do you remember of those incredible days?”.
Last, I heard an interview to Jason Calacanis a few months ago where he said that failure is an option. Being Italian and based in London you rarely think that this is an acceptable point of view, particularly in Italy since until a few years ago being a failed entrepreneur was a penal conviction and generally speaking in Europe where young risk-takers are rarely rewarded for their “courage”…
One last point about sleeping and not overdoing yourself. I found a good balance in sleeping 6 hours ish per night and if I sleep more I feel even more tired. It happens to sleep less (lot less) and you feel alright for few days, then your body tells you unequivocally that you need rest and if you don’t your performances deteriorate exponentially (that’s why I don’t trust bankers and the sort of McKinsey guys bullying to work 20 hours a day constantly). About sleeping and doing things that are not related to your job I found this thing – not necessarily right but true in my case… if you don’t put enough hours in your start up, if you don’t do all the things you think you should do… then you feel guilty. And that’s why people burned out. I’m definitely under stress at the moment, hopefully not yet burned out… but it’s probably difficult to admit it or even to realize that that’s the actual situation.

]]> By: How to Optimize the Founder’s Mind « SLO Entrepreneur - In Video http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comment-192391 Sat, 09 Feb 2008 23:59:48 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=476#comment-192391 [...] We wrote yesterday about burnout, and the risks associated with it for overworked entrepreneurs. Our authors recommended sleep to avoid burnout. But diversifying your reading list with recreational (or at least non-business) books, may be an even more flexible way of forcing yourself to take time out from the day job because you can do it in the waking hours that might already take you away from proper work: e.g., while you’re in transit, on the train, plane or bus; while working out; or over your lunch break. [...]

]]> By: Vikram http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comment-192389 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 07:28:25 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=476#comment-192389 Many senior executives reach the top of the corporate ladder and find that it was against the wrong wall! After slaving for years to get to the top, many of them find a cruel irony: They don’t like it there. At first, the job may be rewarding, but then it doesn’t bring them the emotional and psychological rewards they seek, and they begin to burn out from the stress. The executive gets to the top and there’s a letdown. It’s a feeling of ‘Is that all there is?’”

Steven Berglas, an executive coach and management consultant, who was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry for 25 years before he moved to UCLA. has labeled this phenomena as ‘supernova burnout’, a syndrome that affects people who achieve phenomenal success. Berglas cites the case of Michael Jordan, who quit basketball at the peak of his career in the fall of 1993. While conventional wisdom held that Jordan retired because he was faced with suspension due to gambling problems, Berglas maintains that Jordan “still loved the game of basketball but quit professional basketball because he was suffering from ‘supernova burnout.

In fact I recommend holistic solutions for both avoiding this trap in the first place and extricating yourself from it if you’ve already become mired therein.

]]> By: How to Optimize the Founder’s Mind « FoundRead http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comment-192387 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:06:23 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=476#comment-192387 [...] We wrote yesterday about burnout, and the risks associated with it for overworked entrepreneurs. Our authors recommended sleep to avoid burnout. But diversifying your reading list with recreational (or at least non-business) books, may be an even more flexible way of forcing yourself to take time out from the day job because you can do it in the waking hours that might already take you away from proper work: e.g., while you’re in transit, on the train, plane or bus; while working out; or over your lunch break. [...]

]]> By: ME http://gigaom.com/2008/01/29/founder-burnout-and-how-to-avoid-it/#comment-192388 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:34:29 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=476#comment-192388 After reading this I am still not sure if I am suffering from “burnout” and even if I did I do not have the choice to take a month off because my whole project will go bankrupt and I would probably have to file for bankruptcy.

My new project will go online in one month and i think I am on the verge of mental collapse (so yes, i have “burnout”), i would not tell anyone this, I am typing it here because no one will ever know it was me.
I have invested all my lifes savings and a lot of my families savings too, good lord!!!

Help!

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