Iām amazed at how many high-performers have serious or chronic health issues like TMJ, severe muscle pain, carpal tunnel. Iāve dealt with my share of health issues; imho it all comes down to stress. A story about stress and what Iāve learned from managing it...
One day, I woke up with a pain in my side that wouldnāt go away. Hours later, the doctors were performing an appendectomy. I was out for 2 weeks and it hurt like hell. I donāt think it was a coincidence that I was fired from Udemy 4 months later.
(More to come on that in a future post, follow now to get the story.)
After Udemy, I got healthy and built a fitness routine. My physical health was better than ever, and people noticed. Problem solved, right?
The good times didn't last. Running Sprig was freaking hard (all startups are) and soon I developed TMJ - severe jaw pain related to grinding oneās teeth. It would get so bad that at times I couldnāt even get out of bed in the morning.
The problem wasnāt the TMJ or appendicitis. The problem was stress.
It only dawned on me after we shut Sprig down and I went on sabbatical. Within weeks, I started to feel great again. Walking in 100Ā° heat in Havana, I had more energy than I ever did in San Francisco. As my mental stress subsided, my physical stress did too.
Now, Iām on my 3rd company and worried about falling into the stress vortex again. After 10 years battling this, Iāve learned a lot and thought Iād share 5 lessons:
1. Strategy is everything. You have more control than you realize. You choose your career, your goals, and how you work. You can learn to negotiate with your colleagues/boss/board about expectations and responsibilities. Create a work/life strategy that works for you.
2. Physical health. I work out 3-4x/week, try to eat whole foods, and drink responsibly. I used to meditate but found I prefer long walks and exercise. The most important thing about your physical health: do things that you can do for the next 10 years. No fad diets, no unreasonable expectations. Sustainable > effective.
3. Mental Health is more important than physical health. For non-founders: get a good therapist/life coach, build a ācircleā of colleagues at other companies with similar jobs, and find a good mentor to provide perspective.
4. Family & Friends. So many people are only friends with other career-oriented people. This is a mistake. Long-term friends, families, and significant others are there even if your career falters. Invest in these relationships; donāt let them go by the wayside because of work.
5. Monk mode. As an absolute last resort, go into monk mode. No sugar, no alcohol, self-care weekends, meditate & exercise daily. āMonk modeā is not an ideal permanent state, at least not for me. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
This is a lifelong battle. I deal with it every day. But it does get better - as you get older and have more perspective, the things that used to stress you out seem trivial. As my mother says, āHealth is Wealth.ā
One day, I woke up with a pain in my side that wouldnāt go away. Hours later, the doctors were performing an appendectomy. I was out for 2 weeks and it hurt like hell. I donāt think it was a coincidence that I was fired from Udemy 4 months later.
(More to come on that in a future post, follow now to get the story.)
After Udemy, I got healthy and built a fitness routine. My physical health was better than ever, and people noticed. Problem solved, right?
The good times didn't last. Running Sprig was freaking hard (all startups are) and soon I developed TMJ - severe jaw pain related to grinding oneās teeth. It would get so bad that at times I couldnāt even get out of bed in the morning.
The problem wasnāt the TMJ or appendicitis. The problem was stress.
It only dawned on me after we shut Sprig down and I went on sabbatical. Within weeks, I started to feel great again. Walking in 100Ā° heat in Havana, I had more energy than I ever did in San Francisco. As my mental stress subsided, my physical stress did too.
Now, Iām on my 3rd company and worried about falling into the stress vortex again. After 10 years battling this, Iāve learned a lot and thought Iād share 5 lessons:
1. Strategy is everything. You have more control than you realize. You choose your career, your goals, and how you work. You can learn to negotiate with your colleagues/boss/board about expectations and responsibilities. Create a work/life strategy that works for you.
2. Physical health. I work out 3-4x/week, try to eat whole foods, and drink responsibly. I used to meditate but found I prefer long walks and exercise. The most important thing about your physical health: do things that you can do for the next 10 years. No fad diets, no unreasonable expectations. Sustainable > effective.
3. Mental Health is more important than physical health. For non-founders: get a good therapist/life coach, build a ācircleā of colleagues at other companies with similar jobs, and find a good mentor to provide perspective.
4. Family & Friends. So many people are only friends with other career-oriented people. This is a mistake. Long-term friends, families, and significant others are there even if your career falters. Invest in these relationships; donāt let them go by the wayside because of work.
5. Monk mode. As an absolute last resort, go into monk mode. No sugar, no alcohol, self-care weekends, meditate & exercise daily. āMonk modeā is not an ideal permanent state, at least not for me. But you gotta do what you gotta do.
This is a lifelong battle. I deal with it every day. But it does get better - as you get older and have more perspective, the things that used to stress you out seem trivial. As my mother says, āHealth is Wealth.ā
