The dark side of entrepreneurship | Hacker News Reader

The dark side of entrepreneurship

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94 pointsrmason10 comments

The best thing I took away from this article was the concept of a "digital sabbath". I should start doing this. Right now I spent practically all of my working and free time on my computer or phone.

Sometimes I'll go for a long walk for an hour or two, where I leave my phone at home. You might be surprised how many times you reach in your pocket to check something you're not even carrying, even in just that short amount of time. Call it a micro digital sabbath if you will.

A related book that's interesting is Hamlet's Blackberry: Building a Good Life in the Digital Age.

I've taken some small steps recently by not taking my phone to the gym and going for long walks (~30min) without my phone. While I walk I try to meditate a little bit by dismissing business thoughts etc.

Funny how these points are made - it also trickles down to employees, since if their managers/executives are working hard, so should they. Some managers/executives even use it as an excuse to drive their employees to work that hard, and create adverse effects for all.

Good leadership includes setting the example, and what is good for you is also good for everyone you employ (for the most part).

Business leaders aren't immune from the same burnout dynamics that inflict other intellectual work. It can be spread out among more kinds of tasks, but a lot of problems are best solved with "fast is smooth, smooth is slow" as the starting point.

I always think it is interesting which posts end up in the first page with no comments.

Me, I don't have a comment yet, because I am on the train going out to take a break of entrepreneurial stress—so this article hit a little too close to home to finish reading now ;)

I think some posts don't naturally start a discussion.

While this post itself felt luck a catch-all bucket on founder stress, which is not necessarily a bad thing, I feel like most feel the desire to support improving mental health in the tech community, especially in startups and for founders.

Was anyone else offput that a piece about depression is content marketing?

Well ... apart from amateurs and academics with disinterested sharing (which may also boost their reputation), most everything else is an advertising sandwich of some sort.

Some more tasteful than others. Yesterday I rabbit-holed after a reference to the obscure "Star 80" movie, and saw several mentions of how the lead actor deserved an Oscar nomination which he did not get because his character was distasteful.

So it goes.

It is stressful. But handling the stress effectively is a big part of the job and is a defining characteristic of success in such endeavors. Gotta know what you're signing up for, so it's good articles like this highlight it.

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