No one is ever ready to go to war. Yet they do.
This post perpetuates and glorifies the myth of startups as extreme sport. If we look at businesses (let's not call them "startups") around the world that have succeeded through the ages, I don't think most of them began with the all-or-nothing insanity that is implied here.
Stay focused. Work hard. Life goes on.
I'll repeat what I said in another comment though:
> Agreed that not all startups need to be a go-for-it-all startup. But any business is going to a lot of work to get running. And then once you have customers it's going to be a lot of work to keep them happy. Even if it is micro business or a bootstrapped company.
> The four hour work week is a bit of a myth. Everything is going to be hard work.
Your quote "Stay focused. Work hard. Life goes on." is a good way to think about it.
(And you're 100% spot on with kids. You're simply never ready, yet it's still amazing.)