Startup Watching - I'm... 🔥 (Startup Watching #249)

I'm... 🔥 (Startup Watching #249)

By Andrew Askins • Issue #249 •

Happy Friday Watchers!

I’m… burnt out.

For the last several months I’ve known I was heading in this direction.

I’ve felt really conflicted. On the one hand, I’m only at this point because I’m lucky enough that our business has grown during the pandemic. But on the other hand… I’m really fucking tired.

I didn’t realize I was burnt out at first.

I just thought I was having another rough week in a long string of rough weeks.

Then my therapist reminded me, “hey, a couple months ago you told me you were probably on the path to burnout. Where are you now?”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah. I’m there.”

I don’t have anything super meaningful or useful to say. I’ll try to write more once I’m on the other side of this and can dig into it more. But for now I’ll share the useful and counterintuitive advice my therapist shared with me.

Our first thought to deal with burnout is to take time off.

Time off is important, it helps us recharge. Muscle growth doesn’t happen without rest. But time off can be a bandaid. If you don’t fix the underlying problems then you come back from vacation and nothing has changed.

So here’s what I’m doing to work on burn out.

I’m taking a 4 day weekend to go to the mountains with my family and completely unplugging. I’ll likely plan a longer trip in a few weeks.

I’m committing to carving out time for the habits that I have completely dropped for work over the last few months. These habits are my medicine. Sticking to them is the only way I can do my work at the level I expect.

This means:

Journaling every day
Eating healthy (and actually cooking)
Exercising 3x per week
Making time to be social (I’m hella extroverted)
Increase my therapy

In therapy I’m going to work on changing the way I view this time, as not selfish, but a critical part of the work I do and my ability to help others. I’m also going to have to get better at delegating.

Cheers from Charleston ✌️

Andrew

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bubble.io • Share

FEATURED

What success looks like at your firm ✅

A friend recently turned me on to David Baker’s content. I started by reading his book The Business of Expertise (it’s excellent and the typography is fire) and at the same time I’ve been devouring every bit of his content I can get my hands on.

It runs counter to all of the popular advice for building businesses. Everyone hypes up SaaS and product businesses. He’s all about building a small, expert-based, customized service business. It’s like reading all of my thoughts from the last 2 years of running Krit but laid out much more eloquently.

www.davidcbaker.com • Share

MVP

From inspiration to idea sex: how to generate ideas on demand 😏

Come on, with a title like that you know you’re going to click. Another great piece from Anne-Laure Le Cunff and Ness Labs.

nesslabs.com • Share

The importance of resetting at work ♻️

How often do you go to work and, before you realize it, jump in the car to
drive back home? How often do you go to work and feel time dragging on?
Resetting at work helps you work more mindfully, getting more value out of
your time.

www.haleymbryant.com • Share

GROWTH

Product work beyond product-market fit 🤖

Most of us startup enthusiasts are obsessed with the beginning. Getting to the elusive product-market fit. But the work doesn’t stop there. What does it look like after?

www.reforge.com • Share

John O'Nolan 🏴‍☠️

@JohnONolan

The complete enterprise software sales playbook, a comprehensive guide to the expected process when a big co wants to buy your app: [A thread 👇]

Email 1: Hello, I have not a single clue what your product does, and I have not read your website - do you have some sort of PDF?

8:00 AM - 30 Jun 2020

33 things Ryan Holiday stole from people on the way to 33 📆

I’m such a sucker for a good birthday post. I have mixed feelings about Ryan Holiday, but his book “Ego is the Enemy” has been doing a great job of putting me to sleep at night. This on the other hand, is a nice light read.

ryanholiday.net • Share

FUN

Brie Larson takes on a new form while eating spicy wings 🍗

Hot Ones is back! COVID be damned. I really enjoyed this interview with Brie Larson. The scene where she describes getting stuck in a Kardashian bathroom mirror selfie at the Met Gala is wild. Also… if you still haven’t seen the Paul Rudd episode do yourself a favor and stop whatever you’re doing to watch it right now.

www.youtube.com • Share

Did you enjoy this issue?

By Andrew Askins

Curated knowledge, inspiration and background stories from the startup world. Delivered to your inbox every Thursday or Friday 📬 | Find me @andrewaskins.

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Startup Watching - I'm... 🔥 (Startup Watching #249)

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How to compete in an overcrowded market 🤼‍♂️ (Startup Watching #248)

Zoom doesn't have product/market fit?? 🤯 (Startup Watching #247)

Black lives matter 🖤 (Startup Watching #246)

Project managers and... pizza arbitrage? 🍕 (Startup Watching #245)

How to get your first 1,000 users 🤝 (Startup Watching #244)

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