I
am approached a lot by curious people who wonder how I'm always able to
stay "energetic". That my energy is contagious - that I'm constantly
smiling. They almost don't believe it. People think I'm always on the go
and that I never sleep.
I'm here to debunk this and to
share a few tips I've learned along the way to help maintain an
energetic, healthy lifestyle while being a founder. Hope this helps.
Find Your Own Tempo
Not
everyone needs to work 20 hours every day. Quite honestly, if you're
doing this you're probably doing something wrong. Yes, some days you may
need to - you can push yourself - but the perception that this is
consistently so is just wrong. It just doesn't happen.
I
believe that everyone has a peak number of hours that they can truly be
productive - then following hours are just diminishing marginal returns
in work results. You'll know your peak - you can feel it. Then you
start browsing Facebook. Then you start checking your phone. You need a
break.
Find a setup where you know when you're the most
inspired and productive. If it's not at 9am, don't force yourself.
Optimizing time means knowing which hours you'll get more done in 60
minutes than some get done in an entire day. It's possible and it's the
secret that most people don't share. There will be time devoted to your
team, to meetings, to phone calls, decks, product,
e-mail, and more. Leave your most inspired hours to brainstorm, mind
map, and question the status quo.
Finding your own
tempo means knowing when to spend time with others, to absorb energy. I
love doing this. I need to be around people who are just as happy as me
to feel like there are others just as excited about life. Stop hanging
out with people that make you want to fall asleep.
Stop Reading the News so Much
The
worst thing to happen since the dawn of the internet is this insatiable
need to want to check everything all the damn time. Remember that you
are living your own life - spending too much time reading about other
people's lives is only wasting time you could be spending living your
own.
Make your own path, and realize that news focuses on the lightning
strikes - the notable stories - and concentrates them into a firehose.
Sometimes
it's encouraging and inspiring. But when it becomes FOMO (find out what
this stands for if you don't know), and when it becomes less
encouraging and more discouraging, disconnect and find your own tempo.
Find Your Source of Wonder
This
is directly tied to everything above. Your tempo involves not taking a
"break", or going on "vacation". As a founder, there's no such thing.
You're constantly thinking about your company and what you've
potentially missed, new ideas, and about your next moves. You'll never
be able to turn it off. But you can certainly distract yourself with a
good dose of wonder.
Whether this is travel (it is for
me), or reading, or listening to a good symphony - find something that
you can just tilt your head and go "woah". I think wonder literally
lights up your brain and gives you something more than you can't get
from just looking at a computer screen. It's all of your senses. It's
the curiosity that triggers a part of your brain that you haven't
triggered for a while. It gives you a natural high.
I
always will remember the whooshing feeling you get stepping out of a
train station or an airport to a completely foreign place. It's a
magical thing and I will continue to seek it out like a drug.
Smile
My friend Omer Perchik from Any.DO posted this video of a TED talk on smiling
recently. He's a smiley guy. That's why I like him. This TED talk talks
about the power of smiling and something that I've always abided to
without even knowing about this talk.
Smiling makes you
happy - there's a lot of research that tries to prove it, but who cares
about the research. At the end of the day, if people around you see
that you're happy, they are bound to be happy. A smile is the best way
to disarm a grumpy person. Get them wondering why you're so happy.
Because, at the end of the day, life is pretty good when you think about
it.
One thing that struck me when visiting countries
like Vietnam and Cambodia when I went on exchange in Southeast Asia back
when I was in University was just how happy everyone was. I remember
sitting in the front seat of the bus and talking to a tour guide who was
bringing us to Ha Long Bay (a breathtakingly gorgeous place, by the
way). We talked about his life and I remember him mentioning that he
recently got a candy bar cellphone. I asked him if he
liked it. He said he hated it, because now that he had it his girlfriend
expected him to text her all the time. He didn't even know he needed to
do that until he got it. It hit me that as our lives appear to get
better, it sometimes makes us unhappier.
Smile - try it. Smile big. You won't regret it.
Try Being You and Stop Second Guessing Yourself
My
version of this is talking loudly, occasionally making a funny, and
drinking coffee like water. When we get older we are always reminded
that we need to act "adult". The funny thing is sometimes the most
childish adults are called "eccentric". They're given a ticket to be the
unique one because they've decided that life is too short to conform to
holding your mouth and being civil.
Of course there
are inappropriate moments not to yell like a sailor, but it's important
to let loose once in a while in a situation that doesn't necessarily
involve alcohol and karaoke. Follow your gut, be spontaneous, and do
what you want to do. Anytime you feel like you're being
thrown into a situation you don't want to do, I feel like it eats at
you. Don't let that happen too often. If that's happening too much, you
need to figure out why. Maybe you're hanging out with the wrong people.
There
are many more ways to harness the energy within you. Be active and
drink life up. Remember to give yourself something to look forward to.
If you've done it right, you should look
forward to every day.Posted by:
Brian Wong
