Adrie's Blog

Take a deep breath

People who know me will probably laugh heartily about this blog - but I mean it from the bottom of my heart :-)

When you are building a company, you always have to deal with a lot of stress - is sales working, did I get the right people on my team, do I have enough money to pay my bills - in short - bootstrapping is a stressful occupation. Before you know it you are working day and night, adrenaline keeps you going beyond all hours, your tunnel vision is getting worse and worse and soon enough productivity starts to decrease whilst irritation increases... you might recognise these feelings!

It is really imperative to give yourself a little time here and there, a few days not looking at your PDA constantly and you will find out that the world has not gone in the three days since your last email. Go and treat yourself to a long walk in the woods or on the beach, it will instantly widen that tunnel and the rest will restore some of the creativity immediately. You will find that you will see challenges where you saw only problems. I know, probably better then anyone out there, that it is hard to take few weeks off - it's a bit like saying to a mother of 10 kids that she should take it easy... and I know tons of people that advice me to "take a break" but then can't be found when you need them to look after the shop for a while...but a long weekend is, and should, be possible.

Another way to relax and take a little distance is to exercise. I once closed an incredibly stressful period by training for a marathon, AND running it (New York) - if you really want to do something you can, even if you are hellishly busy. You will be amazed at how much peace that creates in your mind.The same of course is true of any hobby or working with a charity for instance.

For me something that always helps - is to go to the movies at the end of a busy day - just to dream away and find myself in another world for a while.

After all is said and done, it is about how you can balance your energy as you are building your company and still remain an inspiration and motivating factor to your environment. And I know it won't always work but building a company is all about energy, inspiration, creativity and endurance - things you can definitely choose to work on and control.