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Dude the "work on working less" part hit different lmao

But for real, I think we get so addicted to optimization that we forget how to just... exist without a purpose? Like even when I try to chill with a game or whatever, there's this voice going "but you could be networking rn"

The hustle culture shit is real and it's exhausting

I always feel a bit lost during the holidays. Guilty taking time off. But it’s important to recharge

First time entrepreneur here. I'm having mixed feelings. Mostly positive but also a little anxious. The whole journey has been a wild ride so far. I've had a great idea that I completely scrapped. I felt a little sad at first but I am sure it's the right call.

I'm now mostly happy and feel confident in my product. I'm having it tested by a few trusted people who are also entrepreneurs and so far the feedback is mostly positive. Everything else is constructive. Lady weekend's trip was interesting as I have set my launch date and now I'm working towards that.

It took me a long time to disconnect from my business because the business I built is truly the first thing that has ever 100% belonged to me. It is my pride and joy. I built my business to resemble a “universe,” so it does, in fact, seem like it is always online. I find that simply telling myself, “ I’m going to play video games on my off day this weekend” or “Hmm I saw this new fancy place to try food at,” I do it excitedly, just as I would approach the job that excites me as a business owner.

When I mastered how to talk to myself work no longer outran play. I think that came from the always-on mindset when I first started (I’m many years deep now.)

I was doing everything myself and was burnt out but slowly I started handing over and trusting that my team will take care of things and be hands off, it was hard but I am seeing that when I trusted and let my team prove to me they delivered, yes it may not he perfect or different to what i would have done, but i am happy and it has helped me stay focussed on strategy and growth, which is where my time better spent.

I'm a little bit sad. I am trying to grow the best link in bio page named hydra link (hydralink.com) but the beginning is hard

Therapy has helped me a ton, but I’m burnt out so I am selling and moving to the jungle.

Eh, I just look at it as a challenge. First goal was 4k a month after expenses. Now I’m at 6k a month after expenses and trying to push for 8k. Then focus on more automation.

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Honestly, I’m doing chill. Gave everyone the day off, I went to my main warehouse myself just to receive stuff. A buddy came over and we played darts in the game room, so that was fun. Watched a movie, and am now packing up to go home for the next week.

For everyone super stressed out, I feel yeah, I really do. I was in that headspace for a long time. Best thing I did was taking myself out of anything necessary or day to day. And I hope you all get to that level, where the business works for you instead of you working for it.

You’re not crazy and you’re definitely not alone. This is the part nobody romanticises. Building something meaningful turns life into an endless optimisation problem and eventually even rest feels like another task to complete.

For me, the mistake was thinking balance is something you achieve and then keep. It isn’t. It’s something you renegotiate constantly. Some weeks are chaos. Some weeks are quiet. Expecting permanent balance just adds guilt on top of exhaustion.

What helped was separating growth from identity. If every free moment feels wasted unless it moves the needle, your brain never switches off. Enjoying “nothing” is a muscle you actually have to relearn. At first it feels wrong. Then it slowly starts to feel human again.

Does it end? Not really. But it does get lighter when you stop treating life like a startup that has to justify every minute. The work never disappears. The relationship to it changes.

You’re not shouting into the void. A lot of us feel this and don’t say it out loud. Thanks for saying it first.

You seem like you have to manage all your business. If it is, I suggest to create a system like hiring someone that can do you tasks. For your body and mind, it’s just self love.

lol yes

I think about going back to a 9-5 weekly.

But I also know that a cubicle life would kill me.

This is normal life/feeling of running your own business. Shit’s tough.

Sometimes work has to wait.

Creating a regular habit of taking time for your mental health, like fully disconnecting one day a week and spending it somewhere quiet or in nature, can make a real difference.

Rest needs to be taken seriously and treated as part of productivity, not the opposite of it.

After all, if you ruin your health, can it really be called “success,” even if you become financially successful?

During tough times, close your eyes and think about the worst boss you have or your worst day at work, and remember how you felt during that time in your life. Makes hard days as an entrepreneur feel great

I'm doing ok. Making enough to pay the bills and growing slowly but steadily. I only work a few hours a day and haven't really pushed myself to get more clients out of laziness. Stocks are at all time highs so got a good safety net.

Not doing great by any standards but living my life without stress.

Definitely relate. Life starts feeling like a machine, and we pursue excellence mechanically. My goal is just to get what I want and then retire and go fishing every day.

You're not alone. What I've seen repeat across founders isn't lack of resilience - it's th slow erosion of unstructured joy. Everything becomes instrumental - rest to work better, friends to network, hobbies to recharge. That's when life starts feeling like one long optimization loop.

The foundres who stay sane usually draw one hard boundary - at least one part of life that is deliberately useless. No leverage, no output, no growth narrative. Just something that reminds you you're humans, not a system. The work doesn't end - but the suffering drops once not everything has to justify itself.

bro you're not speaking into the void - this is literally why I started surfing even though I suck at it. 3 years of 5am wakeups and cold showers for my first startup had me so burnt out I couldn't code for a week straight. just stared at the wall.

what helped was realizing I'd turned my entire identity into "founder productivity machine" and forgot how to just... exist. started small - forced myself to play this shitty guitar I bought at a garage sale for 30 bucks. sounds like dying cats but idk man, my brain actually shuts up for 20 minutes.

the work never ends but your relationship to it can change. I schedule "do nothing" time now like it's a board meeting. literally block out 2 hours on sundays where I can't do anything "productive" or I lose. took months to not feel guilty about it.

honestly? having a kid recently snapped me out of the grind mindset hard. turns out this tiny human doesn't give a fuck about my ARR. just wants to hang and make weird noises.

what's your non-work thing that used to make you lose track of time?

This is perfectly understandable and youu are definitely not speaking into the void. A lot of that feeling comes from turning life itself into a project that always needs optimizing, even rest becomes something to perform correctly instead of something you sink into. I notice that enjoying not doing things usually comes back only after dropping the idea that every moment has to justify itself. like you know,smple stuff feels better when it is not framed as preparation for more work.

I never really felt like it was “work”, it feels more like a life purpose.That doesn’t make it easy though. When things get heavy, I keep coming back to why I started in the first place. For me, that’s what carries me through the days that feel overwhelming or impossible. It doesn’t solve everything, but it helps me keep moving.

Everything is so damned hard. For instance. I am setting up a new website. But I didn't want to pay for more hosting and just wanted to use an old fashioned webpage creator so I can publish the website to my server. I hate wordpress, it's so bloated and slow. Fast forward 4 hours later I've tried 3 different pieces of software and could not even manage to get a logo into the header. Everything is a rabbit hole. Not just this. If you want to do this, you need x before you can, if you want x you need to do blah blah blah.