Will running my last company, I came up with the quote
"Without balance even the strongest will fall". My intent was to articulate the delicate
dance we must maintain as entrepreneurs between our work life and our personal
life in order to stay motivated, happy and productive. Too often I hear people talk about the
process of starting your own company requiring 15 hour days 7 days a week for
several years. Tails of sleeping at the
office or not taking a vacation for years are all too common among entrepreneurs. It would appear that to successfully start
and run a company, you need to forget your family, friends, hobbies and social
life for several years.
In real life, we need our support network of friends, family
and fun in order to tackle the seemingly impassable mountain we are about to
climb. Starting a company absolutely
takes focus, passion and energy, but not at the expense of your mental health. Further, we need connections with friends and
family in order to be successful. We
will need to rely heavily on friends, family and fun to keep us motivated.
In my 15 years of entrepreneurship, I have found the highs
and lows to absolutely magnificent.
Although the highs can be quite amazing, the lows may be more
devastating than any you have experienced in your life. If you are stressed, overworked with little
or no connection to family and friends, these lows could be insurmountable. On the other hand, a strong base of family,
friends, hobbies or other outlets will allow you to move through these lows
with minimal long term impact. Personally,
I have found a strong base to allow me to turn many seemingly low points in my
entrepreneurial journey into life changing successes. Having other outlets in my life allowed me to
step back and reflect on the situation and gain the clarity I needed to move
forward in a more positive direction.
As a final point, I want to tell a story about my days as a
rower at Cornell. In rowing, there are
no superstars. I rowed in a boat with
eight other rowers and one coxswain. It
took all of us working in harmony to make the boat move fast. I was in a position of leadership within the
boat. I never realized my impact until
one day the rower in front of me turned to me and said “Tyler, when you have a
bad day, the boat has a bad day.” His
comment hit me like a ton of bricks.
Until that moment I never realized the full impact of my leadership
within the boat. From that day forward, even
when I was suffering, I had a positive attitude. To my delight, we went on to win the
championship that year.
The same is true for us as entrepreneurs. When we are out of balance, our team is out
of balance. As leaders of our teams, we
must stay in balance so that we and our team can address the seemingly
insurmountable challenges we will face.
