How Not to Lose Your Mind as a Founder

Physical shocks, pump iron, eat protein.

40% of your startup's success is based on your mental and physical health, 60% is based on execution, traction, and finding product-market fit, but that 40% is crucial for not losing your shit while achieving the rest of the 60%. 

First, ignore the “eat ramen, don’t sleep” crowd. As a founder, you will have to chew glass: no days off, no holidays, missing birthdays, weddings, and little time with loved ones. Working like a dog. But that doesn’t mean you should lose your mind—or partake in the VCterati-fueled circle jerk of deteriorating your health for Twitter likes.

Primer on Stress: Mind ↔ Body Flow

First, you must understand how stress flows between your mind and body. An oversimplified version:

When an initial stressor arises – like “f*ck my startup will fail” – the amygdala goes berzerk and signals your body to get into an adrenaline-fueled fight or flight mode, releasing cortisol, and increasing your alertness and tenseness (waking up at 3 AM for no reason). 

However, say things are looking better and the mental stressor disappears— “We have some paying users, wohooo PMF IPO babyyyy!” Yet, you notice that you still feel tense, your sleep hasn’t improved, and you don’t know why. The reason is that while the mental stressor is gone, your body can’t just switch off the fight or flight mode. So, the body keeps sending stress signals to the mind. This creates a vicious cycle of stress.

My thesis is that the best way to break this cycle is via different physical shocks. These shocks return your body to a state of calm so your mind can relax too. I’ll go a step further and say that it’s more effective to calm your mind via your body rather than the other way around. 

Practical Advice: Physical Shocks   

1. Untangle: Deep-Muscle Tissue Massage (DMTM)

My first recommendation to very stressed founder friends is to get a deep-muscle tissue massage. By untangling muscle knots, DMTM decreases cortisol levels and increases serotonin and dopamine. It untenses your body. If done right you will feel like you took a magical pill and 500 kg was lifted off your shoulders. 

There’s usually an inverse correlation between how fancy the massage spot is and the quality of their DMTM. This is my favorite spot in Brooklyn¹.

2. Soreness: Weight Lifting

You have to start lifting weights. Start with small weights. Use an app like Coachify.AI to record your reps and sets. Do the pull/push/leg split. Weight lifting will increase your muscle mass and your average serotonin levels. If you must get an instructor for your first few lessons², do it. 

Get over the noob gym shame; go to the gym and pump some iron. It will eventually click. 

3. Shock: Sauna + Cold Plunge technique (SCP)

I was lucky to learn about sauna culture when I lived in Switzerland. It’s one of the most incredible wellness hacks that cultures around the world have treasured for centuries (the earliest sauna is believed to have started in 7000 BC Finland…when Wholly Mammoths were still around.) But saunas are also inaccessible, and unless you lived in a few select countries or did pro sports, you probably never frequented them properly. But you should.

SCP puts you in a voluntary state of physical shock. Proper technique: ~15 minutes of hot sauna, then get into an ice plunge (or cold shower, as cold as possible); if you don’t do the cold plunge part, it’s wasted time. Make sure to plunge your entire body into coldness, including your head. Repeat 2x-3x. It will click when you can feel the air in your lungs. You’ll know when it happens. It’s bliss. 

4. Maintenance: Sleep + Protein  

On sleep: If you do any of the above, you will have incredible sleep. Other tips: don’t drink coffee after midday and sleep in a cold room (60-65F) with covers. You will sleep like a baby panda bear and wake up feeling like a billion dollars. 

On protein: you are probably not consuming enough protein. Consuming a ton of protein is good for your muscles, physical health, and energy levels. Eat a shit ton of protein. Costco protein shakes. Deli turkey, feta cheese, Eggs. Beef. Chicken fried in Président butter. Caulipower chicken. 

5. There’s a fifth physical intervention that’s a bit inappropriate – but also very necessary. 👉👈

Mental Health Advice: Stop Being Schizo 

I believe we suffer from a modern affliction of excessive self-consciousness. A debilitating overanalysis of everything, seeking absolute certainty in all things and interactions³. Intuition replaced with exhaustive scrutiny. So deep into our thoughts that the external world becomes alien, even hostile. A pervading case of mild schizophrenia.

Here’s a simple tip. If you catch yourself spiraling in some anxiety-driven narratives in your mind, tell yourself, “Stop being schizo,” and go lift some weights and eat protein.

If you have a (founder) friend dealing with stress, forward this to them. It might make a difference. 

1. Sometimes people have bad experiences with DPTM: the secret is to communicate clearly with your masseuse if they’re putting a lot of pressure or too little.

2. This is prohibitively expensive in big cities. Watch this YouTube series, and start with low weights hyper-focusing on your form. Start with 3-4 exercises per muscle group per session, but do them well and slowly.

3. Not sure if this is because of social media, American culture, etc; probably worth a post of its own soon.