Dear founder, pace yourself

The race is hard and never-ending

I used to run a lot in my early 20s.

At my most committed, for over 6 months, I would wake up at 6 am, put on my running clothes and shoes, and race 10km before heading to University.

It was challenging.

I had to drag myself out of bed using every ounce of my will power every single morning.

That part never got easier. But the exhilarating feeling of accomplishment that followed the run made it all worth it.

For the rest of the day my mind was completely convinced that I could take on the entire world if I needed to.

Now, I’m running a very different kind of race.

The race of entrepreneurship.

It’s not strange to me that so many compare building your own business to a marathon.

The physical and mental struggle of this race is no joke.

You wake up each morning, put on your brave entrepreneurial tracksuit, tie your shoelaces interweaving little trinkets of your dreams, and hope the day will get you a little closer to the finish line.

A finish line that lives only in your mind, for the horizon is infinite. And the destination is nothing but a fickle blur that warrants the constant questioning of it being actual reality or just the result of your imagination.

As a founder you have to do it all.

And big part of the modern challenges of building your own company, is distribution. Making sure there are actual people who are interested enough on whatever it is that you are building to eventually buy it from you.

And the way to do it is through content.

Content that will clearly and compellingly communicate the what, why, and how of what you’re building, and who you’re building it for.

Writing and engaging proactively, doing it consistently and well, on top of everything else, is exhausting.

And for the past 2 months I’ve been struggling to get back into my usual rhythm of content creation because I burned out.

And I’m just realizing why, through the perspective of running.

The starting line

When you start a run, first you have to get yourself to even show up at the race course. That’s a tremendous challenge in itself when it comes to entrepreneurship as you have to embrace complete uncertainty.

Once there, you gotta warm up, start putting one foot in front of the other as your body starts redistributing oxygen for your muscles to work properly.

Talking publicly about your new startup is scary. There’s a lot of fear of judgement.

‘What if it doesn’t work out? Everybody will now I have failed.’

I felt that fear too.

Still, I pushed through it. I “got out of bed and showed up at the track”.

And I eventually found my stride. It got easier. Even enjoyable.

I found the #buildinpublic community and I became comfortable with sharing my journey online because I saw others doing the same. I found a sense of community and camaraderie that pushed me forward. Ideas came to me rather easily and I was happy writing about my vision and the daily struggles of a founder.

The second wind

As you keep running your muscles start producing lactic acid. Your superficial energy reserves start depleting. Lungs clutch onto themselves. Inhaling turns hot and heavy like breathing fire. And every fiber of your being screams for you to stop.

This is a critical stage.

If you do stop. Your run is done.

You won’t be able to rest for a bit and then pick up where you left it.

You have to push through. Otherwise there’s no turning back. You’ll have to go rest and fully recover before you attempt a new run.

But your body is actually capable of so much more, if your mind proves strong enough to push past the discomfort.

Your body eventually complies and adjusts; switching energy sources and resulting in what’s known as “the second wind”.

That’s when you ease completely into your run and you fly through the streets feeling invincible.

It’s how I felt after the first 3.5 months of my journey when my initial idea hit a wall.

I felt defeated. Lost. Like I hadn’t done enough. Like I had made a mistake.

My brain wanted to get me our of the race.

But I kept going. And my second, and current, business idea came to me.

With a renewed vision and partnership I got a second wind.

I started working harder and writing even more content.

I wanted to do the newsletter twice a week while I was writing up to 7 daily posts on X.

Posts that weren’t easy to write or design.

And that’s where I f*cked up.

The pacing

When you get your second wind running, it’s easy to start sprinting and over exert yourself.

Your body is infatuated with endorphins and you feel on top of the world. So you don’t realize just how much you’re asking your body to do.

And if you don’t. There’s a cost.

It’s the difference between being able to complete a marathon or finishing your run 5 minutes after your body sets into peak performance mode.

The secret is pacing; energy management 🪫🔋

Building a business is psychologically and emotionally straining.

It’s often impossible to pace yourself. It’s hard to stop and be rational and self-aware enough to notice the reaching of your physical and mental limits when you’re inebriated with your dreams.

But the body and the mind demand their dues to be paid regardless.

If ignored, the resulting cost can become unsurmountable.

I didn’t listen. I kept going even though I wasn’t running anymore.

I wasn’t even walking.

I was crawling.

And now I’m paying a heavy tax on my failed pacing.

The learning

Entrepreneurship is not a marathon.

It is a series of marathons, sprints, little jogs, walks, and single steps.

It’s about moving forward.

Relentlessly.

Unwaveringly.

But you need to make sure there is appropriate rest in between each of the never-ending physical and mental challenges.

Coming to this realization doesn’t make it any easier.

Working sensible hours when you’re in the midst of a breakthrough or navigating the complex dynamics that result from exposing yourself online on a daily basis are very hard things to master.

I’m just winging it like every other founder out there.

But I hope you use this as a reminder to keep striving for a healthy pace.