The One Person Startup

Amado

Productivity Almost Killed Me

I’ve been cranking out lesson after lesson for my upcoming course on Discount Strategies. I’ve been pulling all-nighters, working 14-hour days. I’ve put in about 40 hours over a 3-day span to get this course going.

I worked so hard, that I landed myself in the hospital.

Yeah.

This is how I got myself in the hospital from overworking myself every day.

The Part-Time Creator

A little background on me, I work a warehouse job at Amazon, which I love my coworkers but not the mindless job. It really saps your creativity working in a place like Amazon.

I also go to school full-time. I’m an undergrad college student working towards an electronics engineering degree. I want to work in green energy, public transportation, and Augmented Reality. I love Sword Art Online and Ready Player One.

And I also have two kids, who I love with 90% of my heart. I save 10% for everyone else (jokingly).

So, I spend a part of my time creating content and building a business.

When I’m not at work, I’m researching and creating content.

When I’m not doing schoolwork, I’m researching and creating content.

When I’m not with family and friends, I’m researching and creating content.

When I have free time, I am researching and creating content.

I have really been dialing up the amount of time I commit to the business. Like I said earlier, I started spending nearly 40 hours in my business in a 3-day span. How? Mostly because I have three days off.

From Monday through Wednesday, I have off of work. So, I divided my time between the business and school. Mostly business though.

I work as fast as I can on my school assignments and start pummeling through on my creator business.

My Work-Life Balance

So, most of my day, I’m locked away in my bedroom (the “dungeon”), sitting at my desk for 2-3 hours at a time. This continues from 6 am until about 11 pm. I often lose track of time and forget that I’m even hungry.

It reminds me a lot of my gamer days. Crazy.

I sit.

I type.

I read.

I stare at a monitor for hours upon hours. I think you can see where the problem is by now…

I spend so much of my time focusing on the business, that I neglect to show my health any real attention.

I keep telling myself, that once this business takes off, I will finally be able to start working out and eating healthier. I’ll have time to go on those morning runs and start balancing my diet.

Well, after this trip to the emergency room, I realized, I might not make it that far…

I felt like my heart was having trouble. It felt like my blood pressure was wrong. I felt weird, and I couldn’t explain exactly what the problem was. I just remember I was afraid I was going to have a heart stroke.

Fearing The End

It was the scariest thing I felt. My vision got a bit blurry. I felt my muscles were not as responsive as normal. My jaw felt odd, and my legs were going numb.

All I could think about was, how all my hard work was going to mean absolutely nothing if I fell over and died right now.

I’m not scared much to die. But, the idea that I’m pouring my whole life into a business, and it could end just like that, was freaking me out.

I started wishing I could have actually enjoyed my life some more. Spent more time with my kids and family. Hung out with friends. Gone places. Explored the world a bit. All the parts of life that make life worth living.

Instead, I been bottled up in my bedroom workspace, being as “productive” as I can, to maximize every hour of my day.

“I have to succeed.”

“I have to create a business for my family.”

“I have to achieve the goals I have set for myself.”

When I was sitting in that hospital, I was able to reflect on my life for these past few years.

What I learned was, that it doesn’t matter if I create a magnificent business if I won’t be around. It will all fall apart once I’m gone. A complete waste of time.

My kids would probably wish to trade anything for another day with me. Nothing is more important than the ones we love.

So, I decided to be a little more relaxed with my schedule. I’m less focused on meeting quotas and overloading my schedule with tasks and projects. I’d rather have plenty of free time in between, where I can always spend time with people I love. Hang out with friends. See the world. Say hi to people I walk past. Because we are all too focused on maximizing our productivity.

Will I give up on my business?

Definitely not.

Will I crank out consecutive 12-14 hour days?

Definitely not.

From now on, the focus will be a well-balanced split of business time and time for health and family. No more neglect. No more monk mode. No more forget about everyone else. A nice split between work and play. Business and health.