4 Ways Founders Can Maintain a Healthy & Fun Lifestyle!
How do you build a billion dollar company? Bring a lot of energy and momentum for days, weeks, and years. Here's how.
How do you build a billion dollar company?
One day at a time.
Over 10 years.
That’s 3,650 days. (3,653 if you’re counting leap years!)
How do you last that long and have energy to tackle every day?
❌ NO: Spend 10 years grinding — sitting at a desk, in a dark room, staring at a screen.
❌ NO: Do “healthy” things that feel like another job.
❌ NO: Sacrifice your physical and mental well-being and burn out after a few years.
✅ YES: Do things you enjoy along the way that bring you health and momentum!
Here’s 4 ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a founder — while still having fun along the way!
1. Eat Foods You Like
Cross-my-heart-hope-to-die-stick-a-needle-in-my-eye, I PROMISE, you can find healthy foods that you like.
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t sit around eating raw broccoli for every meal.
BLECH.
I put olive oil and salt on that broccoli and roast the heck out of it!
Show me an adult who can’t find a roasted vegetable they like, and I’ll show you Warren Buffett or Donald Trump.
(That was a fast food joke, not a political one, okay, people?? Those two are notorious fast food lovers.)
Here are some of my favorite quick, nutritious lunches, healthy fast food options, and easy recipes.
Hate everything mentioned there?
That’s cool.
Tell ChatGPT what foods you like and ask for healthy recipes that can be made in 20 minutes or less. “Healthy” can be defined as certain carb/fat/protein splits or calorie count or however you want to be eating.
AI is my favorite meal planner!
2. Make It A Game
I love my Whoop.
Every morning I get a score!
Hellooooo, dopamine hit.
(And it’s related to health instead of social media metrics! 😅)
Oura ring, Apple Watch, Garmin, Fitbit, Reframe App, step counter…there’s 100 ways to turn health into a game!
If a tracker doesn’t do it for you, how about joining Atlanta Ventures for our (very unofficial, is-it-even-happening) six-pack challenge?
Here’s the game (as borrowed from the genius/sadist Shawn Tucker):
6 months to get “6 pack” abdominals or you pay everyone else who is participating $1000.
Now, none of us really have $1000 sitting around which means…SIX PACK OR ELSE!
(Comment below to join the “fun” 😂)
Okay, if trackers and peer pressure don’t sound like games to you, here’s one more option: play an actual game.
Tennis, pickleball, kickball, basketball, soccer, squash, frisbee, gung fu, and thousands more.
3. Do It With Friends
Social connection is really important.
Social connection outside of your startup is really, really important.
Do something healthy and make it social:
Play a game with friends.
Eat healthy food with friends.
Join a sports league or training facility.
Sign up for a race and train with a group.
Become friends with people who like healthy things.
Go on an organized outdoor adventure trip.
Come to a Founder Funder Jog - duuuuuuuh!
Yeah, it’s not rocket science. But neither are startups. (Well, unless they are.)
Doing things with friends gives you accountability, makes it more fun, and fills your emotional cup!
4. Find *Your* Must-Have Habits
Everyone has a few things that make or break their well-being. They are different for everyone.
I’d like to get something off my chest:
Meditating stresses me out and I never do it.
Yes, yes, I know it’s good for me. I’m doing it wrong. I need to practice. Blah blah blah.
It’s not my thing.
Getting a good night’s sleep…now THAT’S my thing. All grumpy days can be directly correlated to me sleeping poorly.
So, here’s the question — what are your personal keys to success that help you have a great day, feel good, and bring the energy?
If you don’t know, it’s a good reason to test things out. Here’s how I like to test things!
Here’s a few categories to trigger ideas. Within each are sub-categories, e.g. try out different types of exercise.
Exercise
Morning sunlight
Sleep
Meditation/Prayer
Certain foods or supplements
Schedule/Calendar
If you’re looking for ideas, here’s a few things that work for me:
Standing desk with walking pad (if you’ve seen me on Zoom, you know…)
Red Light (s/o Kathryn Farrell!)
Less alcohol (use Reframe to cut back and try my fave non-alcoholic beer)
Walk my kids to school (sunshine, fresh air, exercise, family time)
(NOTE: I added these slowly over time! Don’t try everything at once. 😂)
Want more?? Check out the The Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide to Staying Healthy!
What are some of your favorite ways to make healthy habits fun? What worked for you? What’s the most fun healthy thing you do??
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