Productive vs. toxic stress
⚡ Productive stress feels like: "This is hard, but I can figure it out."
Your heart rate elevates, but your thinking stays sharp.
You feel energized after tackling the challenge, and you sleep well that night. You're stretching your capacity, not breaking it.
📛 Toxic stress feels like: "This is impossible, and I'm drowning."
Your mind races but can't focus.
You feel depleted even after small wins, and your sleep is restless or non-existent.
You're operating beyond your recovery capacity, and your nervous system is stuck in survival mode.
Founders need rythm
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞.
It has 𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘮. It has 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸. It knows when to crash and when to recede.
Most founders try to be the wave; 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞, 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲.
The best founders learn to be the ocean; 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲, 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.
Impostor syndrome
The more you achieve, the more you feel like you're fooling everyone.
𝘞𝘩𝘺? Because your standards rise faster than your self-perception.
Last year's impossible goal becomes this year's minimum expectation.
Your brain focuses on the gap between where you are and where you think you should be, not how far you've actually come.