The hardware/software frame is so useful. I'd add one layer underneath both: the nervous system is the operating system. I was a top enterprise seller at Salesforce and Cisco, and I could sleep eight hours and still be running on survival mode. What changed it for me was learning to regulate, not working fewer hours. I wrote about the questions founders should ask before their next level of growth here: paigerothschild.substack.com/p/the-7-questions-every-founder-and
I agree that burnout is rarely only a workload problem, and the hardware/software framing is a useful one for founders. One thing I'd add from the physiology side: burnout is often less about how hard you push and more about whether your nervous system ever gets a signal that the push is over. Momentum feels energising, but if every free three hours carries guilt, the body never fully shifts into recovery, and sleep is usually where that shows up first. The skill, in my experience, isn't only choosing the right work. It's learning to recognise when "I'm fine" is really adrenaline doing the talking.
Sleep first on the hardware list is right. So fundamentally important. The input I'd add is the couple of drinks a lot of driven people use as their off switch at night. It feels like a good approach at the time, but it breaks up sleep, so patience drops and Monday is slow. From the outside that loop looks a lot like burnout.
Great article, Sharran, and so true.
I can't tell you how many times people have told me, "Be careful, you'll burn out."
But the one thing these people fail to realize is that I love what I do so to me it's not work and I could spend all my waking hours doing it.
Second I ruthlessly prioritize physical and mental health.
So good. Part of finding joy in something is being able to see progress. Love this perspective.
Really like how you put all this brother. Appreciate you sharing.
This line hiitttsss.
“Balance implies you’re not moving or creating momentum.”
Reading this after a month with more than one 3 am finish. The line that getting a bunch of stuff done never actually ends is uncomfortably accurate.
Thank you 🙏 Sharan Sir 😀 for these profound insights.....
The hardware/software frame is so useful. I'd add one layer underneath both: the nervous system is the operating system. I was a top enterprise seller at Salesforce and Cisco, and I could sleep eight hours and still be running on survival mode. What changed it for me was learning to regulate, not working fewer hours. I wrote about the questions founders should ask before their next level of growth here: paigerothschild.substack.com/p/the-7-questions-every-founder-and
I agree that burnout is rarely only a workload problem, and the hardware/software framing is a useful one for founders. One thing I'd add from the physiology side: burnout is often less about how hard you push and more about whether your nervous system ever gets a signal that the push is over. Momentum feels energising, but if every free three hours carries guilt, the body never fully shifts into recovery, and sleep is usually where that shows up first. The skill, in my experience, isn't only choosing the right work. It's learning to recognise when "I'm fine" is really adrenaline doing the talking.
So much of this hit for me… this first and foremost: “I stopped optimizing for comfort and I started optimizing for momentum.”
Thank you for sharing this, Sharran.
Sleep first on the hardware list is right. So fundamentally important. The input I'd add is the couple of drinks a lot of driven people use as their off switch at night. It feels like a good approach at the time, but it breaks up sleep, so patience drops and Monday is slow. From the outside that loop looks a lot like burnout.