Is Your Success Slowly Killing You?

Is it possible to be a successful entrepreneur and still maintain your sanity and health?

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One of the biggest pains in the butt of planting roots in a new place is that you have to find new doctors. For me, it’s an intensive approach because of an existing heart condition. I had some anxiety about the visit for a few reasons: I, like most men, hate doctors. I also had to go through a cycle of imaging which meant more paperwork. But at the root of what should’ve been a normal check-up, I was counting up in my head the amount of hours I was missing from work.

My health in that moment felt like an inconvenience because I could’ve been working or writing an article or otherwise being productive in something career-related.

Entrepreneurs are overly aware of time and sensitive to how we dole out the hours of the day. At some point, we’ll find ourselves at a peculiar fork in the road. We have enough—that is, we are where we said we wanted to be—but we’re obsessed over the “what’s next?”

It’s the obsession of success that can bring the dark cloud of unhappiness and for many of us, legitimate health problems. Success has high costs that many life-hackers and inspirational porn writers gloss over and downplay. I’ve experienced the burden of responsibility of my success not necessarily being enough to absolve me from the real-life consequences of burning out.

While many articles on success highlight the upside of chasing it and peddling you a specific type of narrative, there’s a large population of entrepreneurs who aren’t happy with who they’ve become on their journey.

Being financially independent and managing yourself as a brand means you don’t have the ability to shut down or tune out. There’s always something for you to do. There’s always a new skill to learn or a project to execute. If you’re lucky to have a staff, now you have a variety of personalities you’re trusted to handle. It’s a lot. Truth be told, nobody can teach you how to be a successful entrepreneur. They can give you the tools and the general knowledge, but you only learn what it means to succeed as a businessman through years of starting and stopping.

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That being said, how can you be successful and maintain sanity and your health?

I’ve learned that it’s important to be happy with what you’re doing. It sounds cliché, but it’s not unheard of for people to go into an industry simply because they think they’ll make a lot of money or it’ll make them socially relevant. I enjoy learning. So I chose a field that allows me to learn beyond what’s relevant to my job. The knowledge I’ve learned in the past few years, while it’s helping me grow professionally, has helped me in my personal life, particularly socially. The long hours that you have to work and the unpredictable schedule you have to keep should add value to other areas of your life.

Secondly, pay attention to your body and its complaints. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” is one of the dumbest mantras we’ve ever co-signed and passed down to young millennials. Lack of sleep has a profound effect on daily function. We think that if we go to sleep or rest too long, we’re going to miss something super important. Or we fear that our decision to take a day off means we’re not as dedicated as the next person. However, the body will betray you. If you don’t listen to, your body will eventually hit a point where you won’t even be able to pick up your phone to check emails and social media feeds.

Finally, success at the upper levels can get very lonely. I’ve met entrepreneurs who can’t keep relationships and are estranged from their families because they chose success over socialization. Entrepreneurship does bring its own social circles, but it’s hollow and quite vapid. There’s no emotional investment or honesty. Because the natural reactions are competition and comparison, it’s hard to create bonds. Isolation is mentally damaging. When you’re spending long periods of time alone (or with people who make you feel as such), you resort to a cycle of unhealthy behavior. It’s not uncommon to meet outwardly successful entrepreneurs who have had struggles with vices like alcohol and sex. You have to fill that hole with something and money isn’t the only solution.

I wonder can success and happiness exist at the same time for a long period of time? Do we ever become people who quench that thirst? It’s possible. The key is not treating happiness as if it’s the end goal. Don’t obsess over happiness as if it’s something that you have to compete for. It’s not reserved for some. Make your health a priority as an entrepreneur and happiness is the inevitable by-product.

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Photo: Getty Images