[dropcap]Life[/dropcap] as an entrepreneur has its ups and downs. You can be celebrating small success milestones one month and the next looking for customers. Some people even say you have to be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur as life is not always as glamorous as projected in tech media. Where it’s easy to get caught up raising venture capital and the opportunity of success without considering the risk. Sadly for some entrepreneurs the risk can be your overall health mentally or physically.
As a “serial entrepreneur” and someone who has founded multiple incubators & programs for early stage startups I feel it’s my responsibility to educate entrepreneurs not to try to live up to the tradition of working all night with no sleep or living the scrappy startup life but to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally and physically to prevent burn out, anxiety, depression, and an unhealthy eating lifestyle. It’s something I wrote about in a previous Wall Street Journal Article “3 Factors to Keep Emotionally Balanced As a Founder“.
The good news for entrepreneurs as you’re building products and changing the world, more resources are becoming available to support you not only to raise capital but to handle the entrepreneur life. One resource is the Startup Couch founded by two awesome “sisters” Mandela Schumacher-Hodge and Marisha Schumacher-Hodge.
The Startup Couch “teaches you how to leverage personal well-being and self-mastery techniques to “find your flow” amongst the chaos, and more effectively manage the daily pressures of being a startup founder.”
Another good resource you probably have is in your pocket… your smartphone. Well, the apps on your smartphone. I use about 10 apps a day on my iPhone to help me handle the life as an entrepreneur and making me a healthier and happier person. I like to think also making me smarter too!
The apps are:
1: Headspace App
I use Headspace for 10 minute daily meditations.
2: Coach.me
Coach.me helps you reach your goals by tracking your habits.
3: Lose it!
I use Lose it! to track my daily calories.
4: iMoodJournal
iMoodJournal helps me track my mood such if I’m happy, sad or angry.
5: Spotify
Music.. #thatisall
6: Jawbone Up
I use Jawbone band and app to track my sleep and water intake.
7. Apple Watch Activity App
It’s the best fitness, steps and workout tracker.
8. All-In-Yoga
I use All-In-Yoga to stretch and “yoga” about three times a week in an eight minute custom workouts.
9. Evernote
Evernote is my life journal I use to write down how I feel, create emotional notes and reminders on self-confidence.
10. Nike’s Running App
I’ve been using Nike Running app since the first iPhone was released. Even though I have MapMyRun+, Runtastic and Runkeeper installed. I like Nike Running app the best. Since it’s cold outside in SF right now I don’t run outside that much and use the Apple Watch to track my runs on the treadmill.
11. Insight Timer
Insight Timer is another meditation app. It’s more community focus with a custom timer. I often use it simultaneously when I use Headspace App.
