Finding Joy In Both Work And Personal Life

Annnd we're back! I spent the last 30 days traveling with family and took an intentional break from writing. Here are 5 breakthrough lessons on how to blend work + life from my trip: 1. Break your work into components. Too many people worry about their work-life "balance" when they should be focused on a work-life "blend". For me, this means not trying to run away from "work" and rather focus on chunking it down into its various components so I can create flexibility in HOW I work. 80% of the work that bogs me down are the video calls: pitches, investor updates, 1:1's, sales calls, etc. Cutting those out left critical "deep work" that could be nurtured - vision exercises, product roadmapping, hiring definitions, intention setting - all while traveling and not available during "typical" hours. 2. Leverage downtime to create breakthroughs. Take a step back to take a LEAP FORWARD. As a founder, your biggest gains will come from exponential breakthroughs. Those moments are fostered when you are in the right mindset. Stepping outside leads to breaking up your pattern of thinking and allows for more creative discourse. This goes back to point #1. When you blend work and life....you take the restful and joyous moments of life to fuel the creative problem solving needed for work. A lot of my inspiration comes from listening to audiobooks while running or cycling. Right now, I'm loving Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday. Give it a listen! 3. You have to feed your support system. As a leader/founder/CEO - you are only as good as your team. Depending on your work style, you're probably in the weeds a lot. When you step out, it gives them an opportunity to take control and implement things the way they would like to without constant over site. It pressure tests them in some ways and hopefully it excites in other ways. You also begin to see the facets of your work that you can let go and what the team really needs you for. People want to be led and taking the time to foster motivation and alignment is more important the perfecting a few pixels. 4. Slow down to speed up. Having more time away from our product, I could see that we were doing a lot. More features, more integrations, more stuff - but how much of it is actually being used by a high % of customers? It may me reconsider how we could more narrowly focus our mission on our core functionality. I asked myself - how can we do more with less? I don't want a more employees - I want a more efficient team that gets more out of what it builds. 5. Have fun. Life is short...find a way to love what you do and do what you love. I'm a big believer in sacrificing in the short-term for long-term gain, but I also have found that you can still enjoy and appreciate that "sacrifice". Training for an marathon for example means a lot of sacrifice, but I still find myself loving the process. Your work should feel like that - requires a lot of discipline, but it's something you actually enjoy. ✌️

The Case for Fun at Work   For most of my career, I evaluated new role opportunities using a simple framework—a kind of Venn diagram where different forces push and pull: 1.   Personal Growth & Development: Will there be a willingness to invest in my personal learning and growth plan continually?   2.   Financials: How will I be fairly compensated for my contributions   3.   Work-Life Integration: How does this opportunity fit into the life I want to live? Until now, my approach to evaluating roles has always been fluid, adapting to my current stage in life. I prioritized opportunities differently based on where I was, whether that meant focusing on financials, personal growth, or work-life balance. My approach has been to create a balance between these three components. Lately, however, I’ve been thinking about a fourth component, one that I never gave much weight to before: 4.   Fun: How much do I enjoy the work? Early on, fun felt secondary—something that might happen if I was lucky but not something to optimize for. Now, I see it differently. The reality is that fun is fuel. Dr. Michael Gervais discusses how elite performers—whether in sports, the military, or business—don’t just succeed because they’re disciplined. They succeed because they love the process. They find joy in pushing boundaries, working through challenges, and solving problems with others who bring out their best. There’s something powerful about working with brilliant, caring people on challenging, meaningful problems. It’s energizing. It’s restorative. It stretches your thinking, sparks creativity, and builds resilience. It turns work from something that drains you into something that sustains you.   Of course, financials, growth, and balance still matter. But when the work is fun, it makes the hard days more manageable. The wins feel bigger. The challenges become something you want to lean into, not away from. And maybe most importantly—fun isn’t just a luxury; it’s a safeguard for mental well-being. Dr. Gervais would argue that joy and passion aren’t “extras” at work. They’re the foundation of long-term performance. If work constantly depletes you, no salary or title can compensate for it. Prioritizing joy in your work isn’t selfish. It’s a strategy for longevity. A younger me wouldn’t have considered this a real factor. Today, it might be the most underrated one.

I work almost 100% from home. And while I don’t strive for work-life balance—because it implies taking from one to give to the other—I place high importance on work-life harmony. Below are some ways that I harmonize my work and personal life: 1. Meditation each morning. Marked on the calendar (as important as meetings). It's a moment of peace— A way to start the day right. 2. Walking meetings (whenever I can) Instead of sitting through your next meeting— Try mixing it with a light walk. Productive and healthy—cool, right? You walk, you talk, you connect. 3. Walks with my wife We do our walks a little differently... One shares their thoughts one way, the other on the way back. We both get time to say our peace— Nobody feels left out. 4. 5:00PM - 7:00PM is family time Lunches, dinners, even game nights— Everything is on a schedule. Why? To ensure work doesn't overshadow those precious moments. 5. Evening wind-down routine A diffuser, maybe some ambient music… It's not just a routine; it's a ritual— To prep for the next day. 6. Having a team you can trust When I hire someone, I count on them to get the job done. This gives me peace of mind… And space to focus on the company’s vision and highest stakes hurdles. Because here’s what I've realized: It's not about cramming more into a day… It's about making each part of the day meaningful. And it's definitely not selfish to carve out time for yourself— Nor is it unprofessional to blend work with wellness. Because at the end of the day? Everything rests on harmony.