Almost all the founders and entrepreneurs I have worked are high achievers: they passionately pursue their goals in the belief that success will give them the key to happiness, fulfilment, self-worth and joy.
High achievers place high expectations on themselves, and derive their sense of self-worth from accomplishments.
Often, directly correlated to this drive and ambition, is a feeling of guilt. Founders feel guilty when they relax or take time off, but equally feel guilty for overworking and not spending enough time with their loved ones. It’s catch 22. Either way, the guilt is there.
The Causes
Founders’ guilt naturally occurs when you are dedicated and committed to your business.
The main causes of founders’ guilt:
High achiever mindset: desire to reach ambitious goals as quickly as possible
Fear of getting behind: always so much to do, can’t afford to lose track.
Fear of missing out: if you take time off, you might miss opportunities, not worth the risk.
Comparison trap: everybody else is doing so amazingly, gotta keep it up.
Identity fusion: founders merge with their work, and make their life work-focused, and work-centered.
Fear of failure: always looming in the background the fear of failure leads to overwork, guilt and on-going pressure.
Role model: if the team is working hard for the business and project, then as a founder you need to work twice as hard to show the example.
Success image: pressure to maintain a ‘successful image’. working hard is equated with success and founders want to look successful and believe that overworking makes them look more successful.
Myth of hustle = success: believing that the longer hours equal the more success when actually productivity radically dips when overworking.
Some key signs of founders guilt:
Not being able to switch off during evenings & weekends
Working evenings or weekends
Taking a break or time off feels ‘wrong’
Ongoing feeling of not doing enough
Struggling to ask for help
Often disappointed in your productivity and outcomes
Constant feeling of lack of time
Other areas of your life are a struggle
The Paradox
Founders’ guilt is a background noise in your mind, constantly whispering that you should be working or doing something productive with your time.
The first few years of building a business are spent obsessing over work, dreaming of work, and living only for your work.
Then, as you stay longer with your business, you enter a new phase when you discover life outside of work also matters, and private life catches up and then the guilt is two-fold: guilty for under-working, guilty for overworking.
The paradox?
Founders believe that the guilt is helping them by ‘pushing’ them to work more, even in the harder times.
The truth is guilt is holding you back from growing.
When you kick start your business, it requires pouring in your time & energy but as you grow & build, your business needs more strategic thinking, and clarity.
By overworking because of the on-going guilt, you are getting stuck in the weeds: the day-day work, and yet the business requires stepping out from the day-day to have a clear picture of the whole business, a strong strategy and direction.
Business growth always requires slowing down, working less, and zooming out.
Guilt leads to overwork, and prevents you from slowing down, resting and seeing the full picture.
The Way Out
The way out of chronic founders guilt comes from 3 perspective resets:
YOU are not your business
When you separate your identity from your work, it relieves some of the pressure. Your business failures and not your personal failures.
You are so much more than your business, and your life is so much more than your work.
Once you step out and see this with clarity, it becomes a lot easier to take time off, rest more and prioritise other aspects of your life.
REST is a part of performance
Just like athletes, founders need rest in order to fuel their performance.
You can make rest a fundamental part of your work, and observe the ripple effect it has on your performance.
SLOWING DOWN = speeding up
As you take your foot off the gas, slow down, and become more present. You’ll notice that you can work a lot less hours, and yet accomplish more, because you have greater clarity of mind, and make better decisions.
Redefine what your business day-day looks like, what success on a daily basis looks like. Nobody started a business to work around the clock, to feel always guilty and always behind. That’s just no way to work or live. Instead of aiming for the moon each day, then feeling disappointed and guilty, define realistic daily goals, and stick to them. Less is more!
Enjoy the journey,
Katie
I think fear of failure is big factor that causes founder’s guilt for me.