Most of the posts on this site are merely uselessly vague, but this one is actually false.
I realize it would sound a lot nicer if I said that founders should strive to have a balanced life. After all, how can an unbalanced life be good? And yet it is probably not a coincidence that so many successful startup founders blow off everything else while they're working on the company.
The one non-work activity I think is a net win for founders is exercising. But the reason it's a net win is that it helps you to work harder.
I smell MBA's everytime I see that gobig site. They're like cops pretending to be drug dealers. The lingo is all wrong and they're a little too eager...
Even at MIT I never met anyone who could work productively beyond 55-60 hours a week for extended periods. Beyond 60 hours a week, one is merely displacing true friends with coworkers for many social activities, such as going out for dinner, coffee or discussing the news.
There is a balance that is lost - no TV; random, lazy Saturday afternoons are a luxury; spontaneous get togethers with friends are no longer so practical. But friends and other activities don't have to be sacrificed, merely structured into one's routine.
Exercising is the only non-work activity which helps people work harder? Maybe for you -- not for me. I play violin and go to symphony concerts; that keeps me calm enough that I can think through what I'm doing rather than rushing off and going nowhere fast.
I step away from the computer and take a hike in nature to refresh my perspective daily. Unbalance sounds like more like how to handle an obsession. Finding one's own balance with their work in the positive is passion.
I realize it would sound a lot nicer if I said that founders should strive to have a balanced life. After all, how can an unbalanced life be good? And yet it is probably not a coincidence that so many successful startup founders blow off everything else while they're working on the company.
The one non-work activity I think is a net win for founders is exercising. But the reason it's a net win is that it helps you to work harder.