Andrew Hyde lives in Boulder, Colorado and travels frequently.

On Burning Out

I burned out.

That is tough to say because so many good friends questioned the pace of Startup Weekend. I basicly blew off their advise and went full steam ahead, scheduling a weekend straight for 7 straight weekends. It took me over a month to recover from going at this pace non stop for so long. A full month to be able to really recover, complete tasks, find neglected projects and really get excited about the project again.

I am still trying to figure out why this is really important. Today I looked back at the pages of notes and figure out lessons and trends I would have forgotten about. I love my moleskins (I give what I would love to get). It is fun knowing that you have grown (opposed to thinking or feeling you have).

I feel like I am back.

***UPDATE*** Brad Feld just posted his commentary on his experiences with fatigue and other entrepreneurs that have burned out. Micah Baldwin also wrote about this as well. I feel totally back to everything, with Startup Weekend Seattle starting in two days, a new startup off to development and working harder than ever to build community, beauty (hey I am a designer) and myself.

So what is the funniest lesson of all this? Listen to your friend’s Mom when they email you, in this case Ginger, David Cohen’s Mother:

Andrew, as a mom, I’m a little worried about you overdoing it and getting sick a lot. You need to plan a couple of weeks in a row where you can recoup.

Sorry Ginger! I should have listened!

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10 responses to “On Burning Out”

  1. Kath Avatar
    Kath

    Good to hear 🙂

  2. Sean Tierney Avatar
    Sean Tierney

    Andrew, congrats on coming back. Burnout sucks. Actually a month of recovery time isn’t that staggering- i was out a year back in 2003 when i got supremely burnt on programming. i was ready to go flip burgers because i never wanted to see another line of code (rant here: http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.cms.cold-fusion.user.azcfug/3378/).

    balance is key. glad you’re back in it.

    sean

  3. Friendly Intelligence – January 19, 2008

    […] On Burning Out –  Andrew is one of my favorite people, with the rare mix of gumption, idealism, charisma and intelligence. While the effort he has put into StartupWeekend has certainly been an example of this, his personal blog has been a little “dry” over the past several months. Now I know why, Andrew has learned the first lesson of entrepreneurship: You always burn out. […]

  4. brett borders Avatar
    brett borders

    Andrew,

    I feel your pain.

    I have burned out before and it is not a pretty sight. The intensity and infinite number of the signals we computer freaks have to process is overwhelming.

    I am resolving to take a 3 day weekend off per month and go camping in the summer. And I’m gonna sometimes hang it up and 7 or 8 P.M. – and do some yoga or something else organic that doesn’t involve a screen.

  5. The information diet, boys night out, and my mom » DavidGCohen.com

    […] is how I came to read this post from my friend Andrew Hyde talking about how he should have listened to my mom. Now, I don’t […]

  6. Julie Mathis Avatar
    Julie Mathis

    David’s sister Debbie, who has been best friends with me since we were 11 years old, sent me this blog. I am litteraly closing my very successful Real Estate office that I built into a very respectable business over 6 years. Why? Because I am burnt out. I am exhausted trying to do everything with no balance in life. I just want to run and hide where no one knows me and take 6 months to figure out who I still am or want to be. I love being a free spirit, creating and building businesses. I should have listened to Debbie way more than I did. It is always good to have someone in your life that loves you no matter what and wants the best for you. This business is not my first and I am sure it won’t be my last. But I am sure of one thing. The next business I create will have a business plan that includes balancing all areas of life!!!

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