Looking for a break...
(image: xkcd.com/290)
I've been working insanely hard on the "work" slice of my life-pie-chart for the past four years. Before then I was certainly working hard, but these past four years belong in a league of their own. In my efforts towards building a tech business without outside investment I've been through lots of ups and downs and burned more than my share of the midnight oil.
And I'm ready for a break.
Because my companies haven't taken investments, we call all of the shots. This may have cost our journey some in terms of speed, but we've enjoyed a very manageable growth. There are always a thousand things we could be doing, but our product has grown to a mature stage which no longer requires daily watering. Luckily we're not at the mercy of endless rounds of funding.
Apart from being on a stupidly tight budget (to which I owe many thanks and condolences to my wife), I feel like I've been pretty good about ensuring that life gets enjoyed along the way. That being said, I'd really like to reclaim some of this life-pie slice and enjoy doing nothing for a while. I'd love to eat out without worrying about spending the money. The other day I picked up my first fiction book in a really long time--it felt really good to do some reading again. I'd love to buy something for my wife and/or myself that's expensive and purely for leisure. I know that sounds superficial, but these are honest feelings and I can't deny that they exist.
I'd love to step away from coding for a while and I'd love to not answer business emails every day. I say all of this even though I have been purposefully slowing down lately. I've allowed myself shorter work days, less intense release cycles, and less thinking about work after hours. And I've never believed that every startup must go through the rites of passage that you hear commonly, where developers are high on energy drinks and business meetings are so intense that they decide the entire fate of the company.
And yet, I'm not quite to the point of being able to take a break. Our revenue isn't strong enough and there's too much in my to-do pile. But things are definitely moving in the right direction.
