3 Meditation Techniques for Founders and Startup Operators
(1) The RAIN Technique: an article written by Tara Brach, the woman who developed RAIN about her experience of it along with a guided meditation embedded in it. https://www.mindful.org/investigate-anxiety-with-tara-brachs-rain-practice/
(2) For other guided meditations, this is a link on Kristin Neff's Self-Compassion website.
https://self-compassion.org/category/exercises/#guided-meditations
(3) This one called Soften, Soothe and Allow is most similar to RAIN:
https://self-compassion.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/softensootheallow_cleaned_01-cleanedbydan.mp3
Mental Health for FOUNDERS + OPERATORS
The numbers of mental health for entrepreneurs
72% of founders struggle with mental health.
37% suffer from anxiety.
36% experience burnout.
10% have panic attacks.
54% of founders are very stressed about their businesses, with fear of failure being the main stressor.
81% of founders hide their stress, fears and challenges from others, and more than half hide their stress from their co-founders.
77% of founders refuse to seek professional help. Younger founders hold greater stigma seeking help. Male founders hold 2x stigma for seeking help female.
More than 50% of founders lose sleep since founding their companies, and that number skyrockets in step with the amount of money raised.
47% of founders exercise less (when they need it most for mental health) than they did before founding their companies.
Founders spend 60% less time with spouses, 58% less time with kids, and 73% less time with friends/family, and the avg. level of loneliness is 7.6 /10.
93% of founders would do it all again, even in light of so many forms of suffering.
According to a study by Michael Freeman, entrepreneurs are 50 percent more likely to report having a mental health condition, with some specific conditions being incredibly prevalent amongst founders. Founders are:
2X more likely to suffer from depression
6X more likely to suffer from ADHD
3X more likely to suffer from substance abuse
10X more likely to suffer from bi-polar disorder
2X more likely to have psychiatric hospitalization
2X more likely to have suicidal thoughts
Addressing the ongoing mental health catastrophe in entrepreneurship is a moral imperative, and for wise investors, it should be a function of doing business. Venture capitalists make their living off the blood, sweat and tears of founders. It is through their passion and efforts that we succeed or fail. We can either choose to see founders purely as a means to an end (generating returns) or we can see them as the whole people they are.“hCrunch– a must-read article.