Thread by @dunkhippo33

A conversation that I've been having with a lot of my founders is around taking a vacation.

At this pt, I feel like a broken record -- I keep asking, "Have you taken a vacation yet? Are you going to take a vacation?"

A thread >>

1) Burnout is REAL. I've written about it here:

https://twitter.com/dunkhippo33/status/1440048499823820806

2) Doing a startup is a marathon. It's pretty brutal. You have to train. And you have to pace. And you have to rest. But sometimes you have to sprint. But most ppl can't sprint the whole way.

3) In fact, a lot of people don't realize that when you run an actual marathon, a lot of great runners don't even run the whole way.

Jeff Galloway is a former Olympian who hit his best time by doing a run-walk in a marathon. Yes walking.
jeffgalloway.com/training/run-w…

4) Why? Just like in a startup, there are many points in a marathon where you'll need to really run.

But you also need to be rested enough / not injured so that when you need to run, you have enough energy to do so.

5) For most ppl -- including Olympians, all of this leads to *faster times* than just trying to run the whole way.

Crazy right? How can some walking lead to a better time than running the whole way?

(FWIW, it's worked well for me)

6) The same applies to startups. @HustleFundVC which has its own startup pressures of fundraising, marketing and revenue, we are fanatical about making sure our team has enough rest.

We now grade our teammates on "how well they vacationed" to keep each other accountable.

7) What does it mean to "vacation well"? It means to

-get off the grid (don't log in / don't respond to emails)
-don't work on anything work related

It doesn't mean to even go anywhere. It just means to rest the mind.

8) I would encourage every company to keep teammates accountable and grade ppl on how well they vacationed.

In fact, rest is necessary in order *to move faster*.