Many business owners write off early mornings, long hours and stress as simply the cost of being a high performer, but they can also lead to burnout. Entrepreneurs who reach that point can reverse it without scaling back their ambition, through practices that regulate the nervous system and workplace habits that keep teams from wearing down.
On today’s episode of Business Trends Today, Brent J. Freeman, Co-Founder of more than 20 companies including Stealth Venture Labs, and Author of the new book The Alchemy of Joy: The Life-Changing Method to Beat Burnout, Retrain Your Brain, and Build a Life You Love, joins us to discuss how high achievers can pursue success without sacrificing their well-being.
Chasing goals that keep moving
Many business owners put off being happy until they reach the next goal, Freeman said. They wait for the company to sell, for the money to hit a certain number, or for the client list to fill out. But once that goal arrives, a new one takes its place.Â
"We drive at 100 miles an hour on the freeway in first gear and we run ourselves in the red."
Freeman spent two decades in that cycle. He launched his first company at 21, right after graduating college with a quarter million dollars in college debt. Nearly 20 companies followed, with more failures than successes. His goal was to make as much money as fast as possible. But what he learned instead was that more money doesn’t equal more happiness.Â
Warning signs to watch for
Conditions that would alarm most people become routine inside a growing company, according to Freeman. Vision and passion make the pace feel justified, and the physical cost registers as normal.
The warning signs aren’t always visible, Freeman said. Many are ordinary enough to miss, including:
- Waking at 4 a.m. unable to fall back asleep
- Exhaustion that a full night of sleep does not resolve
- Shortness with a spouse or children
- Months without contact with close friends
- Being less present during family time
Freeman identifies the underlying condition as nervous system dysregulation. That pattern shows up across the workforce, and research on workplace burnout has found most American workers feel successful on paper without feeling successful in practice.
Two practices to start today
Presence is the first requirement for feeling anything close to joy, and it starts in the body. Anxiety lives in the future and rumination lives in the past. That leaves the present moment as the only ground available.
The first practice is a reset breath. Six seconds in, hold for four, out for eight. Freeman says the pattern signals safety to the nervous system. It works in a car, in a board meeting or in the middle of a disagreement at home.
The second comes from a TEDx talk he gave at Walden Pond. He calls it stop, see and soften. Get into the breath, focus tightly on one object nearby until the worrying quiets down, then bring up an elevated emotion such as gratitude or appreciation.
Ambition without the grind
Easing off the throttle does not have to cost a business owner an edge. Freeman points to the Daoist concept of wu wei, which describes moving with the current of a river rather than fighting upstream against it.
Vision, revenue and scale all stay on the table, but the method behind them changes, he said, starting with the company’s culture. In a healthy culture, people feel seen, wins get celebrated and everyone works inside the “zone of genius.”
Freeman’s message to owners comes down to making one day today. Keep the ambition, and keep building, but stop waiting for the finish line to enjoy how far you’ve come.
“It’s about building the life you love while actually enjoying the ride,” Freeman said.
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