Startup CEO, 2nd Edition

Chapter 54Thinking about Your Next Step

My first rule of thumb when I was working on selling Return Path, once I realized that I would most likely be leaving the company after the deal closed, was that I wasn't going to even think about what I was going to do next until the deal actually closed. I was about 95 percent successful at achieving this, but without that conscious rule of thumb, I could easily have been sucked into both conversations and brain cycles on the topic when all of my time and energy needed to go toward running the business and closing the deal.

Downshift and Take Time Off

In order to actually get down time, you need to consciously and intentionally slow yourself down. The analogy I used on myself was that I was driving a stick shift going 100 mph, and I wanted to get into third gear. You can't downshift from 100mph into fifth to fourth to third or you'll blow up your engine. And you can't just take your foot off the gas entirely, or you'll stall. You have to slow down, then downshift, then slow down more, then downshift again.

Commit to yourself that you won't start working again for X time, or that you won't even take meetings or phone calls about new opportunities for X time. It doesn't matter what X is; some CEOs I know have taken a year or more, some just a few months. Give yourself time and space to catch up on rest and exercise and quality time with friends and family. Give yourself time and space to process what you just went through – the transaction ...