Many entrepreneurs live in a bizarre paradox: the money is there, the business is growing, but they have no life. I spent 11 years in this exact state—constantly working, never seeing the light of day, and eventually realizing that I would simply fall apart if I kept going at that pace.
Today, my team has over 250 people with branches across multiple countries, yet I still have plenty of time for myself. My son is now eight months old, and because I work from a home office, I can spend time with him both in the morning and during lunch. This is a stark contrast to how my daughter grew up 17 years ago, when I would leave for work at dawn and return late at night. The journey from that total burnout to my current balance has nothing to do with traditional time management. The root causes and solutions run much deeper.
The Point of No Return
About 11 years ago, I moved to New York to open our US branch. Simultaneously, we were launching an office in Taiwan while continuing to expand our network in the CIS. It was a period of immense pressure; on top of typical business challenges, I faced a new cultural environment and a language barrier.
Although I had been interested in spiritual practices and self-development since my 30s, it was at age 45 that I hit a severe crisis. I felt myself breaking down—both physically and mentally. That was when I asked myself a simple question: “What for?” What is the point of building a global company if you aren’t actually living? Right then, I established a core truth for myself: my emotional, physical, and mental well-being is my business’s primary capital.
A founder’s energetic state directly dictates the strategy, the success of negotiations, and the future of the entire team. If I am drained, we won’t close deals, we won’t attract investors, and the company will collapse. I looked at myself through the eyes of an investor and realized that this particular asset required serious investment.
This philosophy isn’t just a personal choice; it is the standard for world-class leaders. For instance, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos openly states that as a senior executive, he is paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions.
Bezos sticks to an eight-hour sleep rule and sets aside his mornings for “puttering time”—having breakfast with his family and drinking coffee—avoiding any important meetings before 10 a.m. His logic is simple: if you are tired and sleep-deprived, the quality of your decisions plummets. At Amazon’s scale, the cost of a mistake is too high, so Bezos believes it is better to make three excellent decisions a day than a hundred mediocre ones while exhausted. I couldn’t agree more: a leader’s state of mind is a lever that either accelerates the entire system or breaks it.
Productive Time and Investing in Yourself
My transformation began with English. Many people ask how I reached a proficiency level that allows me to speak at international conferences. The secret is simple: I carved out the time for it.
I recognized that my most productive time for learning was in the morning, so I blocked off one hour, six days a week. My business obligations and old habits practically screamed in protest, as mornings were the most critical window for communicating with overseas branches due to time zone differences. However, I was convinced that this was an investment on which my entire future depended.
Freedom begins with a Google Calendar and reminders that you refuse to surrender to work tasks under any circumstances. Later, regular physical exercise and other restorative practices joined English on my schedule.
It is important to note here that I could only afford to focus on myself because my business was already profitable. At the time, I had 11 branches across the CIS, and they operated like a well-oiled machine.
This wasn’t due to innate talent, but rather the result of implementing a systematic approach. To prevent a company from relying entirely on its founder’s manual oversight, it must be structured properly. Only when the business stopped requiring my round-the-clock presence was I able to navigate the launch phase in a new culture much faster, without getting stuck on a hamster wheel.
The Illusion of Having No Time
The most common excuse I hear is, “I don’t have time.” A profound understanding of what that phrase actually means only hit me a few years ago.
Saying “I don’t have time” is a superficial excuse. In reality, it means only one thing: “This is not a priority for me.” This isn’t an issue of time management; it’s an issue of values. How do you view yourself—as someone meant to serve everyone else’s interests, or as someone who has intrinsic value?
From childhood, we are conditioned to believe that spending time on personal pleasure is selfish. We are told that we must serve society, family, and the state. This mindset benefits the status quo because systems require compliant people. It took me many years to realize that life is meant to be enjoyed. I am not talking about cheap consumerism, but rather a deep appreciation of the moment—the ability to sit on an ocean shore, listen to the crashing waves, and fully soak it in.
Your well-being is the foundation upon which your empire stands. Invest in it just as seriously as you would in marketing or product development. And remember: you will always find time for the things you truly value.
