Wellness & Sustainability
By Progression
Level 1
Is aware of the importance of sustainable entrepreneurship but regularly struggles to find balance.
The fundamentals: eat; sleep; exercise: You rarely have the opportunity or interest to consider how food, rest and exercise might impact performance.
Healthy co-founder relationships: Your discussions with co-founder are limited to short-term, tactical topics around the day-to-day running of the business.
Outside interests: Your time outside work is normally prioritised for easy, decompressing activities.
Level 2
Is able to get through each week with a smile but sometimes feels overwhelmed or anxious.
The fundamentals: eat; sleep; exercise: You occasionally makes an effort to eat healthily, get a good night's sleep and do some exercise.
Healthy co-founder relationships: You occasionally discusses bigger picture topics with co-founder such as the long term goal of the business or their current feelings about working in the business.
Outside interests: You infrequently pursues outside interests: sometimes starts a class or new hobby but have trouble balancing it with work priorities.
Level 3
Generally feels like their involvement in the business is sustainable.
The fundamentals: eat; sleep; exercise: You eat a healthy and varied diet. More often than not you exercise a couple of times per week and are mostly well rested.
Healthy co-founder relationships: You schedule regular time to specifically discuss co-founder relationship topics such as how they feel about their role and how they find working with you.
Outside interests: You have outside interests that requires active participation. You generally make time to this activity.
Level 4
Despite responsibility and uncertainty, is able to live a balanced life.
The fundamentals: eat; sleep; exercise: You always makes time for exercise, eat a balanced diet and practice good sleep hygiene.
Healthy co-founder relationships: You promote a culture of honesty, openness and empathy that encourages the discussion co-founder relationship topics outside of scheduled time.
Outside interests: You have an ongoing or important commitment to an outside interest e.g. part of a football team, coaches a junior sports team or studying for a part-time qualification. Not doing this would disappoint yourself and others.
Level 5
Builds a culture of wellness and sustainability among co-founders and management.
The fundamentals: eat; sleep; exercise: You encourage others, to prioritise exercise, good diet and sleep. You promote taking time out the day to exercise and respect others' time outside core business hours.
Healthy co-founder relationships: You pro-actively looks for ideas from others on how to improve the co-founder relationship. You see a strong co-founder relationship as the foundation of a strong company.
Outside interests: You understand the importance of commitment to outside interests as a way to counterbalance the unique stresses of being a co-founder. You encourage co-founder and other employees to find and commit to outside interests.