I suggest regular exercise as a part of any entrepreneur's daily routine, not so much for the physical benefit, but for the mental benefit. I recently lost 50 pounds and I have to say it's the best thing for me physically AND professionally. It builds up dedication, gives you time to think, and makes you see that hard work pays off. You won't lose a pound the first day, or sometimes even the first week. Once you do see things paying off, it usually motivates you a lot more. Applying these same principles to starting a company is one hell of a motivator.
Consistency is the most difficult part; burn-out is the enemy of consistency, and the bedfellow of overzealous beginnings. I know a lot of people who tried to go from zero to 60 in a week, and after 7 days straight of running & weightlifting, they gave up for another six months.
Generally, the longer it takes you to lose weight, the longer it will stay off. If you're losing lots of pounds over the first day, or week, or even month, be careful of burnout!
What finally worked for me was starting with 2 days of cardio per week for 2 weeks, then 2 days of cardio + 2 days of weightlifting per week for 2 weeks, then 3 cardio + 2 weights for 2 weeks, then 3 cardio + 3 weights for 2 weeks. After those 60 days, I had a routine that felt comfortable and was more difficult to avoid than maintain!
Ah, "Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". My all-time favourite read.
Funnily enough, the headline reads like the opposite of any worthwhile start-up endeavour. For things like exercise, bureaucracy, paperwork, doing the washing, shaving, the headline holds.
But for good-to-great software that needs to be shipped, too? "It's so easy when contemplated in advance, and so hard when you do it."
This is so true for me when learning a new programming language or framework. It was hard for me get started when I was trying to learn Django. But once I started doing the tutorials, it was easy.
