Building a big company? Hard but possible.

Staying healthy while building a big company? Also hard but possible 😉

Your company wants and needs you at your healthiest.

There are real business benefits to a healthy founder:

• more mental clarity and sharpness

• better emotional regulation during startup highs and lows

• energy for travel, customers, and emergencies

• rarely out sick

• endurance for the startup journey (a 10 year overnight success 😂)

• happiness! which translates to confidence, optimism, and making shit happen

It can be hard to carve out time for an important-but-not-urgent thing like your health.

That’s why I have spent 15+ years figuring out how to move, eat, and rest in the most time and cost efficient ways (including 7 Ironmans while scaling startups).

HERE ARE THE CHEAT CODES.

These are the top health-related O’Daily blogs with allllllll the tips, recipes, strategies, tiny habits, daily schedules that make it possible to infuse health into a chaotic schedule.

No gimmicks. No big price tags. Simple, actionable, manageable things that I’ve done, healthy founders do, and you can too!

TL;DR: Top 3 Things

Don’t have time to even read this article? Here are my top 3 recommendations in priority order.

1. Move more.

Walking meetings, a walking pad at your desk (<$200 on Amazon!), take the stairs, park far away and walk. Exercise is the most important factor in longevity - 3-4x more important than what you eat. Check out the eye-opening analysis in Peter Attia’s Outlive.

2. Eat more vegetables.

Change nothing else about your diet except adding vegetables wherever you can. More fiber, more water, more nutrients. Humans love adding and hate restricting so this mindset and habit is easier than other dietary changes.

3. Better sleep.

If you missed the memo on sleep, it makes you smarter, healthier, better looking, and happier with no other changes to your life.

I say “better” not “more” for a reason. “More” is ideal but if that’s not possible, make it high quality. Eye covers, cool temps, blue light glasses, morning sunshine, and avoiding late night caffeine, snacks or booze, can make a huge difference in quality with no additional time. (Pick one change to start!)

Ultimate Guide: Top 7 Blogs For Healthy Habits

6 Tiny Healthy Habits No Matter How Busy You Are

Pick 1. They are easy. I promise you can do at least 1 even if you are working 100 hrs/wk. PROMISE.

5 Ways To Eat Healthy When You’re Building a Company

The most important strategies I’ve used again and again during every stage of startup and life.

5 Fast, Healthy Lunches For Busy Startup Days

My favorite lunches — brown bag or going out. Use as your weekly meal plan.

Ditching Processed Food 101 for Exhausted Founders

Our slow journey to more (easy!) homemade foods with recipes, examples, and the list of foods we still buy pre-made.

5 Healthiest Fast Food Picks For Busy Founders (& Their Families!)

I share my go-to spots with healthy options that are easy to find, especially when traveling.

A Simple 3-Step Guide To Building Lifelong Habits

How to test possible new habits and make small, sustainable changes instead of overhauls. (I am guilty of many failed overhauls!)

Want To Be the Best? First, You Need to Be the Worst

Your friendly reminder that all new things are hard at first. That doesn’t mean it’s not working. It will get easier.

Or as my husband says, the first step of a new habit…is when you realize you forgot to do your new habit. Forgetting is the first step to remembering!

One Small Thing

I’m a HUGE believer that daily, sustainable habits beat occasional, heroic efforts.

True for health and building startups 😉

My favorite recent example that I learned from this podcast:

Walking 5 minutes every half-hour is better than walking an hour at the gym followed by sitting all day. (And the reason I got a walking pad for 2025!)

This research from Microsoft shows small breaks have brain power benefits too.

Don’t have 5 minutes? Do 10 squats. Refill your water bottle. Stretch in your chair. Tap your foot and annoy everyone around you!

Your small daily habit will compound over time. Just like your startup!

What’s the #1 healthy habit you’re tackling in 2025? How do you stay healthy while building? Any favorite tips, recipes, or tools? What’s the hardest thing to make time for as a founder?