FounderFuel: Kick start 2025 with the habits that help you thrive not just survive

After a tough climate in 2024, now more than ever we need to take our body and brain health seriously to navigate 2025 resiliently. New research – exclusively on founder resilience and health – uncovers for the first time, empirical data on the resilience boosting habits founders prioritise to keep at the top of their game.

2024 will be remembered as one of the most challenging years for entrepreneurs and startup founders. With a sharp decline in funding reshaping the startup ecosystem, the personal toll has been profound. As shown in the founder health snapshot 93% of founders reported signs of mental health strain, at an alarming level of frequency – with most showing five distinct signs, and anxiety at 5x the national average. Talking to our founder family, it’s clear there was a collective sigh of relief as things slowed down at the end of the year, so everyone could get some quality switch-off time.

Wellbeing interventions aren’t easy to execute

Faced with this reality, it is easy to give founders advice that they might want to prioritise their health more, or get more rest, but it just isn’t that simple. Each founder has their own individual cocktail of complexity. Whether it is driven by the weight of responsibility, the compulsion to achieve more, the passion to make a difference, or the ecosystem bravado that working harder and longer is THE way to win… the resistance to rest is real.

57% of founders feel guilty when they stop or take a break

For two in three founders, there is a deep-rooted fear of failure which peaks at Series B stage and/or a team size of 50-249 people. Add to the cocktail that 57% of founders feel guilty for taking downtime, and it’s easy to see why telling founders to ‘take a break’ hasn’t worked. We needed cold hard data to help.

Uncovering the foundations of founder performance for the first time

Results from the Founder Resilience Research show that the most resilient, high performing founders take proactive measures to protect their sustainable high performance.  And it makes a difference: They are significantly healthier (and therefore less likely to lose working days through illness), they are feeling more motivated and confident day-to-day empowering productivity and decision-making, and they are experience up to four times less performance-blocking emotions like overwhelmed and anxiety.

Sports science has long known how to make our bodies and minds work at their best. Now we have the data for founders. The top habits and routines amongst the 400 entrepreneurs in the study proven to have an impact were exercise, downtime and sleep hygiene.

59% of the high-performing resilient founders seek out and take downtime

We’re starting with the hardest to crack, given the guilt – let’s face it there’s always more to do and the sense of urgency and responsibility weighs heavy. Yet the neuroscience is here to help. Our brains do all their best work during downtime – i.e. when not thinking.

“As soon as I totally switch off and reset [with a short break], my brain starts generating the solutions and strategic ideas I need for when I come back.”

Jeremy, founder at Collectiv Foods

Rather than idle time, as it was once thought, downtime is in fact essential to mental processing – it is an opportunity for the brain to reflect, make sense of experiences and to process unresolved tensions and problems. This is why we have new ideas in the shower, and solve problems when we walk to make a cuppa. This processing time is essential to both problem-solving and to achieving our highest levels of performance. And it’s magically working away in the background, which builds a strong argument for building in your downtime.

More than half regularly take breaks away from their desk

The most resilient high-performing founders in the study didn’t just take downtime on holidays and weekends – it was part of the day-to-day routine. It’s all about micro-breaks in your day between tasks. Given the fervent nature of most founder days, it’s easy to rush from one task or meeting to the next which rarely sets us or our brains up for optimum performance.

“I have built a routine going for walks in the countryside every morning. I find this grounds me, connects me with the real world and puts my work into perspective. Whilst I walk it gives me the space to think things through and I often do my best thinking whilst out walking.”

Louise, founder at Pikl

A microbreak will look different from one person to another (and you may have a few you employ to suit different scenarios) from a walk, to exercise, to a breathing break or creative time. Think of micro-breaks as PREcovery, rather than REcovery for keeping you fuelled throughout the day and you’ll be surprised by the headspace you start to experience.

65% of the high-performing resilient founders exercise regularly

It’s common to hear a founder say they have no hobbies anymore, but the data says this is counterproductive to our performance. 65% of the most high performing resilient founders make time for it, and in the data, exercise was the most consistent strategy overall for managing stress and fuelling performance.

Of course, making this a reality (and sticking to it) can be hard in the whirlwind of the average founder day. Advice from our founders is to block out specific time in the calendar that can’t be overwritten, and then position it in your mind as your ‘reset’ time for body and mind. It can be helpful to explaining this to your team too, which in turn, is great modelling of positive performance and wellbeing habits. and then position it in your mind as your ‘reset’ time for body and mind. Afterwards, you’re guaranteed to feel reenergised thanks to the brain-boosting endorphins and serotonin.

63% of the high-performing resilient founders take measures to protect 7-8 hours sleep

Sleep is a tricky topic. We all know that sleep is important, and we don’t choose to sleep poorly – yet sleep is regularly disrupted for nearly 60% of founders. For some, it’s that drive to do just a little bit more (“what harm can it do to work just that little bit longer?”) encroaches on the sleep routine. For others, it’s the waking up in the middle of the night, mind racing – which is the brains attempt to process everything you tried to navigate that day and getting overwhelmed.

Yet sleep unlocks our energy, concentration, decision making, emotions and leadership ability too, all thanks to the recovery and processing capacities of the brain during sleep. The good news is that the brain loves the increased heart rate during exercise, and will process things during the day during those micro-breaks – so the previous habits are already working towards an improved sleep goal. If this is an area for you to work on, assess your sleep strategies against advice from our sleep scientist Sophie here.

Performance starts with a reframe of that guilt

Now back to tackling the guilt – because none of this works if we don’t do that: When we look at the same resilient, high-performing founders further, it is interesting to see that they think differently too. When it comes to the guilt, they still feel the guilt and the pressure to ‘keep going’ rather than take a quick break. But they proactively override it, reframing their perspective to see the bigger picture and how important their personal performance is within it.

“When the guilt kicks in I remember that if I burn out, it will hurt the business more than If I look over myself more regularly.”

Ina, founder at eNOugh

So, when that guilt starts creeping in for you, or you think you’d best just finish ‘this one last thing’, instead remember the evidence and use that to give yourself permission to find your fuel. As a founder you expect a lot of yourself (body and mind) so treat yourself like an athlete and build in what re-energises you too.

Next month we’ll dive into performance-enhancing resilient thinking. In the meantime, access the Founder Resilience Report, packed full of data and recommendations, here.

To get your dose of fuel for founderhood and be surrounded by a cathartic and knowledgeable community of fellow founders – subscribe to the FounderFuel Channel here.

All articles in our Founder Resilience series

Part 1: Kick start 2025 with the habits that help you thrive not just survive.

Part 2: Insider tips from the most resilient founders on how to cultivate a strong mindset

Part 3: Coming soon