Slowing down to speed up

I am not the kind of person who likes to stop. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with progress. I love the grind, I love building, and I honestly enjoy working my ass off to make things happen.

But recently, I learned a lesson the hard way.

For a few weeks, I was pushing the limits. I was pulling 12-hour days, jumping between university exams, shipping features at Lanaccess, and running the strategy for Express My Health. I felt unstoppable. Until I wasn't. The next morning, I woke up completely drained and feeling sick. My body just forced me to reboot.

That is when I realized I was getting the definition of "discipline" wrong.

We usually think discipline means never stopping. We think it means caffeine, late nights, and zero breaks. But that's not discipline — that's just bad management.

If you want to operate at a high level, you have to be strategic. You have to combine the hard work with smart recovery. It's like Formula 1: you drive the car at maximum speed, but you must take the pitstop. If you skip the pitstop, you don't win the race; you crash the car.

My new philosophy is simple: Stop the least amount possible, but when you do stop, make it count.

You have to be disciplined enough to work when you don't feel like it, but also disciplined enough to rest when you need it. It is about longevity. I want to be building great things for the next 40 years, not just the next 4 weeks.

So, with the holidays coming up, I am going to take my own advice. I'm going to use this time to fully disconnect and recharge the battery. Not because I'm lazy, but because I want to come back in January with enough energy to crush every single goal I have set.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a great New Year. Enjoy the time off with your people.

Let's get ready to work harder than ever in 2026.

— Jan