Return-Path: Delivered-To: andrew@sterlingcal.com Received: from reseller401.webserversystems.com by reseller401.webserversystems.com with LMTP id KFNiGB5aTGjFfwcAchKAPA (envelope-from ) for ; Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:04:30 -0500 Return-path: Envelope-to: andrew@sterlingcal.com Delivery-date: Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:04:30 -0500 Received: from o31.ptr6229.mail.beehiiv.com ([149.72.184.219]:24106) by reseller401.webserversystems.com with esmtps (TLS1.2) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.98.1) (envelope-from ) id 1uQ7pN-00000002617-2ZFS for andrew@sterlingcal.com; Fri, 13 Jun 2025 12:04:30 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=mail.beehiiv.com; h=content-type:from:mime-version:subject:reply-to:list-unsubscribe: list-unsubscribe-post:to:cc:content-type:from:subject:to; s=s1; bh=6IR5CRoP2XVuCNdeMT5bxPA6cFiwqJ1dtYHQCal6Qk0=; b=DNj0QA2I92hXIqS8Ky8qzz3omvLW2XRKqWW8yODmh9t45JtkghfZe41ZZ0YWR2npgMtv 2xRiATV3qs4SrTRQ7vdlJZjX9xUxKeYPV5Rk0uXzg26xAT9Eqtxfj1h5uLvZMYe3VOzmA7 HQK1g9Yir3CQiFDx4q0gs0PqlsZcsELRzizxsF4pobcQbeU/YJrpAFkiuqkRQ5t1zfYWwd Ubl6pxJnXFgfGTYQQkAB5Jqe/vm8yUcpdSsvF/9CDntzbK5BcnoniuCfVHApGsDSx61lKv Ca8Ii/d9q9XN4J3/kabbKKBhbJuY9bX6oFbOleL6yHabN+x+OhKb0vpSL983vGYQ== Received: by recvd-64b95b6d8c-696gx with SMTP id recvd-64b95b6d8c-696gx-1-684C59F0-9A 2025-06-13 17:03:44.326589451 +0000 UTC m=+778758.173340744 Received: from NDAyMzQxODk (unknown) by geopod-ismtpd-11 (SG) with HTTP id iqN6PjPiQ4OCAKiTafj7_A Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:03:44.273 +0000 (UTC) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=e02f1d3b29ec514d3d9f87f2004f59b431cf0b3ea999bf82716c3ec2f529 Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2025 17:04:18 +0000 (UTC) From: Collin Stewart Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Stressed at work, happy at home Reply-To: Collin Stewart Feedback-ID: =?us-ascii?Q?3c80e849-492a-4bc2-8795-9265988a9775=3Anewsletter=3A3c5b97ff-00a9-?= =?us-ascii?Q?4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d=3A23270855726497d?= List-Unsubscribe: =?us-ascii?Q?=3Cmailto=3A3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d+1d17dc26-c1df-44e?= =?us-ascii?Q?0-812a-883b6ad5b6bc+3c80e849-492a-4bc2-?= =?us-ascii?Q?8795-9265988a9775=40unsub=2Ebeehiiv=2Ecom=3E=2C?= =?us-ascii?Q?_=3Chttps=3A=2F=2Ffoundersedition=2Eco=2Funsubscribe=2FeyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbG?= =?us-ascii?Q?ciOiJIUzI1NiJ9=2EeyJzdWJzY3JpYmVyX2lkIjoi?= =?us-ascii?Q?MWQxN2RjMjYtYzFkZi00NGUwLTgxMmEtODgzYjZ?= =?us-ascii?Q?hZDViNmJjIiwicG9zdF9pZCI6IjNjODBlODQ5LT?= =?us-ascii?Q?Q5MmEtNGJjMi04Nzk1LTkyNjU5ODhhOTc3NSIsI?= =?us-ascii?Q?mxhc3RfcmVzb3VyY2VfZ3VpZCI6IlBvc3Q6M2M4?= =?us-ascii?Q?MGU4NDktNDkyYS00YmMyLTg3OTUtOTI2NTk4OGE?= =?us-ascii?Q?5Nzc1In0=2EBcPQq4VfFxswk7b6VCqAy0ALgDIVxl?= =?us-ascii?Q?rVhunVSCrmBfY=3E?= List-Unsubscribe-Post: List-Unsubscribe=One-Click sId: 3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d x-beehiiv-ids: =?us-ascii?Q?{=22account=5Fname=22=3A=22https=3A=2F=2Ffoundersedition=2Eco=2F=22=2C=22campaign=5Fid=22=3A=223?= =?us-ascii?Q?c80e849-492a-4bc2-8795-9265988a9775=22=2C=22c?= =?us-ascii?Q?ategory=22=3A=22newsletter=22=2C=22email=5Fgenerated=5F?= =?us-ascii?Q?at=22=3A1749834223=2C=22user=5Fid=22=3A=223c5b97ff-00a9?= =?us-ascii?Q?-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d=22}?= x-beehiiv-type: newsletter x-list-id: 3c5b97ff-00a9-4acc-916d-c137bca24b1d x-list-owner: x-newsletter: https://foundersedition.co/p/stressed-at-work-happy-at-home x-newsletter-id: https://foundersedition.co/ x-newsletter-signup: https://foundersedition.co/subscribe X-SG-EID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2E7ozyt+tmjDsHnEocxX8pymFA2v5OOh2V4Pdr6hGVjZo99sLHT4OeEg7as?= =?us-ascii?Q?oEFtQzIa0qAOkk1QezFA4qrCcff9558yNK8x6zQ?= =?us-ascii?Q?0aLhxDCyAuB9kgcSLas3IIKR+fvCUJBBTN35wpZ?= =?us-ascii?Q?ZL2BSzjvR6Do7zOceAwvbWnCEcSk82YR9nhY8Rc?= =?us-ascii?Q?teiYvooj7zSFO9wbNN6ds1PzBi0z1mgTI5=2FIuSG?= =?us-ascii?Q?7b5oi=2F13ImqblHLm++K0xCjyavl7TJhPziyhcPi?= =?us-ascii?Q?5P5o2c6F=2FVqibhj=2F8al8+7Bt3b5nIYA9w0Df6xX?= =?us-ascii?Q?dqdamhnY=3D?= X-SG-ID: =?us-ascii?Q?u001=2ESdBcvi+Evd=2FbQef8eZF3BpTL9BgbK5wfSJMJGMsmprD1ZcmFObA4po1bG?= =?us-ascii?Q?aUE6gycJ+LfRoc8X0Wm0MSorFVcoWHrIixZYD9z?= =?us-ascii?Q?w25Z143eglkAJWbQrLxndYtch6lhNuMZWot0m0V?= =?us-ascii?Q?VT+yxX6vELhp404XtpumVUc1StDAfPkDsnv=2FLP+?= =?us-ascii?Q?YH0QpBa88RTmFCsS4U=2FO+cH93unLo0l440Scweu?= =?us-ascii?Q?rUZx4Bjrkmy9dqhOchGfqZEPaUHdXTvfU=2Frgvly?= =?us-ascii?Q?xjKkuw0VK829ngyct7gWr524=2FscpBkcXqmsw7=2FU?= =?us-ascii?Q?2cHhtxJKoau2=2FblPImhkpx1Z+lhXrgExw+Eejcx?= =?us-ascii?Q?79wrXvmsdi5k0EA8IWjVXcUlfg9cVbKCU=3D?= To: "andrew@sterlingcal.com" X-Entity-ID: u001.RuZ2+X9IBGtjUb8qq3teHQ== X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 X-Spam-Score: -12 X-Spam-Bar: - X-Spam-Flag: NO --e02f1d3b29ec514d3d9f87f2004f59b431cf0b3ea999bf82716c3ec2f529 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 Hello Andrew,=20 A few weeks ago, a client asked me something that stopped me in my tracks: = "Collin, how can you be stressed all day at work and then show up as a happ= y dad at night?" Honestly, I couldn't pinpoint it in the moment. It's one of those things yo= u do instinctively without really understanding the mechanics behind it. Bu= t then I received a thoughtful reply from a reader named Siddhartha to my r= ecent "rollercoaster" post, and something clicked. His message included a simple framework he uses to evaluate his life decisi= ons =E2=80=93 and suddenly the pieces fell into place. The answer to my cli= ent's question wasn't just one thing, but it started with a tool I'd discov= ered back in 2020 that changed how I think about success, happiness, and wh= at actually matters. But first, let me share something that happened 13 years ago that surprised= me and put me onto this journey. ## The Great Income Experiment I Didn't Know I Was Running When I quit my job to start my first company, I went from six figures to ze= ro figures overnight. This was a new experience for me because I had been w= orking 4 days a week since high school. I even worked all through universi= ty and was a full time sales rep making pretty good coin for 3 years of it.= That is to say, I had adjusted to a life where cash was always plentiful.=20 But an interesting thing happened after my salary went to 0, nothing. I tho= ught I would have been miserable but I wasn=E2=80=99t. I was happier than I= had been in the last 5 years. I was stressed about money, sure, but I was = also energized by possibility in a way I hadn't felt in years. This made no sense to me at the time. I went from upper class income to wel= l below the poverty line. Shouldn't losing all my income have made me demon= strably less happy? Yet here I was, unable to afford to buy meat and feelin= g more alive than I had during my well-paid corporate days. It opened my eyes to the fact that money wasn=E2=80=99t everything. And, de= spite the fact that I had made a lot of it, I didn=E2=80=99t really care th= at much about it. It was a very odd feeling for someone who saw themselves = as a coin-operated salesperson.=20 ## The Grocery Store Epiphany I don=E2=80=99t want to flex but just a few years after starting the compan= y, I was able to afford groceries again. But my co-founder and CTO, who had= just moved from a small town 90 minutes outside Vancouver to downtown to b= e closer to our team, was struggling. He was feeling so tight that it becam= e a massive distraction. He even admitted to me he was considering taking o= n side contracts just to make ends meet. I noticed that while I was feeling good about our finances, he was still fe= eling the stress. Here's the thing: we were both earning what I considered = decent money. The difference was that I had the advantage of a dual-income = household with my future wife working and sharing the load. I had just rise= n above what I now call the "grocery store level" because of my wife's inco= me, but he was stuck under it. The grocery store level is simple: if you can buy groceries without checkin= g your bank account first, you've hit the threshold where money stops being= a daily anxiety. Below that line, financial stress bleeds into every other= area of your life. Above it, money becomes a tool rather than an obsession= . ## The Grateful Dead Level But there's another level beyond just grocery store comfort, and it's perfe= ctly captured by a 1987 press conference quote from Grateful Dead's Bob Wei= r. When asked if success had spoiled the band, Bobby replied: "I was notici= ng the other night, for instance, that when I'm going through pistachios = =E2=80=93 the hard-to-open ones, I don't bother with them any more." That's the Grateful Dead level =E2=80=93 when you've hit enough financial c= omfort that you can afford to be slightly wasteful with small things. You d= on't stress about the hard-to-open pistachios. You don't calculate the per-= ounce cost of different cereals. You buy meat without thinking about it. It's not about being rich =E2=80=93 it's about having enough buffer that mo= ney doesn't occupy mental real estate on the small stuff. ## The Dashboard That Changed Everything Fast forward to 2020, I was part of an entrepreneur group led by my friend = Spencer. During one of our sessions, he introduced us to something he calle= d a "Quality of Life Dashboard" =E2=80=93 a simple way to track multiple di= mensions of life instead of just obsessing over revenue numbers. The concept was revolutionary in its simplicity: rate different areas of yo= ur life on a scale of 1-10, and suddenly you realize that your happiness is= n't just one number =E2=80=93 it's the sum of many parts. Here's what my dashboard looked like the last week I was in the group (it= =E2=80=99s been a while): **Area** **Last Week** **This Week** **Notes** Business 6 8 New client signed, pipeline looking strong Family 9 9 Summer break, kids are happy Partner 8 10 Date night worked wonders Physical 5 7 Back to morning workouts Mental Health 7 8 Stoicism streak going strong Friends 6 8 BBQ with neighbors this weekend The magic isn't in the numbers themselves =E2=80=93 it's in the perspective= they provide. Even when business stress hits a 3, I can see that family is= at a 9, my relationship is solid at an 8, and my mental health toolkit is = keeping me at a 7. Life isn't one row on a spreadsheet. It's all of them. ## The Compartmentalization Secret Back to my client's question about showing up as a happy dad despite work s= tress. It wasn't until Siddhartha's reply to my [rollercoaster email](https= ://foundersedition.co/p/13-years-on-the-rollercoaster) triggered this refle= ction that I could articulate it properly. The dashboard didn't create my a= bility to compartmentalize =E2=80=93 but it gave me the framework to unders= tand and improve it. The key insight is that compartmentalization isn't about suppressing emotio= ns or pretending problems don't exist. It's about recognizing that your lif= e has multiple accounts, and a deficit in one doesn't have to bankrupt the = others. When work stress hits, I use the dashboard as a mental model and remind mys= elf: "My life isn't one row." I'll repeat this phrase to myself multiple ti= mes a day during stressful periods. Sometimes I'll mentally run through the= scores for each category: "Work might be a 4 right now, but family is a 9,= my health is a 7, and my relationship is an 8. I'm not failing at life =E2= =80=93 I'm just having a hard week." This simple mantra =E2=80=93 "my life isn't one row" =E2=80=93 has become m= y go-to reality check. Slowly, it helped me keep the different areas of my = life in their boxes. Instead of letting work anxiety contaminate dinner con= versations, I can acknowledge the stress while still being present for what= 's going well. The kid who wants to show me their Lego creation doesn't nee= d to hear about cash flow problems. The wife who had a great day at work do= esn't need my business anxiety to kill her mood.=20 The dashboard doesn't eliminate the stress =E2=80=93 it contains it. It pre= vents one bad area from convincing you that everything is falling apart. ## Your Turn If you're struggling with compartmentalization, try building your own dashb= oard. Pick 5-7 areas that matter to you and rate them weekly. The specific = categories matter less than the practice of measuring multiple dimensions o= f success. Some weeks, work will dominate your anxiety. Other weeks, family stress wil= l spike, or health issues will demand attention. But when you see your life= as a portfolio rather than a single stock, you realize that diversificatio= n isn't just a financial strategy =E2=80=93 it's a happiness strategy. And remember: the goal isn't to optimize everything to a 10. It's to ensure= that when one area hits a 3, you have enough 7s, 8s, and 9s to keep your o= verall life satisfaction positive. The question isn't whether you'll face stress =E2=80=93 it's whether you'll= let that stress define your entire experience. Start measuring what matters. Your happiness depends on it. Collin P.S. What would be on your Quality of Life Dashboard? I'd love to hear what= dimensions matter most to you. Sometimes the best insights come from seein= g how others structure their happiness. =E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94 You are reading a plain text version of this post. For the best experience,= copy and paste this link in your browser to view the post online: https://foundersedition.co/p/stressed-at-work-happy-at-home --e02f1d3b29ec514d3d9f87f2004f59b431cf0b3ea999bf82716c3ec2f529 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 Stressed at work, happy at home
<= /table>
<= td align=3D"center" valign=3D"top" style=3D"border-width:0px 0px 0px 0px;bo= rder-style: solid; border-color: #FFFFFF;border-radius:10px 10px 0px 0px;ba= ckground-color:#FFFFFF;" class=3D"c">
<= td class=3D"dd" align=3D"left" style=3D"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;wo= rd-break:break-word;">

Life isn't one row on a spreadsheet. It'= ;s all of them.

<= td class=3D"dd" align=3D"left" style=3D"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;wo= rd-break:break-word;">

Back to my client's question about showing = up as a happy dad despite work stress. It wasn't until Siddhartha's= reply to my rollercoaster email triggered this reflection that I could articu= late it properly. The dashboard didn't create my ability to compartment= alize =E2=80=93 but it gave me the framework to understand and improve it.<= /span>

= <= td class=3D"dd" align=3D"left" style=3D"padding:0px 15px;text-align:left;wo= rd-break:break-word;">

And remember: the goal isn't to optimize ev= erything to a 10. It's to ensure that when one area hits a 3, you have = enough 7s, 8s, and 9s to keep your overall life satisfaction positive.

June 13= , 2025   |   Read Onli= ne

Stressed at work, happy at home

 <= td width=3D"8" style=3D"width:8px;"> 
=3D"share
3D"shar=
 
3D"share
=3D"share
3D""
<= /tr><= tr>

Hello Andrew,

Honestly, I couldn't pinpoint it in the moment. It's one of t= hose things you do instinctively without really understanding the mechanics= behind it. But then I received a thoughtful reply from a reader named Sidd= hartha to my recent "rollercoaster" post, and something clicked.<= /span>

His message included a = simple framework he uses to evaluate his life decisions =E2=80=93 and sudde= nly the pieces fell into place. The answer to my client's question wasn= 't just one thing, but it started with a tool I'd discovered back i= n 2020 that changed how I think about success, happiness, and what actually= matters.

But first, le= t me share something that happened 13 years ago that surprised me and put m= e onto this journey.

The Great Income Experiment I Didn't Know I= Was Running

When I qu= it my job to start my first company, I went from six figures to zero figure= s overnight. This was a new experience for me because I had been working 4 = days a week since high school. I even worked all through university and was= a full time sales rep making pretty good coin for 3 years of it. That is t= o say, I had adjusted to a life where cash was always plentiful.

But an interesting thing happene= d after my salary went to 0, nothing. I thought I would have been miserable= but I wasn=E2=80=99t. I was happier than I had been in the last 5 years. I= was stressed about money, sure, but I was also energized by possibility in= a way I hadn't felt in years.

This made no sense to me at the time. I went from upper class i= ncome to well below the poverty line. Shouldn't losing all my income ha= ve made me demonstrably less happy? Yet here I was, unable to afford to buy= meat and feeling more alive than I had during my well-paid corporate days.=

It opened my eyes to t= he fact that money wasn=E2=80=99t everything. And, despite the fact that I = had made a lot of it, I didn=E2=80=99t really care that much about it. It w= as a very odd feeling for someone who saw themselves as a coin-operated sal= esperson.

The Grocery Store Epiphany

I don=E2=80=99t want to flex but just a few years after startin= g the company, I was able to afford groceries again. But my co-founder and = CTO, who had just moved from a small town 90 minutes outside Vancouver to d= owntown to be closer to our team, was struggling. He was feeling so tight t= hat it became a massive distraction. He even admitted to me he was consider= ing taking on side contracts just to make ends meet.

I noticed that while I was feeling good about= our finances, he was still feeling the stress. Here's the thing: we we= re both earning what I considered decent money. The difference was that I h= ad the advantage of a dual-income household with my future wife working and= sharing the load. I had just risen above what I now call the "grocery= store level" because of my wife's income, but he was stuck under = it.

The grocery store l= evel is simple: if you can buy groceries without checking your bank account= first, you've hit the threshold where money stops being a daily anxiet= y. Below that line, financial stress bleeds into every other area of your l= ife. Above it, money becomes a tool rather than an obsession.

The Grateful Dead Le= vel

But there's an= other level beyond just grocery store comfort, and it's perfectly captu= red by a 1987 press conference quote from Grateful Dead's Bob Weir. Whe= n asked if success had spoiled the band, Bobby replied: "I was noticin= g the other night, for instance, that when I'm going through pistachios= =E2=80=93 the hard-to-open ones, I don't bother with them any more.&qu= ot;

That's the Grat= eful Dead level =E2=80=93 when you've hit enough financial comfort that= you can afford to be slightly wasteful with small things. You don't st= ress about the hard-to-open pistachios. You don't calculate the per-oun= ce cost of different cereals. You buy meat without thinking about it.

It's not about being ric= h =E2=80=93 it's about having enough buffer that money doesn't occu= py mental real estate on the small stuff.

The Dashboard That Changed E= verything

Fast forward= to 2020, I was part of an entrepreneur group led by my friend Spencer. Dur= ing one of our sessions, he introduced us to something he called a "Qu= ality of Life Dashboard" =E2=80=93 a simple way to track multiple dime= nsions of life instead of just obsessing over revenue numbers.

The concept was revolutionary in it= s simplicity: rate different areas of your life on a scale of 1-10, and sud= denly you realize that your happiness isn't just one number =E2=80=93 i= t's the sum of many parts.

Here's what my dashboard looked like the last week I was in the= group (it=E2=80=99s been a while):

<= table class=3D"table" width=3D"100%" style=3D"border-bottom-width:1px;borde= r-collapse:collapse;border-left-width:1px;border-right-width:1px;border-top= -width:1px;table-layout:fixed;">

= Area

Last Week

This Week

Notes

Business

6<= /p>

8

New client signe= d, pipeline looking strong

Family<= /span>

9

9<= /p>

Summer break, kids are happy

Partner

8

10

<= p style=3D"mso-line-height-alt:150.0%;padding:0px;text-align:left;word-brea= k:break-word;">Date night worked won= ders

Physical

5

7

Back to morning workouts

M= ental Health

7

8

Stoicism streak going strong

Friends

8

BBQ w= ith neighbors this weekend

The magic isn't in the numbers themselves =E2=80= =93 it's in the perspective they provide. Even when business stress hit= s a 3, I can see that family is at a 9, my relationship is solid at an 8, a= nd my mental health toolkit is keeping me at a 7.

The Compartmentalization Secret

The key insight is that= compartmentalization isn't about suppressing emotions or pretending pr= oblems don't exist. It's about recognizing that your life has multi= ple accounts, and a deficit in one doesn't have to bankrupt the others.=

When work stress hits,= I use the dashboard as a mental model and remind myself: "My life isn= 't one row." I'll repeat this phrase to myself multiple times = a day during stressful periods. Sometimes I'll mentally run through the= scores for each category: "Work might be a 4 right now, but family is= a 9, my health is a 7, and my relationship is an 8. I'm not failing at= life =E2=80=93 I'm just having a hard week."

This simple mantra =E2=80=93 "my life = isn't one row" =E2=80=93 has become my go-to reality check. Slowly= , it helped me keep the different areas of my life in their boxes. Instead = of letting work anxiety contaminate dinner conversations, I can acknowledge= the stress while still being present for what's going well. The kid wh= o wants to show me their Lego creation doesn't need to hear about cash = flow problems. The wife who had a great day at work doesn't need my bus= iness anxiety to kill her mood.

The dashboard doesn't eliminate the stress =E2=80=93 it conta= ins it. It prevents one bad area from convincing you that everything is fal= ling apart.

Your Turn=

If you're struggl= ing with compartmentalization, try building your own dashboard. Pick 5-7 ar= eas that matter to you and rate them weekly. The specific categories matter= less than the practice of measuring multiple dimensions of success.=

Some weeks, work will dominat= e your anxiety. Other weeks, family stress will spike, or health issues wil= l demand attention. But when you see your life as a portfolio rather than a= single stock, you realize that diversification isn't just a financial = strategy =E2=80=93 it's a happiness strategy.

The question isn't whet= her you'll face stress =E2=80=93 it's whether you'll let that s= tress define your entire experience.

Start measuring what matters. Your happiness depends on it.

Collin

P.S. What would be on your Quality of Li= fe Dashboard? I'd love to hear what dimensions matter most to you. Some= times the best insights come from seeing how others structure their happine= ss.

3D"y=3D"in"
 
<= /tr>

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