This article was originally written in Traditional Chinese. The English version was translated automatically by AI. Read the original.
The effort entrepreneurship demands doesn't have to mean sacrifice. Let your value priorities be your compass, and protect your health, your family and your peace of mind as you chase your dreams.
When starting a business costs us our sleep, our health, our quality of life, time with our children and time with our families, who is really making the sacrifice: us, or the people we love?
We hear stories like this all the time: in the early days, an entrepreneur works sixteen-plus hours a day, pouring every ounce of time and energy into the business. A few years later the business is thriving, but they've missed their child's first steps, first words, school fairs and graduations, and maybe even lost their marriage and their health along the way. Then, lying seriously ill, they tell themselves, "If I could do it over, I'd make different choices."
We're often held captive by the belief that "entrepreneurship always comes with sacrifice." We treat it as normal, as if not giving something up means we aren't committed enough or serious enough. But is this really the only path to building a business?
Starting a business often comes with sacrifice
Choosing Again, Based on Experience
Between 2010 and 2023, alongside my main company, I also founded The Escape Artist, Taiwan's first recreational painting studio. In the first few years, I regularly spent more than fourteen hours a day at the studio. As the concept caught on and we opened a second location, things only got busier. Because I was so passionate about the value the space created, I loved every minute of it, and I even came to think of the studio as my own child.
But that was deeply unfair to my real children. They were often at home or in after-school programs, waiting for me to finish work and longing for more time with me. With time squeezed so tight, the tension between not being able to let go of work and caring about my family became a constant pressure, and it quietly wore down my physical and mental health. In the end, I chose to put my health and my children ahead of my responsibilities to the business. I handed The Escape Artist over to loyal customers who loved the brand so they could keep it going, and gave myself the chance to face and take care of myself again.
Take some time to consciously examine what you value most
It's Not About Choosing What to Sacrifice, but What to Protect
After those years of imbalance, here's what I learned: if a business is like a car or an airplane, passion makes a great engine, but it takes an equal or even greater amount of awareness to keep the speed and direction from spinning out of control.
Entrepreneurship isn't about choosing what to sacrifice. It's about consciously choosing what to protect first. If an opportunity or venture requires me to give up my family, my health, my peace of mind or my physical and mental balance, it probably isn't the best opportunity, or else I need to find a better way to pursue and run it. And when I can't find that way yet, hitting the pause button, or even the stop button, is sometimes better than just keeping my head down and grinding.
Let Your Value Priorities Be Your Compass
Rather than letting the belief that "entrepreneurship always comes with sacrifice" control you, while in reality it's the people you love who are sacrificing for your business, start by clearly listing your priorities and making conscious choices. My priorities, for example, are: health, family, business, high-quality happiness, and everything else. When I use that as the foundation for thinking about my business, income and how I spend my time, I can make decisions that better reflect my values whenever I face a choice.
Instead of asking, "What are you prepared to sacrifice to start a business?" over the past ten years I've slowly learned to ask myself, "What do you want to protect?" That question leads to completely different answers and choices.
Stop choosing what to sacrifice and start choosing to protect the people and things that truly matter
Effort Isn't the Same as Sacrifice
Starting a business does take effort, but effort isn't the same as sacrifice. As you pursue your dreams or build your business, don't forget that it's all meant to protect what truly matters: your health, your family and the values you believe in. Even if balancing all of these takes more creativity, effort and patience, that path will ultimately bring more lasting happiness and fulfillment.
A truly successful entrepreneurial story should be one where you get to enjoy the journey and the fruits of success with the family and friends you love. It shouldn't be one where you race ahead with your head down, only to reach the finish line and realize the people beside you fell behind long ago, or, even more heartbreaking, that you were the one who fell behind.
