How to Find Balance When You're a Startup Founder The CEO of IOVLabs and co-founder of Rootstock shares how to juggle your professional aspirations while prioritizing your health and well-being.
By Jessica Abo
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Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar's days are dedicated to taking Bitcoin and blockchain technology and turning them into tools for social transformation. While he's passionate about his work, he says choosing to be an innovator has required him to make many sacrifices.
For four years the CEO of IOVLabs and co-founder of Rootstock traveled 15 to 20 days per month. "I felt it was a necessity for the business and we achieved our goals, so I think it was worth it," he says. "It had a meaning. It had a purpose. I think that's why I went so far with this, but it cost a lot on a personal level," he added. "I lost my love partner, my family suffered, my health suffered as well." At a certain point, he says he saw he was detached from the world and he knew he had to make a change. "I said, 'Okay, this is it. I need to stop.' And then the pandemic hit and in a way that gave me the room to start regenerating my personal life and balancing out more."
For the entrepreneur out there who is where he was a few years ago, Gutiérrez Zaldívar says there are steps you can take to find balance in your life. "The metaphor I use for this is even if you are the best speed racer, you can manage to be at 300 kilometers per hour for a while, maybe a few hours, but you cannot be at that speed all the time because then you expose yourself to an accident. So you need to give yourself a buffer, " he explains. "If you do that, do it with consciousness, then you need to fall back into a healthy environment and set boundaries, not only physical but mental boundaries."
Gutiérrez Zaldívar sat down with Jessica Abo to discuss his new boundaries, how he's using innovation to change society, and his various ventures in Latin America.
