The Sacrifice of Time Spent Elsewhere

There are 7 billion people in the world. You won’t be the first or the last to have your idea, and if you want to be first to market, you need to devote yourself fully to building it fast. As an entrepreneur, you have to make sacrifices to make your work happen. The more time you devote, the quicker you can bring your idea to life. The longer you take, the more time you give to both known and unknown competitors.

On the pie chart on the left, shade in how you’re currently spending your time. Say you spend 6 hours a day sleeping — that leaves you with 126 hours a week. Think about how much that time is spent with friends, family, your day job, hobbies and your startup idea.

Then fill in the pie chart on the right. Keep in mind you’ll want to spend about 80 hours a week working on your startup. From there, figure out the kinds of sacrifices you’ll need to make to commit to your idea.