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Forget Hustle, Discipline, and Willpower: Master the Founder Energy Curve

The hidden energy pattern behind crashes, overwork, and stalled companies. Ever wonder how elite operators stay at the top for decades?

Ioan "Speed" Mateescu

Jan 13

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For Startup-Side readers who are tired of the usual burnout stories, here’s a new way to think about internal rhythms. Written from the heart, because I’ve struggled and I’ve seen many founders struggle, and you don’t have to struggle too. Some founders just look like they have it all figured out. In this piece I’ll show you why. Thanks Shashank. Enjoy. -Speed

The Founder Energy Curve

You don’t have a motivation problem. You have an energy problem.

Many founders fail because they mismanage their Energy Curve.
They sprint, they crash, they burn out.
And the worst part?

They blame themselves instead of learning the rhythm and carrying on with a laugh.

That was me. More than once.

I thought I understood everything after crashing out of my “dream job.”
But then I crashed again running my startup.

Feeling like the whole world was a treadmill set one speed too fast.
Pulling all-nighters to fix a plugin that broke after an update.
Frantically making calls to put out fires.
Sending thousands of emails...

Things got harder and harder.
And it took me over a decade to understand why.

It wasn’t laziness.
It wasn’t procrastination.
It wasn’t a lack of discipline.

It was an energy leak.

And once I saw the pattern… it became obvious.

Understand your own Energy Curve
And you can get more done in two hours than most people get done in a day.

This is how some founders build companies alongside a 9–5.
This is how great operators lead multiple scale-ups without breaking.

They’re not smarter, stronger, or harder-working than you...

They simply manage their Energy Curve better.

Before we get tactical… Here’s why this works

You see, we live in a reality that is governed by the laws of Physics.

And, I’m not gonna go in the weeds of Einstein and Feynman...

But there is a Universal Principle that affects everything.

The Principle of Least Action

Nature always finds the path that balances effort and time.

Not the shortest path.
Not the easiest path.
The efficient path.

Light follows it.
Avalanches follow it.
The whole Universe follows it.

Throw a ball and you already know its path.
Instinctively. Intuitively. Obviously.

Because your brain understands the path of least action.

But humans with free will?

We forget.

Our internal GPS that naturally balances energy gets confused.

We start mixing up cleverness with laziness.
We mistake the need for rest with a lack of commitment.
And then we steer off the clear path back into the fog of uncertainty.

But, you see...

Your mind, your body, your soul...
They’re always optimizing.

Always searching for your path of least action.

We just get in the way.

We force unnatural schedules.
We context-switch every five minutes.
We deny the system the chance to just do.

That’s why sprint → crash cycles happen.

Not because you’re weak.
Not because you “lack motivation.”

Because you’re disrespecting physics.

And it’s literally a skill issue.

More skilled entrepreneurs or operators are simply more efficient.
And it’s a very competitive world out there. You gotta run fast.
Lose focus, get distracted, waste time... You just lose.

“Lack of motivation?”

That’s the excuse people make when they realize they’re losing.

So the question is... How do we win?

How do we shape our thoughts and environment so that we follow the path of least action?

Solving the Founder Energy Curve Problem

It starts with discovering your unique Energy Curve.

I mean... I threw out there an example of daily schedules.
Did either of those match your day?
I sure hope not.

Because your schedule is yours alone.

You can’t just copy Naval or Elon or Marcus Aurelius and have it work.

The Energy Curve is your nature’s voice.
Listen to it and it’ll make things easier.

You have millions of years of experience to back that intuition up.

You can treat it like your personal performance waveform.
It’s the melody of your peaks and troughs...
The bell signaling when to act or rest.

When you move with it, everything feels smoother.
When you fight it, everything feels muddy.

And the more out of sync you are with this inner song...
The more exhausted, confused, and emotionally turbulent you feel.

Ok ok, but “how do I find MY energy curve?” you might be asking...

By listening for your patterns.
By paying attention.
By noticing.

In my case, I’m a bit different... I mostly get creative and productive after sundown.
Both sides of my family are full of night owls, so it makes sense.

Forcing myself to stick to an early bird schedule is a recipe for disaster...

Except. Biology isn’t that straightforward.
And my rhythms are a lot weirder than normal.

My inner clock seems to have trouble anchoring itself to sunlight.
And my inner day seems to be longer than 24 hours.
So throughout the year, my schedule shifts.

This has been happening for most of my life and I’ve learned to accept it...

Sometimes I’m at peak performance when I wake up at 5 and go for a run.
Othertimes I do the best work when I work all night and sleep at noon.

I can track it. I can predict it. And I can anticipate it...

And I’ve done many things to try and understand it.

Followed all the advice about healthy sleep.
Played around with polyphasic sleep.
Even attempted light therapy.

I’ve learned a lot, but only one lesson ended up mattering:
Working on a fixed schedule is simply not an option for me.

Do you have any quirks like this?

Because I realized that there are many such quirks.
And many founders have them...
But they think they’re flaws.

They’re not flaws.
They’re rhythms.

Three kinds, actually.

The Three Rhythmic Layers of the Energy Curve

From the bear in the woods figuring out when to hibernate...
To the giraffes power napping several times a day.

These rhythms expand into every corner of life.

They’re constantly singing in the background, guiding our day.

Sleep cycles, digestion cycles, even depressive cycles like SAD.

Nature does things to your body and your mind.

And successful founders respond in tune.

You can learn to do the same.

Keep fighting your inner melody and you drain your energy before your day even begins.

Learn to dance in step, and you’ll recharge, gain clarity, and enter the flow state naturally.

And they have cool names too:

1. Circadian Rhythms - the daily arc we all know about

It’s the obvious ones.

Like the (almost) 24-hour rise-and-fall loop.

For some people, it peaks early in the day.
For others, it peaks in the evening.

For some weirdos it peaks everywhere and nowhere and it’s annoying to manage...

This one guides the levels of alertness, activity, and ability at the start and end of your day.

Thanks for reading Startup-Side! Enjoying this post? Send it to a tired founder to help out.

2. Infradian Rhythms - the long cycles we sometimes track

These span weeks or months.

My creativity usually comes in multi-month arcs.

A few months of flow. Then a drop. Then I seek something new.

Sometimes it’s a 2-week sprint.
Sometimes a 9-month downtime.

Across more than a decade of listening for this, I’ve seen clear patterns...

And if you study other founders’ journeys you can spot similar ones:

• momentum cycles
• clarity cycles
• chaos cycles
• sprints
• resets

They may appear random. You may make them deliberate...
But could you align them with your own Energy Curve?

When do you usually build? When do you plan?
When is it time to take time off and enjoy some fun time?

You’re listening for:

• waves of motivation
• moments of worry
• periods of silence
• swirls of emotion
• oceans of action

And you may also notice...

3. Ultradian Rhythms - the short waves we kinda forget about

These are the 90-120 minute cycles inside your day.

They affect your attention span.
Or how long it takes to get back to work.
Or if you feel groggy or super after a quick nap.

When you push through the dip, you crash harder.
When you ride your energy wave, flow becomes effortless.

So listen carefully:

– At what point do you get restless?
– When does your focus dissolve?
– How long until you’re tired?

Keep asking yourself these essential questions.
And notice when you are in alignment...

“When am I most attentive?”
“Do I feel like socializing?”
“Is it time for creativity?”

When you’re in sync, action should feel like breathing.
You should know when it’s time to go for a walk.
Or when too much is too much.

Track them and you’ll learn.

Now...

Once you start noticing these waves, the leaks become impossible to ignore.

But this is where founders fail.

Finding Your Energy Leaks

You see... Most productivity advice only works if your energy curve matches the person giving the advice.

If it doesn’t… the advice backfires and you go out of sync.

I learned that the hard way.

I started forcing systems that were built for someone else’s biology.
I got frustrated and confused.
I felt broken.

Trying to do more only made things worse...
But it made the leaks more obvious.
And it taught me what to look for.

The gaps and tears in my Energy Curve...

There are many forms they could take.
And I suppose yours are different.
But here are 3 to listen for:

1. Background Drain

These are the leaks you don’t do.
They just happen.

Low-grade stress that never shuts off.
Thoughts that keep looping without resolution.
Conversations you’re replaying instead of closing.

Nothing dramatic.
Nothing obvious.

Just a quiet tax on your system.

You’re not exhausted from effort.
You’re exhausted from carrying weight you forgot you picked up.

While a shot of cortisol helps kick you into gear...
Sustained levels of cortisol weigh you down.
These background leaks raise its floor.

And the chronic tension prevents you from getting into rhythm in the first place.

2. Psychological Taxes

Some tasks don’t cost much energy to do.
But they cost a lot of energy to think about.

The avoidance.
The internal buildup.
The imagined collapse.

The task itself takes ten minutes.
The mental tax lasts three days.

This is counter to the path of least action.

Not because the work is hard...
But because the story around it is expensive.

Founders leak enormous energy here without realizing it.

If only you could empty your mind and just do the things...

3. Action Mismatch

And then there are leaks that come from doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Forcing focus during a social wave.
Planning during a creative surge.
Grinding during your rest time.

Nothing you’re doing is “wrong.”
But everything becomes heavy.

You’re swimming upstream and calling it discipline.

This is where burnout masquerades as ambition.
And, until you can see the leaks...
No system will save you.

I learned that by trying everything:

The science-backed hacks.
The proven routines.
The cages...

Some worked. Briefly.

But the crashes returned because I was still misaligned with my tempo.

So instead of forcing someone else’s system onto your biology…
Create countermeasures that harmonize with your own melody.

Getting Into Rhythm

Once you understand your rhythms…
And you finally plug the leaks.

Your Energy Curve goes from chaotic rollercoaster
→ to a smooth, predictable loop of least action.

Look to optimize for flow, not force.

Here’s a practical sequence:

1. Notice your state

Find a sensation. A signal. A tone.

2. Give it a powerful name

Naming states turns fog into clarity.

3. Anchor it with a definite action

Actions reconnect you to the rhythm.

For example...

When I wake up, many biological processes are already ongoing...

The sunlight tickles my eyelids and signals that it’s time to get up.
Cortisol starts flowing through me, kicking me into first gear.
My hunter instincts arise, telling me it’s time to work.

This is me entering my “Begin” state.

It’s time to get up, get out, and get doing.

And I anchor it by actively focusing on a symbol.

I clearly visualize. I pay attention to it. I exercise my ability to deliberately focus.

And once I’m fully mindful, I can overcome the friction of getting out of bed and can carry on with my morning routine.

Soon enough, I find myself in a flow state and deep work, writing words like these or preparing for the day ahead.

Later on, I enter the “Rest” state.

Screens go off.
Journal opens.
I tie off the day.

It’s time to disconnect, wind down, relax.

Deciding the next day’s first actions gives me permission to rest easy, without worry or guilt.

That’s my Circadian Rhythm.
It’s simple, it’s easy, and it lets me ebb and flow in alignment with my inner melody.

When I focus on this, and stay mindful of the leaks draining my energy...
It feels like everything is possible.

There are times, however, when I forget.
When life’s obstacles kick me off the path of least action.
When uncertainty, confusion, and dread take over, making sure I’m out of tune.

Those times are the most difficult times. The worst of times. When all feels hopeless.

Every entrepreneur will find themselves in those situations...
But don’t worry. Because the solution is simple.

Remind yourself of even a single note.

A leisurely walk.
A deep breath.
A sip of water.

Rediscover any of your anchors.

And you’ll find your way back.

As you build the connections between your actions and your Energy Curve, you’ll be able to sync up easier and easier. Until, eventually, you’ll do so at any time, just by remembering how it feels.

That’s the path of least action.
That’s mastering your energy.
That’s how you inevitably win.

Can you hear your melody?

Check out Ioan's publication

Understanding and managing your Energy curve can become the framework through which you work, rest, and succeed. For a startup founder, that means recontextualizing how you pace yourself and your projects. If this resonates, I’m interested in hearing what you think, and how it shows up in your work. Leave a comment to let us know. Check out Startup-Side and Actionsmithing for more insights and lessons on growing your business life, the best way. Peace! -Speed

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