How to Do Hard Things

If you’re a founder, dealing with stress and uncertainty is an inevitable part of your day-to-day life—but that doesn’t mean burnout and misery have to be. When Casey Rosengren discovered acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), an evidence-backed tactical framework from behavioral psychology, his entrepreneurship was transformed. We’re delighted to republish Casey’s first—and most popular—piece for Every, about how ACT helped him confront his perceived weaknesses as a founder.

Mindfulness is one of the easiest ways to build up the skills described in this piece, so if you’re interested in developing this practice for yourself, sign up for his new course The Hidden Discipline. The cost is normally $1,000, but Every subscribers can register now for just $699. —Kate Lee

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When I started a company in my early twenties, I didn't have a great way of dealing with uncertainty and stress. Even though we bootstrapped the company to an exit, I was miserable a lot of the time and, when I finally moved on, I wasn't sure I'd ever want to start another business.

Entrepreneurship felt like a calling, yet my lived experience had often been quite painful. I spent years in traditional talk therapy and reading self-help books to try and make sense of my life, but I still felt stuck. I couldn't see myself being happy starting another company, but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

I'd always been a bit of a psychology nerd—I originally got into meditation after reading a meta-analysis of its positive effects. So, one day, I stumbled upon a book, Values in Therapy, that explored a little-known framework from behavioral psychology. That was a lightbulb moment for me. I suddenly understood why I was so unhappy while running my last company, and I began to see how I might be able to approach the stress and uncertainty of entrepreneurship in a new way: one that was life-giving instead of soul-sucking.