Auf dem Weg des Gründens sind "Startup Inc." und "Yourself Ltd." gleichermaßen wichtig.

When it comes to "sustainability", many people think it means environmental protection, using less plastic, and cycling to work. These are certainly important. However, for entrepreneurs, they are both the "high carbon footprint group" due to frequent business trips and the "culture shapers" that employees follow. With this "dual identity", "sustainability" not only means environmental protection but also a lifestyle that has a long - term impact on personal physical and mental health, as well as the development of the enterprise and society.

It's like running two companies: one is called "Startup Inc.", and the other is "Yourself Ltd.". The former is maintained through business operations and management, while the latter depends on your physical condition, emotions, and time allocation. If "Yourself Ltd." is poorly managed, even if "Startup Inc." is booming, there will be many hidden dangers.

Therefore, entrepreneurs need to find their own "sustainable lifestyle".

Sustainability is an aesthetic of lifestyle

Globally, there are numerous efforts to promote sustainable lifestyles, whether at the individual or community level. In the mainstream system, the following practices and manifestations are quite common:

1. Minimalism: Discard unnecessary items and only keep those that are truly important and valuable, thereby achieving physical and mental relaxation and freedom, and bringing more inner peace and satisfaction. It advocates the concept of "less is more" and simplifies life to its most essential state.

2. Digital Minimalism: Reduce dependence on electronic devices and social media, minimize unnecessary digital distractions, optimize the use of time and energy, and focus on more meaningful interactions and activities, such as creation, reading, or communication, to enjoy a more fulfilling and real - life experience.

3. Slow Living: It is a way to counter the fast - paced life, advocating slowing down the pace of life and enjoying every detail to improve the quality of life. This concept extends beyond daily life to aspects such as diet and travel. The slow - food movement emphasizes using local, fresh, and healthy ingredients and opposes fast - food culture. Slow travel advocates in - depth experience of the destination culture rather than hasty tourist check - ins.

4. Zero Waste Living: It is a lifestyle that minimizes waste generation and resource consumption, advocating reduction, reuse, and recycling. This concept involves small daily habits and encompasses broader environmental responsibilities. By purchasing reusable products, avoiding single - use plastics, and composting at home, people can actively practice zero - waste living and reduce the negative impact on the environment.

5. Self - Sufficient Living: It is a lifestyle that reduces external dependence through self - production and resource conservation. This concept emphasizes self - supply and advocates a more environmentally friendly and sustainable living model. For example, growing vegetables on urban balconies or in backyards and making handmade household products can not only reduce living costs but also improve the quality and fun of life, enhancing the sense of control and satisfaction.

6. Eco Living: Eco living emphasizes reducing the impact on the environment and improving the quality of life through environmental protection behaviors and sustainable practices. Using renewable energy, buying organic products, and participating in environmental protection activities are all important ways to achieve eco - living.

7. Sharing Economy: It maximizes resource utilization efficiency through sharing, reduces waste, and achieves both economic and ecological benefits. This concept not only focuses on the effective use of resources but also promotes social interaction and cooperation through sharing platforms.

8. Wellness Lifestyle: It improves the overall health level and quality of life through a healthy diet, regular exercise, and mental care. This concept not only focuses on physical health but also emphasizes mental balance and happiness. The wellness lifestyle is an attitude towards life that pursues overall well - being, helping people find balance and tranquility in the fast - paced modern life.

Incorporate sustainability into 24 hours

For entrepreneurs, it's difficult to adhere to "minimalism" and "wellness" in daily details due to their busy lives. Therefore, we should "systematize" and "automate" some key sustainable behaviors. To create a "personal operating system" that can both fuel the company's growth and nourish one's own energy, you can refer to the following four suggestions:

1. Body: Can your "hardware" stay online continuously?

• Sleep: Ensure sufficient sleep time. If you sleep less than 6 hours for two consecutive nights, the decision - making efficiency of the prefrontal lobe of the brain will decline.

• Exercise: 150 minutes of moderate - intensity exercise per week can improve insulin sensitivity, reducing blood sugar fluctuations caused by diet after staying up late.

• Diet: A breakfast containing sufficient protein, good fats, and low - GI carbohydrates can keep the blood sugar curve stable until noon, preventing drowsiness at 11 a.m.

2. Emotions: Does your "operating system" often crash?

• Emotions: Add a 15 - minute "purposeless window" to your schedule for emotional adjustment.

• Socializing: Set a "social cleansing day" to decline dinner invitations and only spend time with family. Research shows that this can significantly reduce loneliness and reset the peer - pressure threshold.

• Meditation and breathing: Before each major event, use 3 - minute square breathing (4 - second inhale, 4 - second hold, 4 - second exhale, 4 - second hold), which can reduce the heart rate by 6 - 10 beats per minute and help the rational brain regain control.

3. Time: Is your "balance sheet" overdrawn?

• Reserve high - value time: Find your two most productive hours of the day and only handle the most important 20% of tasks.

• Fragmented time: Turn waiting time into micro - learning or micro - exercise to turn "dead time" into "living assets". For example, you can listen to podcasts or do 10 squats while waiting at the airport.

4. Ecology: Is your "external interface" friendly?

• Travel: Occasionally have "zero - carbon commutes" or take public transportation, which can also increase your physical activity.

• Consumption choices: Reducing "single - use" consumption can set a visible example.

• Technological energy conservation: Set energy - consumption limits for commonly used software, models, or servers, and regularly clean up redundant cloud data to prevent the "invisible" computing - power bill from becoming a burden.

The body is the hardware chassis, emotions are the operating system, time is the working capital, and the ecological impact is the public ledger. Only when these four "reports" are all healthy can entrepreneurs maintain their "battery life" on the fast - track and avoid "power outages" at critical moments.

From individuals to enterprises, how can organizations practice "sustainable living"?

Many entrepreneurs may have made changes in their personal lives. However, when the company enters a stage of large - scale development, personal habits may spill over into the collective culture. In the past decade, our business stories have almost revolved around "faster, bigger, and higher valuation". Now, entrepreneurs can have a new narrative framework. Through the following actions, they can upgrade the "long - termism" of sustainable living from a solo performance to a group symphony:

Instead of competing on revenue, compete on "resilience"

Resilience is a strategic reserve, not a luxury. In your KPI indicators, "GMV +200%" is as important as "team turnover rate ≤5%".

Slowing down the pace sometimes makes the brand stronger

Excessive iteration means excessive consumption. Good innovation doesn't mean "a new packaging every week" but rather reducing the unnecessary demand for resources, attention, and team energy. Entrepreneurs should dare to press the "pause button" - postpone an insufficiently prepared launch and leave time for technical debt clearance or employee training. Postponing is not retreating but accumulating momentum.

"Regenerate rather than maintain"

Maintaining means "preventing the situation from getting worse", while regenerating means "making the situation better". Therefore, as an entrepreneur, when you have sufficient capabilities, you can allocate 1% of your annual budget for "ecological feedback". Adding some green plants to the office or organizing a beach - cleaning activity for the team can be good starting points.

Knowing but not doing?

Just as almost everyone agrees that "environmental protection is important for the earth", but less than 30% of people actually carry reusable water bottles every day. It's difficult to change people's deep - seated habits just by preaching. So, it's normal that we "know but don't do".

We can use some external forces to help us implement better:

1. Peer effect:

"Everyone else is doing it" is more likely to prompt people to take action than "it's more environmentally friendly". For example, changing the sign from "Please throw your trash into the recycling bin" to "95% of people throw their trash into the recycling bin" can significantly increase the recycling rate.

2. Economic incentives:

Discounts and cash - back rewards can immediately drive behavior. However, excessive external rewards can dilute the internal "moral motivation", so they should be used moderately.

3. Emotional resonance:

Stories are more effective than data, and negative narratives are more persuasive than positive ones. "A landfill is dumped into the sea every day" is more likely to drive action than "We can reduce ocean waste". Describing "2°C temperature rise" as "the temperature your child will feel when going out in summer 30 years later" can make people truly feel the urgency.

Sustainable living is not just a rhetorical device in written materials; it is becoming a competitive advantage. Nowadays, investors are more willing to invest in "resilient models", talents choose employers based on "psychological and ecological fit", and consumers are more loyal to "slow and sincere" brands than to promotional stimuli.

If you have already practiced "keeping your drawers minimalist, taking a few kilometers of slow walks every day, and having a balanced lunch" in your life, start from today to spread these small actions into team consensus. If you're still exploring, you can pick one thing and add it to your schedule: a Walk & Talk on Wednesday, a "packaging - free week" next month, or a 1% ecological feedback fund at the end of the year. No matter the scale, every real change starts with the first step.

As an entrepreneur, you are both an experimenter and a narrator. When you make sustainability a part of your daily life, the company's culture and business model will also quietly develop in the same direction.

Let's start with a 10 - minute walk tomorrow morning.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Sequoia Capital" (ID: Sequoiacap), author: Hong Shan. Republished by 36Kr with permission.