100 Rules for Spending 4,000 Weeks as a Founder

Formulas#

• A life is about 4,000 weeks. A working life is about 2,000. A serious product attempt takes 50–150 weeks, so you get maybe 10–20 serious attempts. (Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks)
• Real budget = weeks left × deep-work hours per week. Most people get 3–4 deep hours a day.
• Price every project in weeks before you price it in money.
• Freedom number ≈ yearly spending × 25. This is the 4% rule of thumb.
• Bet value = expected outcome + how the weeks feel along the way. The journey counts, because it's most of the time.

Time math (1–15)#

1. Count in weeks, not years. Years feel endless. Weeks feel real.
2. Estimate every project's cost in weeks before you start.
3. You have a limited number of attempts. Make each one count by choosing easier bets.
4. Deep-work hours are the real budget. Everything else is overhead.
5. Give the first hours of the day to the hardest task.
6. One big thing per week.
7. Default to no. A yes needs a reason.
8. Every yes is a no to something else. Name what you're saying no to.
9. Finish before you start something new. Open loops drain attention.
10. Drop tasks that won't matter in a year.
11. Time-box exploration with an end date.
12. Batch small decisions into one time slot.
13. A weekly review: what mattered, what didn't, what's next.
14. A thinking week once or twice a year. (Bill Gates)
15. This week is part of your life, not a rehearsal for it. (Burkeman)

Choosing bets (16–32)#

16. Choose bets with a survivable downside and a large upside.
17. Prefer asymmetric bets: small cost, big possible payoff.
18. Build assets that compound: audience, skills, code, reputation.
19. Choose problems you'd enjoy working on for 10 years.
20. Minimize regret. Ask what you'd regret not trying at 80. (Jeff Bezos)
21. Write kill criteria before you start.
22. Explore early and exploit later. The fewer weeks left, the more you exploit what works. (Algorithms to Live By)
23. The 37% rule. Spend the first 37% of a search exploring, then commit to the next option that beats everything you've seen.
24. Run a few small bets while one grows.
25. Choose leverage that needs no one's permission: code, media, and AI agents. (Naval Ravikant)
26. Use your specific knowledge: what feels like play to you and work to others.
27. Stack skills. A rare combination beats being the best at one thing.
28. Bet on what won't change. People will always want cheaper, faster, simpler and more trustworthy.
29. Avoid bets that need everything to go right.
30. Don't copy another founder's game. Their constraints aren't yours.
31. Review your bets every quarter.
32. Quit the good for the great only with evidence, not boredom.

Energy and health (33–48)#

33. Sleep is a business asset. Protect it first.
34. Move every day.
35. Walk to think. Many good decisions come on walks.
36. Map your energy, and schedule hard work for your peak hours.
37. Rest before you need it, not after you crash.
38. Days off are fully off.
39. Keep screen-free hours.
40. Eat and drink for steady energy, not spikes.
41. Learn your burnout signals and act on the first one.
42. Sprint, then recover. Work in seasons, not a constant grind.
43. Get regular health checkups.
44. Set up your desk, chair and screen for decades of work.
45. Limit news and social feeds. They're someone else's agenda.
46. Spend time in nature.
47. Protect your eyes, back and hands. They're your tools.
48. Your body is the only part of the business you can't replace.

Mind and focus (49–66)#

49. One main goal at a time.
50. Write to think. A decision written down is a decision made clearly.
51. Keep a distraction list. Write the thought down and return to the task.
52. Do one task at a time.
53. Take distracting apps off your phone.
54. Make the next step tiny when you feel stuck.
55. Done beats perfect.
56. Act fast on decisions you can reverse. (Bezos's two-way doors)
57. Slow down on decisions you can't reverse.
58. Keep thinking time separate from doing time.
59. Keep a decision journal: what you decided, why, and what you expected.
60. Look for evidence that you're wrong.
61. Emotions are information, not orders.
62. Don't make big decisions when you're tired, angry or just after a bad day.
63. Keep your identity separate from the outcome. A failed product isn't a failed person.
64. Set process goals, like "10 outreach emails a day," not only outcome goals.
65. Tolerate boredom. Most wins come from repeating what works.
66. Ignore what you can't control. (the Stoics)

People (67–80)#

67. Have a peer group of founders at your stage.
68. Find a mentor or coach for the big turning points.
69. Put family time in the calendar first.
70. Tell your family the plan and the runway.
71. Keep friends outside the business.
72. Treat customers as people, and some will become friends.
73. Give without keeping score.
74. Learn in public. It attracts the right people.
75. Spend less time with people who drain you.
76. Help founders one step behind you.
77. Collaborate with people in your niche instead of fighting them.
78. Say thank you often and specifically.
79. Don't compare your chapter 1 to someone else's chapter 20.
80. Choose role models whose whole lives you'd want, not just their businesses.

Money and "enough" (81–92)#

81. Define "enough" in numbers. Without a number, no amount will ever feel like enough.
82. Know your freedom number: yearly spending × 25.
83. Low personal spending buys more attempts.
84. Pay yourself a regular amount.
85. Save a fixed percent of every payment.
86. Invest boringly. Save your energy for the business.
87. Don't let your lifestyle rise with every revenue bump.
88. Use money to buy back time.
89. Know your hourly value and hand off work worth less.
90. Never trade health or family for money. It's a trade you can't reverse.
91. Real wealth is assets that earn without your hours.
92. Enough plus control beats more with less control.

Meaning (93–100)#

93. Do work that matters to specific people you can name.
94. Take pride in the craft.
95. Keep learning something hard every year.
96. Leave customers, the niche and the people around you better off.
97. Write your own scorecard. Other people's metrics measure other people's lives.
98. Most of today's worries won't matter across 4,000 weeks.
99. You'll never do everything. Choose what to leave undone. (Burkeman)
100. Finishing well is also success. Selling, shutting down or handing on a business is a valid ending.