I actually don’t share that impression. The impression I get is that even for successful startups, there’s a sort of hedonic adaptation where your sights end up being set on a new goal, which then produces stress. Eg. feeling content is fleeting and it is common to always feel perpetually “behind”.
Well it’s true you do feel perpetually under pressure, and maybe behind in that there’s always far more you could do than hours in the day. (This only finally ended when I sold my first business.) So that is a level of stress, though not necessarily a very high level. Hence ‘pressure’ is perhaps the better term.
But failing is a different, far worse experience.
This is speaking from my own case. No doubt, as you mention, some people experience unwarranted anxiety/depression even when succeeding.
I actually don’t share that impression. The impression I get is that even for successful startups, there’s a sort of hedonic adaptation where your sights end up being set on a new goal, which then produces stress. Eg. feeling content is fleeting and it is common to always feel perpetually “behind”.
Well it’s true you do feel perpetually under pressure, and maybe behind in that there’s always far more you could do than hours in the day. (This only finally ended when I sold my first business.) So that is a level of stress, though not necessarily a very high level. Hence ‘pressure’ is perhaps the better term.
But failing is a different, far worse experience.
This is speaking from my own case. No doubt, as you mention, some people experience unwarranted anxiety/depression even when succeeding.