I read this post on The Old Reader and the short story is that once Google Reader announced a shut down the people running The Old Reader got super busy. So busy that the owners became idiots.

Yes you read that right they became idiots.

Such idiots in fact that they stopped having a life outside of work. I’m sure at the time it was exciting but looking at the story now it just sucks.

It sucks for The Old Reader

It sucks for The Old Reader because for months they had no life outside of work. It sucks for them because when people see their name on a project in the future they’re going to think about this and wonder if they can be trusted this time.

It sucks for anyone that used to hang out with them, you haven’t seen your friends in months.

It sucks for users

It sucks for users who thought they had a great place to put their feeds after Google Reader (and from before) and now they are left in the cold.

NO!!!

So what we learn from this is the importance of NO. No I won’t work evenings and weekends just to make some customer happy. No I won’t give over my life to a product even if it has a solid business model.

No I won’t take on every little project that comes my way.

I will take my time and not burn out. Successful business is a marathon not a sprint.