If you do not have a set "shut-off" time, you'll never become a more efficient entrepreneur. And you'll almost certainly burn yourself out.
I used to just work until I couldn't work any longer. The problem with this? It didn't force me to get better. If I didn't get done with something, I'd just allow it to bleed into something else. That's just sloppy—and no way to build a high-quality life.
Parkinson's Law suggests that "work expands to fill the time available for its completion." It's why setting clear boundaries, barriers, and deadlines is so damn important. And it's why the top performers understand that operating at 80–90% of max capacity allows for the best long-term results.
The Work-Life Balance Story & Lessons of a Legendary Entrepreneur The late
Dave Goldberg transformed SurveyMonkey from a small startup into a billion-dollar SaaS juggernaut… all while leaving the office by 5:30 pm most days.
I never met Dave, but have heard remarkable things about the man, leader, and entrepreneur he was—from both founders and his family.
His story proves it's possible to have a thriving personal life and
build a massive business.
Dave left us with 5 key tips for building something big without losing your evenings:
1) Experience Is Overrated Cultural fit and adaptability > years in the game. Goldberg focused on nurturing smart, motivated, positive people over résumés.
How AI can help: Use tools like
Ashby,
Metaview, or
ChatGPT to help screen candidates for values and soft skills—not just job history. You'll scale culture-fit hiring without bloating your calendar.
2) Drop the Attitude Performance ≠ permission to be toxic. Goldberg let go of high performers who were culture killers.
Bonus tip: Internal feedback tools like
CultureAmp or custom GPT-powered forms can surface hidden morale issues fast—so you can act early and protect the vibe.
3) Minimize Meetings Goldberg preferred impromptu convos over long syncs. It kept things fast and flexible—and reduced micromanagement.
Make it AI-easy: Use
Fireflies,
Otter, or
tl;dv to record, transcribe, and summarize the few meetings that
do need to happen. Share async recaps and skip the hour-long time sink.
4) Balance Vision with Execution SurveyMonkey paired long-term product vision with short-term goals. 90–95% success was the sweet spot: ambitious, but human.
AI bonus: Use
Notion AI or
ClickUp AI to help break big goals into weekly action items—and automatically track progress across teams. Less overhead, more output.
5) Practice What You Preach Goldberg didn't just talk work-life balance—he lived it. Leaving at 5:30 sent a message: results > hours.
When the leader respects their time, the team learns to do the same.
What's Worked for Me (Plus Some AI Firepower) 🔒 Set a Non-Negotiable End Time Activity One of my favorite tricks is to set an important activity at the time you want to be done for the day. And one where you've committed to someone else (accountability is at risk).
It could be anything—some of my favorites include a dinner date with your partner (and/or kids), a workout with your personal trainer, or a walk with friends.
The key is to make it something you can't easily blow off.
📊 Establish Scoreboards Scoreboards are essential to effectively run a business and understand how each area of your business is performing. This is a document that is updated weekly with the key metrics and performance indicators of a department or the company at-large.
By allowing a scorecard to guide you, it's easy to know what to speak about. You don't need to spend time discussing metrics that are on-track—you can immediately focus your time on the areas of the business that are off-track and need the most work.
This way it's easy to see your wins & losses, while recognizing where the opportunities for improvement lie.
AI tip: Use
Causal,
Equals, or
ChatGPT + Google Sheets to automate scorecard updates and summaries. That's fewer ops meetings—and faster course corrections.
📌 Download our
FREE GoalsHQ Notion template and create full alignment.
📥 Email at Designated Times Emails are a massive time suck. And not very important.
According to McKinsey analysts, the average professional spends 28% of their day reading and answering emails. And I think this is drastic underreporting.
Inbox = time black hole. I check mine at set times. My VA handles the rest. I never want to spend more than 60 mins/day in my inbox. And ideally never before noon.
Want next-level inbox flow? Use
Superhuman AI,
Gmail Smart Reply, or a custom ChatGPT email agent to prioritize, summarize, and even draft replies. Aim for <60 min/day total.
☀️ Protect Your Mornings I never schedule meetings or check email before noon. That block is for deep work only.
AI assist: Tools like
Motion or
Reclaim.ai protect your golden hours by auto-scheduling deep work and pushing distractions out of your prime time.
🤝 Find an Accountability Partner Finally, find an accountability partner.
This is someone who keeps you honest about whether or not you hit your goals.
The American Society of Training and Development found that people are 65% likely to meet a goal after sharing the goal with another person.
Their chances of success increase to 95% when they have ongoing meetings with their partners to check their progress. Want an edge? Use a shared
Notion doc, a Slack channel with AI reminders, or even
ChatGPT journaling prompts to keep yourself (and your partner) honest.
The TL;DR Build a business with leverage. Use AI where possible. Track what matters.
Protect your time like it's your equity. And get the hell out of the office by 5.
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