Even in fourth grade living in Japan, Lissy's teacher noted she "always looked worried." This early pattern of perfectionism and people-pleasing followed her through college, where stress that previously fueled her performance turned destructive. She traces this to interpreting "trying your hardest" as maximizing every waking hour rather than optimizing effectiveness. The lesson: founder stress patterns often begin early and compound over time. "I thought trying your hardest meant trying your hardest against the 16 hours you're awake," Lissy explains. Most founders don't recognize these early warning signs until they hit their own breaking point.

When Lissy walked into her college therapy office experiencing sleep deprivation and hallucinations, she was told they were "too busy" to help unless she was in "potential self-harm." This systemic failure became her first founder moment: recognizing existing solutions weren't adequate and she'd need to build her own. The experience taught her that asking for help requires persistence and that traditional mental health approaches often miss high-achieving individuals. "Even when I went to go get mental health help, they weren't able to help me," she reflects. This gap in support for high performers became the foundation of her business.

Lissy's framework treats company health like physical fitness: a continuous process requiring four elements. First, clear expectations around goals and behaviors. Second, solid foundations covering pay, recognition, and basic needs. Third, environment for progress including growth opportunities and workload management. Fourth, relentless communication and accountability. "The greatest companies do four things really well," she explains. Most companies skip to progress before establishing foundations. The framework applies equally to personal founder fitness: expectations (priorities/values), foundations (energy management), progress environment (learning), and accountability systems.

Traditional boundary advice suggests rigid routines, but Lissy discovered high performers use flexible systems. "Boundaries are ropes, not fences" means maintaining key elements while adapting their timing and sequence. She protects essential practices like movement, reflection, and nutrition but varies when and how they happen. This prevents the all-or-nothing thinking that derails habit formation. "I have the same elements that make a good day a good day," she explains. Rather than identical daily schedules, successful founders identify non-negotiable components and build flexible systems around them. This approach sustains long-term performance without rigidity.

Athletes practice meditation (visualization), journaling (speed-writing), and breathwork (nervous system management) daily, but these tools have a "brand problem" outside sports. Lissy realized the same practices taught in spiritual contexts were standard protocol for peak athletic performance. "All of the things that I was reading about in the spiritual work were also happening in the masculine. They were just rebranded," she discovered. This insight revolutionized her approach: frame mental fitness tools as performance enhancement rather than self-care. For founders resistant to "soft" practices, she asks whether they want to perform at the highest level, because these tools are non-negotiable for elite performers.

Lissy's burnout prevention system uses a traffic light framework: red (recover), yellow (cross-train), green (score). Recovery means stopping, resting, and building awareness. Cross-training involves doing something different to help your brain see new patterns. Scoring means tracking wins and progress. "If you don't recover, cross-train, and score, that's when burnout really starts to happen," she explains. The key is incorporating all three daily, even informally. Recovery might be cooking dinner in silence. Cross-training could be taking a different route to work. Scoring includes reflecting on daily wins. This simple framework ensures balanced mental stimulation and prevents the stuck feeling that leads to founder burnout.

Despite building systems that prevent burnout, Lissy still experiences founder fear about whether she's the right person for her mission and if the world is ready for change. Her reset tool is the Japanese word "ipo" meaning "step by step." "Every time it feels big and scary I just remind myself it's just one step at a time," she shares. Rather than eliminating fear, she focuses on not chasing it. Tony Robbins' teaching that there are only two emotions (love and fear) and the job isn't avoiding fear but not pursuing it guides her approach. This simple mantra grounds overwhelming moments in actionable next steps rather than paralyzing future scenarios.

Founders are those who can’t sleep at night unless they solve the challenge of the day. For Lissy, the story wasn’t that different, and as for me at Wholegrain Wisdom, it became her life’s mission. I love how she went through a similar path in looking for the REAL wisdom, beyond the standard knowledge and data of Western science. As I keep repeating, the answers often lie between these 2 models. Only when we fully understand that everything is a game of balance and, in certain cases too, rebranding, can we embrace a new consciousness of living. The Buddhists call this wisdom and compassion: too much of one and you become a know-it-all preak. Too much of the other and you risk being taken advantage of.