Cameron HeroldFounder of the COO Alliance & Invest In Your Leaders Training

The Founder's Trap: Why Making More Money Won't Cure Burnout | Mike Wood

28 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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Mike Wood worked 90 hours a week as a founder, convinced his problems were external. After downsizing and hitting every success marker—more money, family support, stability—he was more miserable than before. The noise in his head didn't quiet until he stopped chasing external wins.

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You know, I was kind of an arrogant shit to think that I was the man over here, you know, doing all these things, but I was causing problems. To think that I wasn't part of any of the problems that were happening was arrogant, and I didn't want to hear it in the back of my head. That was the biggest one for me. You know, it changed my entire life in so many ways. I was spending, working about 90 hours a week. I basically got hit, ran into a wall, and I looked around. I didn't know what to do. Everything was fixed. We downsized the biggest one that was causing the problem. Everything was moving great. And now that it was smaller, it was calm. All the problems that we were having were kind of fixed. But I was sitting in my office just staring at my fish tank, didn't know what to do. The noise in my head was screaming at me. I was literally more miserable at that point than I'd ever been in my life. I was making more money. My wife was able to stay home. Kids are happy and healthy. I had a great job. And I was more miserable at that point than I'd been at any point in my life. I told my boss at one point that I was going to quiet my mind by any means necessary, and I didn't know what that meant.