The Huffington Post, 2007
What did Arianna Huffington do after collapsing from exhaustion?
The short answer
After collapsing at her desk in 2007 and breaking her cheekbone, Arianna Huffington rebuilt her life around sleep and rest, wrote Thrive and The Sleep Revolution, and in 2016 left HuffPost to found Thrive Global. She has called the collapse the best thing that happened to her.
The situation
Two years after launch, you're working 18-hour days to grow your site. One morning you collapse from exhaustion at your desk, breaking your cheekbone on the way down. The doctors find nothing wrong except exhaustion.
The options on the table
- Hire a COO and keep your own pace
- Take a month off, then get back to it
- Make sleep a non-negotiable rule, then build your next business around itWhat they did
- Sell the company while it's growing
What happened
Arianna Huffington rebuilt her life around rest and wrote two bestsellers about it, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution. In 2016 she left HuffPost to start Thrive Global, a company built on the lesson. She has called the collapse the best thing that ever happened to her.
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