Right-Sized

“Beware the barrenness of a busy life." – Socrates

Most companies don’t collapse from starvation. They collapse from indigestion.

They take on too much—too many customers, too many features, too many goals—and choke on their own ambition. Growth sounds good until you realize every step up the ladder adds weight to your shoulders. Eventually, you’re carrying more than you can stand.

I didn’t fully get this until I dove into the work of David Heinemeier Hansson—DHH—and his partner Jason Fried. They run 37signals, a company you’ve probably never heard of. That’s the point. They’re not chasing headlines. They don’t take venture capital. They’ve been profitable for years, doing work they actually like, with a team that isn’t running on fumes. In a business culture obsessed with “big”, their existence is almost an act of rebellion.

The modern business script is predictable: start small, scale fast, raise money, hire endlessly, grab market share, and keep climbing until you either sell or burn out. Few stop to ask if any of it makes sense. Big isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s worse in every way except on paper.

A smaller, calmer company is a dangerous competitor. It can turn faster, waste less, and survive market shocks that break larger, overextended rivals. Fewer moving parts means fewer disasters. More focus means better work. This isn’t romantic—it’s just practical.

But “enough” is a hard sell in business culture. Investors want infinite returns. Founders want to be remembered. Employees want to climb. Yet a business that runs at a sustainable size, with profitable work and measured growth, is rare. And it can last decades without exhausting the people who keep it alive.

Time is the most valuable profit. Money buys options, but time buys life. If a business eats every hour you have, it’s not a success—it’s a trap. Work should support your life, not replace it. As Seneca wrote, “We are always complaining that our days are few, and acting as though there will be no end of them.”

Busyness is not progress. Long hours, stacked meetings, constant “urgency”—these are symptoms of a system without boundaries. Work expands to fill the time you give it. If you give it all of your time, it will take all of your life. Productivity isn’t about doing more. It’s about needing to do less.

Longevity beats intensity. A business that stays small and strong for twenty years will outlast most that try to triple in size every quarter. The slow path isn’t flashy, but it’s far more likely to leave you with both a company and a life worth having.

The future won’t reward those who take on the most. It will reward those who can keep going the longest without breaking. That’s not about ambition. It’s about restraint.

Build less, and you might end up with more—more time, more focus, more years you actually get to enjoy.

Because the only kind of growth worth chasing is the kind you can live with.