Technology entrepreneur and investor Alexis Ohanian has a lot going on.
In addition to building venture capital firm Seven Seven Six with a focus on software and empathy, the co-founder and former executive chairman of Reddit is raising daughter Olympia with tennis legend Serena Williams — and recently partnered with permanent-ink icon Sharpie.
Life’s about to get even busier for Ohanian soon, as he’s expecting his second child with Williams at the end of this year.
So how does he manage it all and strike a healthy work-life balance?
Ohanian tells Entrepreneur he’d like to reframe the question.
“I don’t think it’s about work-life balance,” he explains. “I don’t think anyone can really accomplish that. It’s not about balancing. If you’re chasing balance, you’re implying, like Thanos, [that] you’d be able to create something perfectly balanced. And the reality is work-life [is] never 50/50. You’ll never achieve anywhere close to that — nor should you.”
But that doesn’t mean one area should be constantly prioritized over the other either.
“There are times in your life where you will need to focus on the career, the work,” Ohanian says. “There are times in your life when you need to focus on life. It’s on a spectrum that’s ever-flowing back and forth.”
Ohanian likens that ebb and flow to a relationship, noting that a partnership is never exactly 50/50. Sometimes you’ll come home from work with just 20% to give while your partner has 80%, he explains, but the key is keeping communication open amid the constant flux.
Related: Work-Life Balance Is Simple. To Succeed at Work, Get a Life.
Rituals, routine — and the “surprise and delight” factor
Before getting married, Ohanian says he was perpetually in “CEO Mode” and “terrible” at finding any semblance of equilibrium between his work and personal life. He recalls pushing himself in his 20s, not thinking about what he ate or how often he exercised.
That changed when he entered his 30s and became a father. “I was like, I need to change everything so that I can be around for as long as possible for this little one,” Ohanian recalls. “And that’s been one of the superpowers, frankly, of becoming a dad.”
Today, Ohanian relies on the “discipline of routines” to keep himself grounded, even when it’s more difficult on the road. Right now, that looks like starting his morning off with a cold plunge; he spends 10 minutes in an ice tank before working out, taking a shower and having his first cup of coffee.
He also takes some time to write down his daily goals in those early hours. Those might be personal or professional, Ohanian says.
When he is at home, Ohanian sits down for dinner with his family at 6 p.m. every night — “without exception.” He also harnesses the power of “surprise and delight,” a tactic that can be just as effective during family time as it is in business.
“It’s much more memorable when you break a pattern of someone’s expectations,” Ohanian explains. “These things we advise our founders to do, I also do for my daughter and my wife — that’s the other side of the routine of the discipline. If your default state has this kind of routine and expectations to it, then you also create the opportunity to do stuff that feels out of the ordinary and different.”
Related: 3 Ways to Surprise and Delight Your Ecommerce Customers
Take breaks and find activities that help you de-stress
Ohanian also relies on a few helpful strategies when it comes to managing stress levels. He likes taking walks during the work day, sometimes making a phone call or two while he strolls his South Florida property, “a decent amount of space” complete with chickens and “a little farm action going on.”
He’s also returned to drawing, a hobby he picked up as a child. Over the years, Ohanian’s used the skill to create several company logos, including Reddit’s. But today, the activity helps him “de-stress” (his preferred implement is the Sharpie S-Gel pen). And he’s been “thrilled” to see Olympia take to drawing as well.
“Even before the Sharpie partnership, we were doing these drawing classes where I’d fire up YouTube — this was during Covid — [and go to the channel] Art for Kids,” Ohanian says. “It’s this whole family where they do drawing tutorials — the dad, kids, wife, and they draw together. I would do these with Olympia. Olympia gets so fired up [by this] drawing class, and I bring [Serena] into it, or if we have grandparents over at the house, they’ll do it too.”
Related: 8 Ways to De-stress Yourself at Work in a Minute | Entrepreneur
Ohanian acknowledges how many resources he has and how difficult reaching a healthy flow state can be for other entrepreneurs and professionals juggling their responsibilities at work and home. That’s why he’s a big advocate for paid family leave; Ohanian wants all American families to have access to it.
With the right support, some people might even find that having a family unlocks new levels of professional ambition and success. Ohanian certainly found that to be the case for himself.
“There’s this little human who you care more about than anything else in the world,” Ohanian says. “You actually don’t care about anything else in the world other than this kid’s perception of you. Another gear unlocks once you have that dose of humility, and it’s great. Like I said, ironically, I think it’s made me so much better. I think this chapter of my career as a dad is going to make the previous one look like amateur hour.”
