Early on in her therapy business, Atara Malach was asked to speak to a group of working parents. As a parenting expert with six kids of her own, she was the perfect speaker for the event, and she was looking forward to it. 
 
On the night of the event, Atara was prepared. She had written her lecture days in advance. She had her notes ready to go. She looked the part of successful, professional woman. 
 
And as a loving mother, she had found a babysitter. She made sure the kids were fed. She even set out the kids’ clothes for the next day.
 
But as soon as she was about to leave for the lecture, her son curled up by the door and said, “Mommy, don’t leave.”

IT BROKE HER HEART.

Atara hugged him and told him things would be alright. She tried bribing him. The minutes ticked by. Eventually, she had to peel the little boy off her leg, hand him to the babysitter, and head to her talk.
 
When she finally stepped on stage, she couldn’t start her speech. She could only think of her son and how sad he had been as he watched his mom leave him. The guilt paralyzed her.
 
“I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “I do know that I did not sign up for this, and I think that part of being stuck in my business life is feeling torn… When I am home, I’m thinking about business and when I’m at my business I’m feeling guilty that I’m not where I should be.”

​Startup Nation, today I’m going to share a story, and it’s going to be a story about Jesus. I know not all my listeners are Christian or even religious. That’s ok. But this story reveals a critical mindset that allows entrepreneurs like you to overcome tiredness, frustration, and depression.
 
One day Jesus was on a mountain teaching a large crowd of people. He was teaching them about how to live and about who God is. This crowd wasn’t full of professors, or priests, or billionaires. These were regular people like you and me.
 
Jesus understood the problems facing regular people. He knew that we worry. We worry about jobs, and food, and clothing. So, to encourage the crowd of listeners, he said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’… But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be given to you as well.”

​Before starting Praxis Metrics, a very successful data analytics platform, AJ and Meaghan ran their own marketing business. As CEO, AJ was the best employee in the company. He had the most expertise. That meant he was irreplaceable.
 
But one night while AJ and Meaghan were vacationing in Spain, AJ’s phone rang. It was a client emergency. No one else could solve this problem, so at 10pm - instead of spending the evening sampling tapas with his wonderful fiancé - AJ was trapped on a business call.
 
“I really didn’t want to be on these calls this late,” AJ says. “I wanted to enjoy this time with my fiancé.”