Thursday, July 21, 2016
By: Matthew Doucette

In celebration of International Self-Care Day, which is this coming Sunday, July 24th, Futurpreneur recently interviewed me about self-care practices and decided to feature me along with several other entrepreneurs.

For those interested, here is my original (unedited) response:

International Self-Care Day on July 24th.

I am Matthew Doucette, Game Producer of Xona Games, based out of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. I am glad to be invited to take part in International Self-Care Day, specifically on the topics of staying physically fit and achieving a healthy work-life balance. When I am busy -- which is often -- I find these to be the two aspect of my life that suffer the most. It is so easy to stay inside and work an hour longer, and then repeat for a few weeks and have a new (bad) habit set in. So, what's my solution to this?

I get up 2 hours early! I get up at 6am rather than 8am. This changes my life in a number of positive ways: It feels like I have an extra 2 hours in the day, so my work day can safely stop at 5pm, or even earlier. It gets me up and eating quickly in the day which sets my mood and metabolism to a healthier state -- the opposite of skipping breakfast. It also gives me plenty of time for a morning workout, which removes the need to find time for it at the end of the day. This process gets me moving on my work faster and snaps me out of feeling behind, which is emotionally draining -- I feel ahead of the game instead! And the after-work rest of the day is mine to enjoy.

I could add that work-life balance, or balance of any kind, is not something you achieve and have forever; Rather, it is something you have to actively maintain and coordinate. It is easy to slip back into old habits.

Thanks to Lauren Marinigh of Futurpreneur for featuring all of us!

That is all!

About the Author: I am Matthew Doucette of Xona Games, an award-winning indie game studio that I founded with my twin brother. We make intensified arcade-style retro games. Our business, our games, our technology, and we as competitive gamers have won prestigious awards and received worldwide press. Our business has won $190,000 in contests. Our games have ranked from #1 in Canada to #1 in Japan, have become #1 best sellers in multiple countries, have won game contests, and have held 3 of the top 5 rated spots in Japan of all Xbox LIVE indie games. Our game engines have been awarded for technical excellence. And we, the developers, have placed #1 in competitive gaming competitions -- relating to the games we make. Read about our story, our awards, our games, and view our blog.