Startup Lessons to Learn From Arianna Huffington

Woman writing down lessons that she has learned.

Beyond the quotes we hear repeated from famous entrepreneurs like Arianna Huffington about entrepreneurship and success, there are a litany of lessons to be learned from their experience managing and growing wildly successful companies.

Entrepreneurship Lessons From Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington, the founder of the Huffington Post and Thrive Global, has had a career that many entrepreneurs aspire to achieve. While many lessons can be learned from her business practices, the successful entrepreneur has many additional insights to share through the story of her life and habits she’s developed along the way.

1. Try Meditation

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world swear by meditation as a factor in their success. Arianna Huffington is one of them. 

It is no surprise that super successful entrepreneurs would utilize the power of meditation to optimize their day. Clearing your mind and mitigating stress can be extremely beneficial for being able to more effectively prioritize important tasks and maintain productivity. 

2. Detox From Your Phone

Huffington reportedly tucks her phone into bed every night (literally) in order to disengage from the virtual world and promote better sleep and relaxation. Additionally, the founder doesn’t wake up and check her phone immediately. Instead, she opts to complete her morning routine prior to engaging in emails, texts, and social media.

3. Prioritize Sleep and Relaxation

In her New York Times bestseller, Huffington not only speaks on the sleep deprivation crisis but provides actionable tools to inform a better sleep practice for readers. In fact, her website features an entire section dedicated to Sleep Resources

Additionally, Huffington swears by 20 to 30 minutes of meditation per day. The successful entrepreneur has spoken with several publications about the positive impact of mindfulness and meditation, specifically for entrepreneurs like herself. 

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something Different

When Arianna Huffington left the Huffington Post and started her new venture, Thrive Global, it was a change of pace from the type of business she had founded previously. Rather than the fast-paced world of journalism that housed the Huffington Post, Thrive Global provides resources for employers and employees to combat the effects of burnout using a holistic approach that incorporates webinars, courses, and more. 

This change of pace allowed the founder to embrace a new trajectory and provide valuable resources to a completely different clientele while leaning into a topic Huffington has been vocal about for years — health and wellbeing. 

5. Embrace Failure

While Arianna Huffington has seen a great deal of success in her career, it hasn’t been without trials. However, the founder doesn’t see this as a bad thing. In fact, one of Huffington’s popular and widely shared quotes is about failure being a necessary part of success, “We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.”

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