In January 2025, I co-founded the health-tech startup Menotracker.
Anyone who has built a company from scratch knows it’s a 24/7 job that demands relentless energy and sharp, consistent focus.
But for the better part of a year, I was secretly working a second, even harder job: fighting to reclaim my own health.
While I was building my company, my body began to feel like an unpredictable and hostile environment. I was dealing with a profound level of fatigue that made long days a monumental struggle. My nights were spent awake, battling insomnia. A persistent, debilitating brain fog settled in, which for a founder who needs to be sharp, was the most frightening part of all.
I was in perimenopause, and the core assets I needed to build my business—my energy and my mind—were under siege.
"Pushing through" was not a sustainable strategy. I realized I had to make my own health a primary business objective. I had to build a system to solve this.
So, I became my own first and most important project. I applied a founder's mindset to my own physiology: I tracked data, I researched, I tested strategies, and I systematically rebuilt what was broken.
It was a tough, private battle, but I won. I overcame the insomnia, the fatigue, and the brain fog.
I’m starting this newsletter to share the system that worked. This is the personal playbook that allowed me to restore my own high performance while successfully getting my company off the ground.
This isn't theory. This is what I did.
The First Principle: You Cannot Manage What You Do Not Measure
The turning point for me was moving from being overwhelmed by symptoms to analyzing them like a data set. I had to stop being a passive subject of my own health and start acting like the CEO of it.
This is the exact protocol I used to begin.
The "Founder's Daily Audit" Protocol:
This isn't about obsessive tracking. It's a 60-second, strategic check-in to gather the data you need to make better decisions.
1. The Morning Audit (To set the day's strategy):
Action: I took one minute to ask three questions and log them in a notebook.
The Questions:
"What was last night's sleep quality (1-10)?"
"What is my starting energy level (1-10)?"
"What is my mental clarity/focus level (1-10)?"
2. The End-of-Day Review (To find the pattern):
Action: I looked at my morning scores and added one line of context.
The Question: "What was the single biggest factor that influenced those numbers today?"
Examples from my early logs:
"Sleep 3/10. Energy started at a 4. Factor: Woke up at 3 AM with anxiety. Cognitive performance was shot. Major struggle."
"Sleep 7/10. Energy started at a 6. Factor: Skipped my usual sugary breakfast for one high in protein. Afternoon focus was noticeably better."
Why this was a game-changer: Within two weeks, the patterns were undeniable. I had concrete proof of how sleepless nights destroyed my cognitive function. I could see the direct link between my food choices and my afternoon energy.
This data gave me power. It showed me where to focus my efforts. It was the first step in dismantling the problem piece by piece.
This journey was challenging, but it gave me the tools I now use to lead effectively. My hope is that by sharing them, your path can be a little easier.
What’s next: Each week, I'll share the next step in the playbook that I used to reclaim my performance. If you are a leader who refuses to let your physiology dictate the limits of your ambition, this newsletter is for you.
The principles I share here are the foundation of my private 1:1 mentoring program, "The C-Level Reset," where I work directly with a small number of female leaders to implement this system in their own lives. You can apply for a complimentary Performance Audit to see if it's a fit. Send an email to [email protected] to learn more.
All the best,
Sonja Rincón
Founder & CEO, Menotracker