Holiday Survival Tips from Simple Habit’s Founder

A Stanford B school dropout, Yunha Kim is on her second startup—and like most things that meet a real need, it’s genius. Called Simple Habit, the app is a “Spotify” for meditation, meaning it’s a platform for different experts to share their bite-size meditations and audio therapy sessions.

Kim had her Eureka moment after turning to meditation apps to cope with the stress of running her first company. “I got pretty tired of hearing the same voice over and over again,” she recalls. “It occurred to me that to listen to a new singer, I don’t go to another app. I go to a platform like Spotify, where I can find new artists as well as my favorites.”

Flash forward less than three years, and Kim has a huge hit on her hands. “Simple Habit has helped more than 2.8 million people relieve stress and anxiety, with an average of 30,000 new users joining the platform every week,” she says. What’s more, she just closed $10 million in her series A, after raising $2.8 million from seed investors.

Her advice for newbie entrepreneurs? “Taking care of yourself is critical,” Kim says. “When you’re building a business from scratch, you are the number one resource you have. You will work long days, and stress is inevitable, so it’s important to take a little time each day to step away, breathe and reset.”

Here, Kim’s four tips—and her Simple Habit audio recommendations—for surviving the holidays:

#1. Keep self-care simple.

“Holiday parties, gift shopping, traveling and work deadlines can make this an extra busy time of year. It’s not always realistic for me, or most people, to spend an hour or more each day on self-care. I recommend meditating for just 5 minutes right when you wake up. Simple Habit has an entire library of Morning Meditations with sessions like Wake Up, Morning Meditate In Bed and Shower Meditation.”

#2. Practice gratitude.

“Write three reasons you are grateful each day. It’s a small life hack that helps me focus my mind and energy on what is good and/or working in my life. If you need a little help, you can find guidance from series like Start Your Day With Gratitude, End Your Day With Gratitude or Power of Appreciation.”

#3. Set boundaries.

“You know you can’t do it all—the holiday season is no exception. Simple Habit has a few awesome therapy series for this. Setting Personal Boundaries and Making Better Decisions are two series that can help you figure out what’s important, what you feel comfortable saying yes to and what you need to let go.”

#4. Sleep.

“Simple Habit just conducted a survey with 2,900 users and found that more than 58 percent of people don’t sleep well during the holiday season. Getting quality z’s can help people reduce stress and improve moods. Simple Habit has an entire library of Sleep Meditations, including 30 Days To Better Sleep, Good Night’s Rest and Deep Sleep.