By Cheryl Powers

Hard work is one of the easiest things for founders to overcredit because it's one of the few things they know with certainty was real.

They remember the long hours they spent building the business. The payroll stress. The customer problems they absorbed before anyone else saw them. The quarters they held together through force of will. The years they carried too much because no one else was ready to.

That part is real. Which is exactly why it becomes dangerous.

The probl...