How This Started

Research Foundation

What led to investigating transitions as the fundamental lever for human wellbeing.

The Background

I spent 15 years in corporate leadership—building teams, scaling businesses, running operations. I was good at it. The work was engaging. The stakes were real.

But I noticed something that nobody seemed to address.

The Observation

The same intelligent, capable people who excelled at work were falling apart outside of it. They weren't lazy. They weren't undisciplined. They literally could not transition out of work-mode.

Work ended at 6pm. Their minds stayed at work until midnight. Sleep was fragmented. Recovery never happened. Next-day performance suffered.

This wasn't an individual problem. It was systematic. And it kept repeating across every organization I worked with.

The Research Question

I started asking: what if the problem isn't work itself or sleep itself? What if the problem is the transition between them?

I began reading research—sleep science, recovery research, occupational health, stress physiology. Across these domains, I kept finding the same insight:

Mechanisms that appear during transitions matter profoundly. Yet almost no research organized around transitions themselves.

Why This Mattered

Because if transitions are where the leverage is, then improving transitions could change everything.

  • → Not more time off. Better transitions out of work.
  • → Not more sleep. Better transitions into sleep.
  • → Not willpower. Support for the transition itself.

Why I Built Mirellis

Because this question deserved serious investigation. Most companies start with products. They find an ingredient, then look for problems.

I wanted to start with observation. Investigate deeply. Only build if it helps.

Mirellis is that investigation. The Observatory is where we publish what we learn.

Explore the Research Foundations