I have been preaching the concept of Hustle for a long time. As a type 3 enneagram, it is like breathing… it feels like a necessity. Lately though over the past 3 months I have been questioning how I run my business and where I want that business to go over the next 5-10 years.
What I realized yesterday as I drank a latte in the crisp fall air . . . was that this was the first time in a long time I had hit pause. There was nowhere I had to be at a pre-prescribed place that day . . . I just simply had to be . . . to exist. It was a day where I got to observe and absorb art rather than make it.
I know that people say you can’t pour from an empty cup . . . I would suggest we add to that thought. You can’t pour from a cup with a hole in it. You can try but you will only manage to drip a bit where you want it to go and the rest will just drain out, uselessly.
I have been hustling so hard that it was ineffective. Much of my effort has been falling on the wrong things and in the wrong places. I realized you can expend energy and hustle but that doesn’t mean it will actually get you anywhere!
That pause in Waco was a wake-up call. I need to plug the holes in my life that are hemorrhaging energy in order to more effectively grow. So what will this look like for the next 6 months?
Creating Large Pauses
For the next 6 months, I plan to block off two days a month where I not only physically but mentally check out from both of my companies. This will be a time fully committed to the pursuit of the lovely. . . whether that is a trip to a museum, a hike in the mountains, or simply reading a fiction novel on the beach . . . that remains fully to be seen yet but the dates are already blocked off.
Creating Small Pauses
I began to realize over the summer that I made excuses for the small pauses I had been trying to build into my day. I put them off. The kids needed me. Schedules got changed around and a phone call now needed to happen in the midst of a time I had planned to do something else. My schedule was at the whim of others. Building in time throughout the day is no longer negotiable but necessary. For this month that looks like actually taking a lunch break with real food and not working around the clock. Lastly, that time at the gym isn’t up for argument or rescheduling.
Hustle for Life
I read an article the other day about a woman that took a walk every single day for a year. The route was the same but different because each day brought new weather, plants, and animal life. We need to flip the script on the idea of hustle and instead of hustling to “make it” in business that we instead hustle to enjoy the downtime.
Accountability
Have someone to hold you to what you say you will do. Whether that is a friend that you check in with each day or a coach, we accomplish more when we are held accountable. Want some of that accountability? Head to our FB group and join in our discussions on this. Want more posts like this? Head here.
