I have a spoon that says, “My hustle is strong.” And it is.
Whatever you want to create in your life—a profitable business, a fully-booked client docket with a 6-month waitlist, a strong and healthy body, a relationship that makes you swoon—nothing happens without effort.
I often tell my clients: When you make a full-hearted effort, you get full-sized results.
I also tell my clients: If there’s something you really want, don’t be passive. Stand up and go after it. Take courageous action. Make a scene!
However, we need to be clear: there’s a difference between “taking courageous action” and “grinding yourself into the ground.”
If you’re hustling so hard that you’ve stripped all the pleasure out of your life—your health is suffering, your relationships are being neglected, you’re having zero fun, you’re checking your email at 2am and binge-eating potato chips to cope with the avalanche of stress that you’re feeling… whoa. Hold up. Things have gotten off track.
I see a lot of people who proudly label themselves “workaholics.” People who brag about their 70- and 80-hour workweeks. Entrepreneurs who wear their exhaustion as a badge of honor—like you’re not really “trying” unless you’re working around the clock.
That shit is not healthy.
I’m all for hustle. But not at the expense of an actual life.
This is your permission slip to ease the fuck up.
Yes, absolutely, sit at your computer and write, coach, email clients, do your work, whatever your work may be. Work diligently for, say, 4-6 hours. If you focus intently, you can accomplish a lot in 4-6 hours. And then stop. Enough. Take a walk. Make a smoothie. Watch an episode of Outlander. Watch two. Drive across town to that museum you’ve always wanted to visit. Pack yourself a picnic basket and eat outside on a blanket under a tree. Remember what “outside” feels like? Remember trees? It’s nice out there.
My friend told me about a donut shop in Portland that closes at 4pm every day. When they close each afternoon, they hang a sign in the window. The sign doesn’t say: Sorry, we’re closed. It says: Out to live—be back soon!
Out to live. Hell to the yes. I love that. What a beautiful reminder for all of us hustlers. Please get out to live today, and every day.
Hustle with purpose, chase your goals, but please make space for the rest of your life to happen, too. This is the only life you’ve got.
P.S. Click here to get on the interest list for my popular Life is Delicious course. I’m creating a whole new class for women who want to get their lives back, stop working so hard, and create a beautiful life.
