#HustleWithEase: Work Hard, No Suffering

You’re online a lot (admit it, just like me…) and you see those HUSTLE haters. Maybe you’re one of them. They’re repulsed by the concept of HUSTLE. It reminds them of sleezy business, it reminds them of soul-sucking work. It reminds them of being shackled to their work and not seeing the light of day.

I get it. It sucks to feel like a slave to your business. It sucks to work until 11pm, go to sleep thinking about work, and wake up to do it all over again. The HUSTLE culture has told us that the only way to become successful is by doing what the corporate suits do. Nuh-uh.

A Case for #HustleWithEase

I’d love for us to think about HUSTLING in a different way. To detach the working hard from the suffering. I know you, you’re hard working and you’re willing to put in that hard work to get to where you want to go. What you don’t want is the suffering. The thing that gets you to a stage of imminent burn-out. You need creativity in your life. You need white space in your life. You need laughter and joy in your life. What it calls for is EASE. Your life is meant to be enjoyed.

#hustlewithease = work hard + reap the rewards of ease

I’m not saying that you can slack and not do the work and achieve success. My case is about balancing hard work with the ability to carve out chunks of time where you get to enjoy the lifestyle you want to have.

What #HustleWithEase Looks Like

Let’s play out this scenario of #HustleWithEase.

Scenario 1:

Erika drops her kiddo off to school, goes to the local coffee shop from 9am – noon to crank out a week’s worth of social media content and returns all her client emails. At noon, she walks home, takes the long way along the trail by her house and takes some photos on the way she might use for social media. She gets home, makes lunch and eats on her deck (and maybe has a glass of wine… shhhh). She brings the rest of that wine with her to her computer in her office and works from 1:30 until 3:30 when she gets ready to prep dinner and goes to pick up her kiddo. She puts her kiddo to sleep and enjoys a movie with her husband. She has some work things on her mind, jots them down for tomorrow and goes to bed.

Scenario 2:

Catherine works Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. On Tuesday, she keeps it open so she can hang out with her family and spend time volunteering at the local shelter and food pantry. She works from 6am until 10am, goes to the gym to train, then takes a leisurely shower and lunch and starts back up to work at 1pm. She works until her fiance gets home around 6:30. He cooks three nights a week and she cooks on her day off. She’s most productive on the days that she feels refueled and inspired.

Scenario 3: 

Helen works at a local retail store part time to supplement her income while she builds her business. It gives her energy because she gets to be in person with the customers and she also gets to go home and work on her own time. She works 5 hours on the days she’s working at her other job and works a 5 hour day during the week when she’s not at her retail job, she spends the rest of the day reading, watching netflix and crafting. She gives herself permission to work 2 days a week and takes 3 evenings a week to relax and focus on her. It’s a juggle to figure out the best way to maximize time but she looks forward to the weekends when she can be with her girlfriends and her family.

In all of these scenarios, the women put what they want in their lives FIRST. They prioritize how they want to feel over “getting sh*t done” or tackling everything on their to do list, inbox, client inquiries, so on and so forth… It’s possible to reimagine what a business ownership life looks like. But if you don’t consciously make those decisions, your business, your drive, your desire for results will overtake your life. That kind of hustle sucks your soul and ends you in suffering.

Start Small but Make Changes

If you take nothing away from this, I want you to know that

you CAN take control of the life you live.

Here’s a list of places you might consider looking to make changes:

1. How do I decide the hours that I work? Is it an accident? Is it based on your family? Is it when you can?
2. How do you want to FEEL in your business and in life? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to get there?
3. Do I believe that being busy is the only way to become successful?
4. What assumptions do I have about how much work I have to do in order to achieve the goals I have?
5. Are my goals realistic?
6. What things have I been saying, “I’d love to do that” but haven’t done because of time?
7. Who do you think would judge you because of what you decide to do with your time?
8. What does #HustleWithEase look like in my life?

I’d love to hear how you make changes in your life and business and how you implement #HustleWithEase.