In several conversations I had with family and friends during a family wedding weekend recently, I heard the same sentiment expressed – with big enthusiasm – three times:
Wealth management leader: “We are so busy! More and more clients want us, and they want me to take care of them. I love it!”
Engineering firm CEO: “I haven’t been in my backyard hot tub for 10 years. I’m always working, that’s what I do!”
Musical talent solopreneur: “I get texts and calls 24/7. I’m always on, that’s the entertainment business. It’s great!”
What was most striking was that all three of these hard-charging entrepreneurial leaders seemed genuinely delighted with their busy-ness. They thrived on the hustle and the success – the more, the better!
You may know that feeling too, it can be addicting. Yet it can also lead you to repress the rest of who you are and confuse your role with your identity. It can burn out you and your team. And it can make your happiness dependent on the outcomes of your work.
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How does your sense of who you are relate to your business role?
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Can you stay happy even when results from your hard work aren’t what you want?
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Is your business culture closer to cultivating balance or burnout?
5 Amare Steps to Healthy Hustle and Reclaiming YOU
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Find the unspoken payoff. Consider what all the hustle and total focus on work lets you avoid. Be extra kind to yourself with this one; it can bring up significant and sometimes painful insights.
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Make one tiny change. Choose one small and simple thing to shake up your super-busy routine: take a five minute lunchtime walk, silence your phone for an hour… you decide. Then do it, and treat yourself to a tiny reward for reclaiming that part of you.
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Watch for the bungee cord. List three things you can do if a familiar inner voice tries to lure you back to the old constant hustle. Consider confidently thanking and dismissing that voice, moving your energy, leaving yourself motivating notes, etc.
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Hustle hard – without attachment. Aim for big success, plan for it, work hard for it – all while knowing that your worth is not dependent on it. The best you can do is to do your best.
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Wonder bigtime. Ask yourself what might happen if you made a little more space for other ways to feel alive, fulfilled, and valuable. (Is that a little smile I see on you?)
The best leaders can work hard and give it their all without losing who they are or confusing business results with self-worth. Doing so is a powerful demonstration of self-love and a critical aspect of love-powered leadership.
