Hustle. What does that word conjure up for you? For me, despite hearing it a lot within entrepreneurial circles, I'm not a big fan of it.
It's important to work for what you want; however, I believe there are better ways to do it than ‘hustling’ to the point of burnout. What the word conjures up for me. Sometimes momentum energy is a good thing (I believe some pressure can be positive and can help you stretch), but not at the expense of your mental and physical health.
Instead, I prefer the terms attract, aspire, even heal. I believe there are a lot of cases where healing would be best to replace the hustle mentality and approach. Hustling can come from a place of overachieving and typically that's from a wound of never feeling good or secure enough.
Within my coaching practice, I found that if we take time to look at and address the things that are dissatisfying like stress, pressure, etc., my clients are able to:
a) uncover the root cause
b) create mental and emotional shifts
c) achieve what they truly desire versus what they thought should be done or accomplished (intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic).
One of my clients did the above. Some of his original goals were socially or ego-based, and after working together for some time, they all became ones that made him internally happy (some he has already achieved).
There was a time when I hustled, and it wore me down mentally and physically. I hustled at work, at school, etc. It produced results, but at the cost of my well-being. That's why I'm not a big fan of it. I found you can achieve more, or better, when you come from a place of healing and well-being. Something I aim for with each client as a career and life coach.
Hustling tends to be valued by our culture too (#hustleculture), you hustle your way to success. However, often success is defined by a lot of status and affluence. That's great if that's what you want, however, not everybody wants to achieve that. I know some people who want to live a simple life and that's great too. Some people prefer to live more of a balanced life each day versus working their tails off, in high stress environments, to have luxurious vacations.
For some, it's not about playing small but playing simple and I appreciate that as I try to lead a simpler life myself.
What about you? Do you hustle? If so, why? Is what you are trying to achieve more aligned to what brings you joy or something else like approval?
I would love to know.
Best,
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