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  • Home
  • About
    • The Happy Fan Club
  • Offerings
    • Redesign Your Life 2.0
    • Get Creative
    • Personal Coaching
  • Creativity Conversations
  • LET'S CONNECT!
  • Blog
    • Live Free Your Way
    • Seeing Things Differently
    • Mistaking Assumptions for Truth
    • How Humor Keeps Us Sane
    • Know Thyself
    • Peach Pie for Breakfast
    • Explore Experience Express
    • Should You Be Downshifting?
    • Stop the Hustle!
    • Do Your Habits Serve or Sabotage
    • Settle Down? Down Where?
    • What Lights You Up?
    • Saying Yes When Your Mind Says No
    • Independence From What?
    • Letting Ourselves Off the Hook
    • Letting Go of Assumptions
    • Is Kindness Allowed?
    • How to Throw a Wrench in the Works
    • Happiness
    • Daring to be Lighthearted
    • What Happens When You See Things Differently
    • Find Delight in Everyday Life
    • Are You Saying What Needs to Be Said
    • Is Your Life in Alignment
    • Are You Trapped by Your Past
    • Can You Love Your Life
    • The Hallmark of Creativity
    • Out Of Ideas?
    • Waking Up to a New World
    • Are You a Possibilitarian?
    • Want to Love Your Life?
    • Is Creativity Necessary
    • What's Stopping You?
    • An Unexpected Discovery
    • Free Your Mind
    • Is Your Creative Genius Hiding
    • Empty Headed or Clear Minded?
    • Is Stress Really Necessary?
    • Will Creativity Improve Your Life?
    • Is Creativity In Your Future?
    • Replace Fear With Love
    • How to Get Out of Your Own Way
    • Just Take A Moment
    • You Don't Have To - You Get To
    • The Good News About Being Stuck
    • Interested in Inner Freedom?
    • Are You a Hoarder?
    • What Remains
    • Co-vid 19 Free Pass to the Roller Coaster
    • Grace Under Pressure
    • Now is the Time To Notice
    • Hanging With the Wrong Crowd
    • Make Your Life Simpler
    • What Could Be Different For You
    • Everything is a Miracle
    • Do You Have A Negativity Bias
    • Are You Really Seeing Or Just Assuming?
    • Happiness and Resilience
    • Wherever You Go, There You Are
    • Is Stress Making You Sick?
    • What I Wish My Humans Knew
    • Looking Backwards
    • Daring to Change Course
    • Lost in Thought or Taking Action?
    • Still Can't Focus?
    • Do Your Thoughts Get Dark and Gloomy?
    • Can't Focus?
    • An Instant Formula for New Ideas
    • Talk Yourself Out of Another Great Idea?
    • Is Your Busyness Keeping You From Getting Things Done?
    • What's that Feeling In the Pit of My Stomach?
    • How Cool is This?
    • How to Make Your New Year Happier
    • Why Be Open To Life?
    • Simple Ways to Transform Your Life
    • Get Clarity and Confidence
    • Are You Driven by Fear or Love?
    • The Number One Way to Keep Your Vision Alive and Well
    • Why Stop Trying to Figure it Out?
    • What Are You Trying to Prove?
    • Do Your Goals Reflect Your Hearts Desire
    • Why My Cat is My Spiritual Teacher
    • Surviving the Holidays
    • 3 Convincing Reasons
    • 3 Secrets to Enjoying the Holidays
    • 5 Quick Steps to Get Your Mojo Back
    • 3 Ways to Keep Your Energy High
    • 5 Reasons to Do Good
    • Pain Relief for the Soul
    • Tired of Living by the Rules? Go Rogue!
    • What? You've Made a Mess? Excellent!
    • Why You Need to Be Inspired Now
    • Change Your Life in Just 48 Hours?
    • The Cure For Mental Overload
    • 5 Infallible Ways to Stay Inspired
  • Newsletter

Stop the Hustle!

8/6/2021

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I've never liked referring to a side job as a "hustle". There's something that puts me on my guard because of the original definitions of the word: forceful, hurried, pushy, bulldoze, manhandle, even swindle.

Everybody's familiar with the concept of a hustler - someone who is aggressive, will stop at nothing to get what they want, even when it comes at someone else's expense.

If you have a side hustle, does that mean you're a hustler, too? A swindler? A self serving, insensitive person who preys on the weaknesses of others?

Obviously, the answer is no for the majority of people in business for themselves. They honestly care about what they offer and the people they serve.

We all know that the meaning of words can change over time, and it's become commonplace to use the word "hustle" to mean the efforts of someone who is hard-working, dedicated, striving, driven and determined to succeed. Those qualities are supposed to be admired and celebrated.

Nothing wrong with that. But we don't have to forget the context in which those qualities are being expressed. In other words, there may be something going on beneath the surface that may be undermining true success.

I know several people, men and women, who speak with a certain edge as they talk about how demanding their work is and how much time and energy they're putting into making their business successful. 

All the dedication, the single-mindedness, the driven-ness that's required to make their dream come true. At first that sounds like a good way to go after what you want, and yet, aggressive pursuit in and of itself has its downside.

There's an energy that's hard-edged, rigid, inflexible and even slightly grim about it. They'll stop at nothing, or at least until they've stressed themselves out, hit a wall or simply run out of steam. It's almost a militaristic, forced march to success. Do or die.

Can you imagine what that's doing to their insides? Their psyches? Where is the joy, the flow, the yin and yang of creative energy moving through them? Is it all just an endless grind?

Creating anything doesn't have to be all striving and control and pushing and pulling. That's the hard way.

In fact, creation is a very fluid movement of movement and rest, invitation and execution. It's not all self will and if-it's-going-to-be, it's-all-up-to-me. It's a dance with all the energies of the heart, the mind and the body.

So much of our culture is hell-bent on being productive and successful, but at what cost to our own happiness and well being? Why is it that taking the time to stop and regroup, to rest and renew and allow ourselves to be freshly inspired is not equally if not more highly valued? 

Why do we do what we do? Are we motivated by love or a need to prove our worth? Are we acting upon the advice of so-called experts rather than relying on our own inner guidance to go after our dreams?

If the way we're pursuing our dreams lacks heart, lacks the desire to connect and contribute, then we will pay a price.

I know, because I've spent more time than I care to admit following advice that went against what I knew in the deepest part of my being wasn't good or right for me.
 
We may achieve monetary success, but if it makes us ill or keeps us from spending time with loved ones or unable to stop and recognize the beauty of this moment, then we might want to ask whether "hustle" is really the right word for what it is we're putting our  precious time and energy into.

We can be a force for good, not only in the world but for ourselves and our own happiness when we allow ourselves to take a fresh look at how we're going about accomplishing our dreams. 

It may be time to replace the word "hustle" with something that inspires, uplifts, motivates and gives us energy rather than drains it from us.


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