Hustle Culture is Dead...

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The first four months of this year have been wild. 🦁

There really hasn’t been any time to decompress, feel 100%, or enjoy some uninterrupted family time in this stretch.

Don’t get me wrong…

A lot of really great opportunities and growth has happened during this time, but…

It’s been GO, GO, GO… 💨

Between all the kids sports, running my franchised payroll business in PHX 🌵, prepping for events and speaking engagements, podcasting, writing, traveling, commitments, workouts, and all the ups and downs in between…

Life is pretty crazy in general. 🤪

I’ve been saying this to a lot people lately…

“This is the time of our lives.”

WHY?

My wife and I have two kids.

They are 11 and 9 years old…

…and we can’t keep them off the court or the field. 🏀🏐⚾🥎

This is a GOOD THING.

We wouldn’t want it any other way. 🙌

They’re schoolwork is intense and at the same time, we are building the legacy and future we want for our family, while trying to take care of ourselves health wise. (which is actually a lot harder than not taking care of yourself.)

I’m striving to be a well-respected entrepreneur, mindset thought leader, launch a Mastermind (Check it out here 👉 OFAM), raise incredible humans with my wife towards a successful future, while making personal growth a priority, and being the best husband/father I can be.

Whew…

LIFE IS A GRIND.

I’m sure many of you can relate.

But… “It’s the time of our lives.”

Every ounce of energy is put towards being an asset to society and being there for those who are most important.

No matter how old you are…

THIS is the time to build you future.

THIS is the time to make it happen.

THIS is not the time to rest…

WAIT…

Hold on a second…

DON’T REST? 🤔

When I say, “This is the time of our lives”…

…it’s a reminder to take a step back and be in the moment during these crazy stretches of busy-ness.

REST and RECHARGE are integral parts of how we operate.

Our future success demands it.

Earlier this week, my 9 year old daughter had the greatest idea.

She could feel what was happening recently with everyone being so busy and she grounded us to ask what each of us wanted to focus on this week with just ONE WORD.

I FREAKING LOVED IT! 😁

We all went around the breakfast table, one by one, as she wrote them down on the magnetic calendar on the fridge.

When choosing this word, we thought of what each of us really needed in our lives this week or what would give us strength right now.

My daughter had some new challenges ahead of her, so she wanted to be BRAVE. 💪

My son has been a little down (because of a stupid kid at school) and wanted more HUMOR to pick him back up. 😊

My wife was coming off a sickness and felt a little weaker than normal, so she wanted to get back to being POWERFUL. 🦸‍♀️

And I have been going, going, going, (I know, I know… not taking my own advice) so I wanted focus on REST. 💤

Oh… and, yes… Juno (our silver lab) 🐶 is always hungry, so her word according to my daughter, is always EAT. 🍗

Let’s pause here and talk about what REST means…

It doesn’t mean sit and do nothing.

It means removing yourself from the hustle and bustle of daily life and dedicating time for self-work and a RECHARGE 🔋 of your mind, body, soul.

It means getting enough sleep each night for a morning REFRESH. 🌅

It plays a crucial role in becoming the best version of yourself.

Here’s a few reasons why…

1. Mental Clarity and Focus

2. Creativity and Innovation

3. Stress Reduction

4. Improved Relationships

5. Personal Growth and Fulfillment

6. Realignment of Purpose

At the end of the day, finding time to rest is essential for your physical health, mental clarity, and emotional well-being.

This also eliminates the HUSTLE CULTURE you think you need by working nonstop for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years on end.

Incorporating time for rest and rejuvenation gives you the mental and physical tools to be more equipped for giving 100% during the working hours vs. being only 50% during all hours without any focus on resting.

Find alignment here and you’ll find SUCCESS. 🤩

HUSTLE CULTURE IS DEAD. ☠️

Yep, I said it.

If you’re one that says you’re putting in 70+ hours a week and are proud of that… 😬

To me, there’s misalignment and something wrong with how you’re performing the work.

You don’t need to be on the grind 24/7 to be successful. 🙅‍♂️

You can build AMAZING things in less time when you’re focused, self-aware, have moved your PASSION to PURPOSE, and developed work/life integration.

• YES, you need go all in.

• YES, you need to work hard.

• YES, you need to max out for your dreams.

I’m not saying half-assing it or being lazy will help you become successful.

Quite the opposite, actually. 🫡

What I am saying is… you don’t need to only be about WORK, WORK, WORK… in order to be successful.

Yes, you need to earn a living, but 70+ hours the HUSTLE CULTURE calls for…

Does More Harm Than Good

According to the article above… ☝️

“Hustle culture is the mentality that working intensively, with few breaks or moments to disconnect, is the best way to reach professional goals. Also known as grind culture and toxic productivity, it involves working hours far beyond the standard 40 per week, and intrudes on an employee’s personal life.”

For those working 70+ hours a week, and maybe even brag a little bit about it, when in reality are burnt out or exhausted every day… is just really not that impressive to me.

If they’re truly putting in this much work, it’s because they either…

• Have a hiring problem.

  • Quick fix: Hire to balance the work load.

• Have a training problem.

  • Quick fix: Train to delegate the tasks or train yourself for smarter ways to get it done.

• Have an efficiency problem.

  • Quick fix: Leverage better systems (extrinsic) and develop better habits (intrinsic) for efficiency.

• Have an alignment problem.

  • Quick fix: Focus on bringing alignment with your priorities and avoid the distractions.

Now, I do agree that there will be days or weeks where you’re working an excessive amount of hours as you’re building a new business or career.

There will be situations where you need to pull all night-ers to get a new product out or on-board a new large client.

I’ve been there. 🥴

However, if there’s CHAOS or STRESS every week, due to lost focus or misalignment caused by the amount of excessive hours you’re putting in…

…then it’s probably time to re-focus on developing consistency and flow in your life…

…to achieve efficient work disciplines and become more aligned on your mission towards SUCCESS 🤩 and HAPPINESS. 😁

Start by looking at what’s the most important, what’s working really well, and only work on that.

Just that one thing.

Become wildly successful there and figure out a way to put that on auto-pilot.

At a minimum, you want to be on a trajectory path for it to become successful with less of your involvement. 🚀

Then do that with the next thing.

Remain patient.

Keep putting in the work, but don’t forget to take care of yourself first along the way, and focus on organic solid growth over time.

Success won’t happen overnight.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. 👊

FULL DISCLOSURE: I still get caught up in the hustle culture.

I am an extremely hard worker and I could probably work every day if my wife let me. 🙈

I just love to create, build, and be a resource for people every single day, so I put a lot of effort there.

I’m addicted to results and there’s purpose behind it.

But success isn’t always defined in the amount of hours you work.

To me success is being the best version of yourself.

REST was my word this week and it’s a core function of what drives my success.

I didn’t not work, but I didn’t add anything to my plate either.

I didn’t stretch myself this week, like I have been the first four months of this year.

And I’ll take that into the weeks ahead as I continue my PURPOSE of “inspiring millions with a mindset shift towards their own success” in all things that I do professionally and personally.

Sometimes we just need that gut check for ourselves and for me…

All I needed was a cute idea from my 9 year old daughter. 😊

Rest may be a good one for you, or it could be brave, humor, powerful, or even eat (healthy eating of course 😉).

Whatever you decide, pick a word for what you need right now and focus on that this upcoming week.

This is the MINDSET SHIFT. 🤯

Until our next FLIGHT, check out our latest episode of the SuccessFlow Podcast.

Please like, subscribe, comment, and share. 🤗

Episode 49: Renaissance Humans and Polymathy

FULL EPISODE

Remember, Opportunity is Everywhere!!

Cheers! Steven

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