The Cure For Feeling Like You Need To Work Harder

A few weeks ago I was hit with a twinge of hustling.

I hadn't felt that hustling feeling in a LONG time.

I've worked hard, but hustling feels completely different for me.

As a business owner, hustling has an undercurrent of proving and unnecessary urgency.

In my corporate career, hustling felt more like being overwhelmed with the number of things I had to do - and feeling like I couldn't let any of it go.

Like, I HAVE to work harder and harder and harder and make sure it all gets done, no matter what the cost to my wellbeing is. I can't let any balls fall. I can't let the chips fall where they may. I have to do it all and get it all done. No matter what.

Whenever I feel this way, when I feel like I need to do more and work harder, I remind myself of a simple, deep truth:

The cure for feeling like you need to do more is not to do more.

Instead, the cure is to do less.

The cure is to lay on your couch, read a book for pleasure, go on a walk, set boundaries, turn off your computer, say no, or take a break from social media.

Even if you have to force yourself to do less, do less.

Whenever I follow this cure, even when it's forced and uncomfortable and I feel jittery when I lay down on the couch and my mind tells me to run back to my computer and send another email, it ALWAYS works.

When I do less, I reconnect to myself. I remember that while I may sometimes need to work differently, I will never be someone who simply needs to work more.

I remember that tomorrow exists and I don't have to get it all done today.

I remember that I'm on my own timeline and I don't need to keep up with the successes I'm seeing on social media.

I also remember that most of those stories of success are an incomplete picture.

I do less - and the feeling of needing to do more calms down.

Try it out for yourself. See what happens!

P.S. If slowing down is hard, my most recent book, Grounded Wildness: Break Free From Performing Your Life and Start Living It, will help you get underneath the rules that keep you in hustling mode (and a whole bunch of other rules as well!) so that you can do less and have more space for yourself. Get signed copies on my website or the ebook, audiobook, and hardcover on Amazon.