How Stepping Away From The Hustle & Chase Led Me To Enjoy Work Again

For most of my life, I equated hard work and hustle with my productivity and worth. I had always been motivated by acknowledgement and accolades - give me a star or a sticker and I’m yours. 

As time went on, exceeding measurements and metrics didn’t do it for me.

It’s a tough one to admit when you’ve built your career in sales - a career in which your (perceived) success is exclusively measured in numbers. I struggled to stay engaged and interested, and not only because I had started to overthink the purpose behind my work, but because I could feel it in my body too. 

I would feel tension from my head to my toes when deals got close to the finish line. I’d feel my heart pickup its pace when there was a customer issue. I felt my stomach flip when I received a one-sentence message: “Let me know when you can chat quickly.”

As a result, I started to feel dissatisfied with my job and distanced myself from my work.

“I have to” and “I should” were part of my regular vocabulary. And all it was doing was building tension and resentment towards my work. I had noticed a dark cloud hovering over me and it was all mine to bear - not my employer’s or the employees surrounding me. I realized I couldn’t shake it because I didn’t want to. It was keeping me company, and my ego was satisfied with the consistency of knowing what tomorrow would bring. Even if I was dreading it. 

But what changed?

After all, the work itself hadn’t all that much. The truth is, I like my job. I like meeting new people, building relationships, and solving problems. 

There had to be a better way. It was time to get out of the drain, and instead start moving up the spiral. 

I had to start by asking myself a simple yet big question:

What feels good to you? 

I feel good when I’m in alignment.

When I am in my emotions, standing in my truth, and expressing myself fully. When I am in my being, not in the doing. 

Taking a step back from the action-packed, always-productive, grinding-it-out mindset can help free up energy for you to identify what does and doesn’t feel good. To take the time to dial up on the positive emotions you want to feel more of. 

Our thoughts create our reality, and words have power. 

I spent most of my career modeling my language and behaviour around what I had seen rewarded in the workplace. It worked, until it didn’t (which means it never really did). Throw out the old adage “fake it til you make it” now - believe me, it doesn’t serve you. Choose your words intentionally - both those you speak to yourself and to others. 

Because, what if it wasn’t about action but about alignment? 

It doesn’t mean you ignore your responsibilities or compromise the quality of your work. But instead of forcing the work, the deal, the opportunity to happen, you are in alignment with your Self as a result, create space for allowing. Allowing positivity, allowing for the flow of conversation, allowing the deal to come to you. 

When you are in alignment with who you are being, things feel good.

When things feel good, you create momentum towards what you want and where you want to go. 

I love to move fast. I love to operate at a high level. I have spent my career becoming a master at generating, but creating, receiving, and allowing require a different energy. They require you to slow down. 

Being up to something and hustling are two different things.

I love a fast pace but I’ve learned that it doesn’t require me to hustle.

Slowing down allows for a positive flow of energy that propels me forward.

It creates movements. It leads me to taking inspired action as I build awareness of what I am creating.

Hustle is forcing, not flowing. It is being on someone else’s time, someone else’s agenda. Often stress and urgency are coming from someone else.

Separate yourself from that.

Discover the discernment between hustle and flow, between pace and energy. 

Let it come to you instead of pushing yourself towards it. Try it on. See how that feels. Feel yourself being, moving forward with ease - the doing will follow.

After all, does more output lead to a better life? A better world? Do you want more force and friction, or more ease and flow? 

Remember:

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. 

Kirsten Schmidtke is a professional coach, creator, and lover of lake life. She works with leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs to help them up-level their careers, businesses, and lives. Are you ready to explore what’s possible for you? Contact Kirsten to start the conversation!