Where did we get the notion that hard work equals good work? I hear it all the time: "You need to work hard to get somewhere." "Success come to those who work hard."
To me it’s been the opposite. When I work from joy great things happen, when I hustle I only get tired and produce a lot of things that doesn't really matter. But on the other hand I might not measure success in a very traditional way. For me it’s not about money, or prestige, or metrics. It’s about bringing value, having fun and developing as a human being. And when I do that I am successful. And that doesn’t happen out of hard work. It happens out of good work.
I believe there’s a lot of workahholics out there hiding from whtever might show up if you slow down. But I still wanna urge you to try, don’t wait til Christmas, life is now. And even if you do miss the deadline, you might catch some life that might have otherwise passed you by.
When I look back at my career and the times when I've worked really hard I don't feel very proud about myself. Because I didn't have access to my full potential or any of my wisdom. I was too far down the cone and didn't have perspective of anything. Believing that whatever that was in front of me that was urgent was also important. Most of the time it wasn't.
This is what I wish I would have done when I was working 60+ hour weeks, in meetings 80% of my time with approx 200 emails flooding in every day:
Go off site for a couple of days and turn off all notifications/ limit distraction.
Take a step back and ask myself: If my purpose for being here is; 1. Making sure I am my best self at work 2. Supporting the people around me 3. Serving our customers. (in that order) Then, what would I do?
What am I spending my time on today and what is bringing value? What is the root cause of all those issues? What can I eliminate, what can I delegate, how can I work smarter so that the same issue doesn’t show up twice? How will I stay sane when I get back to the whirlwind that is my working life? How can I stay heart-centered when I'm in the middle of a man-made storm?
We're not here to work hard, that's not the purpose of either our careers or life in general. We are here to take responsibility and care for ourselves, support the people around us and serve the world for a greater good in whatever way we can. How can we get back to what really matters?
If you want support in this process of getting perspective and grounding back into brining value to ourselves and others I'd love to help you. And I'd love to hear what you do to stay grounded in a stormy world.
With all my love,
Helena