Do people still wear busyness like a badge of honour?

Is multitasking still fashionable? 

I hear the word hustle everywhere I go these days. 

Same thing in my book. 

It’s a bit like nails on a chalkboard for me. 

Work harder. Do more. Be better.  More. More. And yet more. 

Its unending and it is insatiable. 

Many people I know love this way of working. The adrenalin fuels them. The busyness feels potent.

I get that. Busyness was my drug of choice once upon a time. When I lose sight of what really matters most to me. The cravings resurface. 

If this way of working gets you up in the morning and fuels your soul, go for it.

But, if this feels like it may just be driving you to an early grave, and leaves you feeling more expired than inspired, it may delight you to that there is another way. 

There is undoubtedly a path to work that feels purposeful and a life that feels like home. 

First you have to believe that it is possible. 

And why should it not be? More and more people are tuning out of the hustle and tuning into their own vocational frequency. 

Then you have to believe that it is possible for you. 

And it is. 

It really is. 

In spite of the noisy objections rising in your mind, it is possible for you. 

Next, you want to imagine it. You have a powerful mind and it was designed to serve you. It needs clear instructions and your imagination is a blessed place to start mapping out those instructions. 

Imagine your ideal way of working. 

• What does it look like? 
• What does it feel like? 
• How does it fit into the rest of your day?
• How does how you earn a living fit into the rest of your life?
• How does it express your innate strengths and talents?
• How does it stretch you?
• How does it align with your values and your desires?
• How is it an expression of your yearnings to create and to contribute?
• How does it meet your social needs?

In this ideal way of working, what does it feel like to be you?

We all have our own versions of success. Those of us fortunate enough to accomplish it, take the time regularly to define it, and to recognise ways in which to show up to life and all its challenges and opportunities to create it. 

The path to aligned work is different for each of us. We can’t travel it if we don’t create it. You get to create your path step by step in your own way, at your own speed, with your own values and with your own energy.

Flow is the state where we are in the zone. It’s those moments where we feel no resistance. It’s a way of being in which we choose the struggles we have as a part of our journey, and as instruments for our development.  It’s how we feel when we have the right mix between the challenge of the task and the strengths we are applying. 

Enough flow on a regular basis is what is need to create fulfilling success. Without it we can still create success. We create the right score on the board, but it feels empty and unsatisfying. It feels like it may belong to someone else. Like it is foreign to our sense of self. 

Without sufficient flow, we experience too much stress.

Not the good kind. 

The kind that gets us overwhelmed and anxious.

As productive as overwhelm and anxiety may feel, it’s actually not useful and it is positively unproductive. 

It is exhausting. 

Our brains can’t do its magic; and our brains are unable to serve us with the creativity and ingenuity they are designed for. 

When we push too hard and hustle too much, we take ourselves out of the very game at which we want to win. 

Find your own rhythm. 

Set your own pace. 

Do it your way. 

And go for the flow, not the hustle.