Redefining Your Entrepreneurial Hustle
As an entrepreneur you’re programmed to hustle, especially when your company depends on you. I’m not talking about pulling one over on someone. I’m talking about that type of hustle that you see many entrepreneurs engage in on a daily basis. Working our faces off from making our ideas come to fruition to building multi-million dollar companies. Unfortunately while hustling, entrepreneurs engage in harmful behaviors that we interpret as being critical to our success when in fact they can interfere with it. I think it’s time to redefine what it means to “hustle” and set boundaries for ourselves because if we’re not in good shape our companies won’t be either.
Don’t neglect your personal life.
Last year, I fell victim to this. ZipFit was in the process of pivoting our business model and we were working relentlessly to see it through and prove that our new direction would work. Over the course of those months, I felt that I was working harder than ever before to stay creative and productive. Until someone close to me pointed it out, I didn’t realize that the solution to my struggle was as simple as going out and grabbing a drink with friends and talking about any and everything that wasn’t related to work to calling my mom to get that extra push on days when things just didn’t seem to be going right. I failed to realize that the simple yet memorable moments in my personal life keep me just as motivated as hitting revenue goals and are big contributing factors to my creativity and productivity as an entrepreneur.
Step away and avoid it.
Avoiding something sounds crazy, right? Well, researchshows that stepping away and avoiding your work is one of the best things you can do as an entrepreneur. This tactic is called avoidance coping, where you step away from a problem and do other unrelated enjoyable activities to clear your mind. This includes going out salsa dancing, going on vacation, or grabbing a brew with friends just as long as you’re not focusing on work. Instead, entrepreneurs fall victim to active coping far too often where we deal with the problem while we’re intertwined in the problem itself. To be successful, we need to combine both coping mechanisms. So the next time your startup is faced with a big change or problem, step away and avoid it for a moment so you can clear your mind then actively seek solutions.
Sleep your way to the top.
One of the ways entrepreneurs trick ourselves into thinking we’re really hustling is lack of sleep. I’m not saying its easy to avoid sleepless nights as an entrepreneur because believe me, it will happen. However, at some point your mind stops functioning and is unproductive regardless of the 10 cups of coffee you downed that day. When Arianna Huffington fainted and hit her head and broke her cheekbone due to exhaustion, it was her body’s way of telling her it that it needed sleep regardless of whether or not she wanted to keep going. From that experience she gave the best advice in her TED Talk on how to succeed, “sleep your way to the top”.
In redefining what hustle means, we as entrepreneurs will be our own worst enemies because we feel guilty when we’re not focusing on work. Although, it’s easy to run a company into the ground when the people are burnt out. So go grab a beer with friends, avoid work for a bit, and get some sleep. You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the outcome.What are your tips? Share some of your insights below.
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