Hard work doesn’t have to feel hard.
Q: Where in your life do you have the feeling of pressure, stress, or busy-ness?
You might say work.
Because you have to take care of a lot in order to be successful.
You might say your family relationships.
Because you’re always letting people down trying to do it all. You just don’t have the bandwidth to be there for your kids like you want to.
Maybe it’s in how you’re trying to serve in the community or your church congregation.
Because you want to do a good job but you’re being pulled in too many directions.
You like doing it all.
You are known for your ability to get the job done.
And doing it well.
But you aren’t sure how to do it all without feeling like you’re on the edge of burnout.
It doesn’t feel sustainable but you don’t know another way.
Because you are an achiever.
You set goals and accomplish them.
You are the one people turn to to make things happen.
And you like that.
You want to be the go-to guy.
Except when you don’t.
Except when you just don’t have the time to always be the one who solves the problem.
Then what?
Drop something?
You’re not sure what that would even look like because there are too many things that you have to do.
There are too many things that people rely on you to take charge of.
You can’t just drop them.
And here’s the thing…deep down, you kind of don’t want to.
You don’t really want to drop anything.
Because if you don’t do all of the things, then you aren’t fulfilling your potential.
Doing all of the things proves that you know how to work.
If you drop something then you’re not holding yourself to a high enough standard.
If you let something go then that’s pretty much saying you failed.
Plus, if you don’t do it all, then you might not do ANYTHING.
And that’s just lazy.
That’s not you.
You’re not a quitter.
So, you work 12-hour days.
You answer that email at 10pm instead of taking care of it the next morning.
You miss driving to the school concert with your wife because you have to rush in late.
Everything feels urgent.
And you think that urgency is the same as motivation.
You think that you’re most productive if you set unrealistic deadlines.
You think that being successful means working really hard.
The pressure and stress are the proof of success. There isn’t another option.
But that’s not true.
Hard work can actually feel easeful.
Hard work can feel calm and light and joyful.
Hard work doesn’t have to feel hard.
Success doesn’t have to feel stressful.
Here’s what we’re going to do.
We’re going to replace the phrase “hard work” with the phrase “intentional work.”
Those are two different things.
Hard work often looks like doing more tasks.
We think that if we just take more action, we’ll create more success.
But really, intentional work actually gets you farther than hard work does.
Intentional work is deliberate.
It’s full of clarity from identifying what you actually want to have happen.
You feel confident that what you are doing is completely in line with that intention.
Do you always get it completely right?
No. But you’re not worried because you trust yourself to pivot if needed.
You know how to make the next right decision and that creates a sense of calm in your life.
Intentional work is full of trust.
Trusting yourself that you are spending the right amount of time on the right things.
Trusting your team to work in their own zone of genius to get the job done.
Trusting your ability to be emotionally and mentally present with your kids.
Trusting yourself to create a balanced schedule instead of an unrealistic one.
Trusting that space on your calendar can be the most effective way to work hard.
How are you working intentionally today?
Take a breath. Close your eyes for just a few seconds.
Take another breath.
Say to yourself, “I work intentionally.”
Take that in.
Then prove to yourself that it’s true.
Sending love,
K
