Grind! It’s a popular concept in our modern business culture. A lot of high performers think they have to grind if they are going to be successful. April used to be one of them. She worked 14 to 16 hours per day, 6 or 7 days per week. She was proud of herself. She thought she was a rock star. But then something important occurred to her. She realized that the grind lifestyle isn’t sustainable. She realized it will cost you. It may be your health, your mental wellbeing, or your relationships. But ultimately you will pay a steep price. So what can you do instead? April discovered another way. A better way. A more sustainable way that changed her career and life. A super-simple trick that helped her quit grinding. It helped her structure her time for both rest and creativity. It empowered her to accomplish things at the next level. In today’s episode of the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast, she reveals this simple technique.
—
Listen to the podcast here
The Secret To Having More Fun And More Free Time While Being More Successful. Don’t Believe It? Don’t Listen!
A lot of people think that you have to extremely grind to be successful. I was one of them for so many years, and I was proud of it. If I worked 14 to 16-hour days, 6 to 7 days a week, I thought that meant I was a rock star. I’m here to tell you that it is not true. That doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve a lot of success. You can, but you cannot sustain it if you grind like that day in and day out over a period of time. You will have costs, whether it’s to your health, your mental well-being, or your relationships.
However, the good news is this. There is another way. I’ll tell you that when I first heard about this, I didn’t believe it and I thought, “This is going to be an epic fail and then I’m going to spend time catching up from this for who knows how long,” but I was willing to give it a try. I’m so glad that I did because it changed my career, my work life, and my personal life in such tremendous ways.
What is it, you’re asking? I’m going to teach you or share with you how to structure your time to allow for both rest and creativity. I’m not going to give you too many guidelines because the way that you structure it is pretty personal, but the fact that you do it will empower you to accomplish things at the next level. By the way, you’re going to have more fun, be more creative, and have better ideas at the same time. Does it sound too good to be true? Stick with me.
Time Blocking: You need to structure your time to allow for both rest and creativity.
What I like to use for this is a time-blocking method. Again, this is different depending on what job you have, and what your personal life situation is like, and you can be flexible with it. However, for me, the most important thing is that every week, I block out time when I both am able to rest and be creative. For everyone, that’s going to look a little different.
I tend to do my best when I am at a moving rest. I’m doing something with my dog. I’m going to the dog park or I’m going to spend some time hiking with a friend. I’m going to work on a project at home because most of the work that I do is very mental rather than physical. It’s getting out and doing something physical, moving my body, and allowing myself to think about whatever pops up in my mind.
Time Blocking: Get out and do something physical. Move your body and allow yourself to think about whatever pops up in your mind. That is restorative and where your best ideas can come from.
That is both restorative for me and that is where my best ideas come from. I schedule fun in my calendar every week, and when I say it in my calendar, I schedule that fun during the workday. 1) It’s fun because it feels like I’m getting away with something, and 2) That’s when I find I need that mental break that helps me come back and be exceptionally restored for my clients, for my family, and for myself. That’s one way that you can do it.
If you don’t totally own your schedule, I get that. There were many years of my life where I didn’t own my schedule. In that case, I would suggest that you schedule time in your personal time. Regardless of what your family situation is, if you look at it, there’s 1 hour or 2, I would suggest maybe 2 hours if you could, somewhere in your week that you can go do the things that you want to do.
Even if you have small children, trade it off with your partner and make sure that they also have that good time to themselves to do something creatively or with friends or take a moment to rest. It will be way better for your relationship as well. Take that time to let things settle with you, to be creative, to do the things that you want to do, and you will be amazed at the things that pop up for you.
My best business ideas have come to me on a hiking trail, while looking at an antique shop, or doing any of these things that are not business related. It only had to happen a couple of times for me to realize, “This is a great thing for my career.” It’s also a great thing for you personally and physically, mental health, and all of those. It’s interesting because a lot of people will talk about success, want to achieve all these things, and have a lot of money to do everything that they want to do.
Time Blocking: A lot of people talk about success and want to achieve all these things and have a lot of money to do everything that they want to do. However, if you get there and you’ve sacrificed either your mental or physical health or both, then what you’ve done is traded time for money.
However, if you get there and you’ve sacrificed either your mental or your physical health or both, then what you’ve done is traded time for money, and then you’re probably going to trade all your money to try and buy some time back because your health isn’t where you want it to be. This is a great way to not only enjoy that journey and have more fun while you’re doing it, but it’s also a way to make sure that the success that you get isn’t at the expense of your health or your mental well-being.
As simple as this sounds, I’d love for you to try it out. Do it for a month. Schedule this time for yourself to be creative, have fun, and come up with ideas, but again, in a very natural see-what-pops-into-your-mind way, and see how it works for you. I’ve had this work so well for some CEOs, particularly in the startup environment.
This becomes something that they encourage all of their employees to do during the work week every week. Sometimes, they do it together. Sometimes they do it separately, but they structure either fun or creative time. Call it whatever you want, but put some space in your calendar for the things that matter to you and will help refresh you, allow you to rest, and allow you to be the best version of yourself. Here’s to your success.
Put some space in your calendar for the things that matter to you and will help refresh you and allow you to rest and be the best version of yourself. Share on X