Work hard play hard: How to do things you don’t want to do

I’m all about work hard play hard this month. Inspired by my trip to Miami with that very theme, I’ve thought a lot about how to implement it as a way of life. 

It starts with being intentional about how I invest time and resources in my business. The contribution I make to my community. And having a meaningful personal life (which includes maintaining my healthy hottie status😉). 

To do this requires two important traits.

The first is a willingness to do the uncomfortable thing since it beats the future discomfort of not achieving my goals. 

Because while I love what I do, I don’t love everything I do. 

Sometimes I finish a third conversation with someone who says “no” to coaching and I question my value. 

Or a subscriber flags my blog post as “spam” in her inbox and I feel unappreciated. And a bit peeved.

Or I need to make a phone call to someone who’s not happy with me.

The key is I don’t avoid the discomfort of working through these tough situations with false forms of “play.” 

 

Like, watching Friends reruns well past lunchtime when I felt like “I deserve a break” (it wasn’t that long ago…). 

The antics of Monica, Joey and the rest brought temporary pleasure. BUT, I was avoiding the discomfort of work (and the act of avoiding was also uncomfortable), and then I was uncomfortable later when the work wasn’t done! Triple whammy.

Have you done that? Escape into false pleasure is settling for less, when what we really deserve is so much more! 

The second crucial skill is focusing on what’s in front of me. Even writing this post I briefly distracted myself by brewing another cup of coffee and returning some emails.

I do this by planning my day ahead of time and honoring it. Which means I don’t use laundry to procrastinate. I don’t spend time scrolling through funny cat reels when I’ve scheduled work.  

As my distraction above indicates, I’m not perfect at it. But I don’t tell myself I’ve “blown it” when I slip up. I get curious and plan for how to do better next time.  

The way we build integrity with ourselves is doing what we said we’d do. The more we do it, the better we get at it. 

What about play?

Play is easy when I plan my calendar, focus on what’s in front of me, and open up to discomfort. And, this is critical, I schedule “me” time, play time. I am not an afterthought.

Ultimately, work hard play hard is balancing a small number of key priorities and intentionally pursuing them. Discomfort and all. 

How to feel super successful everyday, even when you fail

How to feel super successful everyday, even when you fail

When we focus on how to succeed, we generally look to the outcome. If we get the outcome we want (like the scale going down) then #winning. If not, #loser.

It’s an outdated view of success. Binary. Winning is left – largely – to chance.

In truth, your success depends on your willingness and ability to recognize all of the ways that you are winning. 

Please do not gloss over that last sentence. Both willingness and ability are critical to you feeling super successful every day, no matter the outcome you achieve. Let’s break them down:

Willingness means not holding yourself to perfectionist standards. Maybe taking an ugly win. You were going for a 20 lbs weight loss this past quarter. You lost 3. Take the win. Acknowledge what you did to get there. Congratulate yourself that you didn’t gain 3, which was your past trajectory. 

Yes, assess the failure. Learn. Refocus. Retool. And go again. But go into it feeling like Serena Williams who knows she’s a winner, even when she’s lost a tournament.   

Ability is looking for what you might not normally think of as a success. Say you picked up that glazed donut and ate three quarters of it before coming to and thinking “whoa, what happened here?!” and put the remainder in the trash. You might be tempted to feel bad about what you did eat. Instead, take the kudos for stopping when you could have wolfed down the last few bites (do you know how hard that is?!). 

How to feel super successful everyday, even when you fail
Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

Take 47 seconds now and come up with five ways you’re winning today. Like you…

  • Ordered a grande instead of a venti
  • Took a 4-minute walk instead of scrolling to pass the time
  • Responded with grace and understanding to the complaining coworker you’re not fond of 
  • Walked the two flights of stairs to your office, even when the elevator opened right in front of you
  • Stopped halfway through a bag of Cheetos and put the rest away

If you want to know how to succeed it starts here, with recognizing all of the ways you are already winning. When you come from the place of being successful, you prepare yourself for successful outcomes. You are more likely to take the actions necessary to achieve your goals when you feel like a winner. 

Another way to win more…have a Strategy Session with me. Let’s talk. 

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