One of the hallmarks of entrepreneurship and business success is to hustle. It’s almost a badge of honor now to brag about working long hours and grinding your way to success. But sometimes what starts as a healthy work ethic starts to veer into the territory of an unhealthy, imbalanced life. What’s also lost in the hustle culture is the ability to step back from the hectic pace and tap into intuition.
I recently watched an interesting video by spiritual teacher and coach Christina Lopes where she uses a wonderful analogy to explain how the hustle energy robs us of using powerful, natural skills like our intuition. She likens it to surfers waiting for a wave.
Instead of hustling for every wave, surfers rest on their boards, conserving energy for the next perfect wave. They use their intuition to determine which wave will give them the best ride. If they were frantically swimming around searching for waves, they’d quickly become exhausted, thus ending their experience too soon. Instead, they patiently wait, letting the wave come to them. When it arrives, they have the energy reserves to drop in and enjoy the ride.
Surfers actually slow down so they can speed up. They know that waiting for the right wave will take them further than chasing after every wave that comes along.
As a conscious leader, how can you adopt this surfer approach in your daily work?
You can start by asking yourself, am I caught up in the hustle culture? Am I expending a lot of energy on activities thinking it will help me reach my goals? Have I lost joy and fun because I’m constantly moving from task to task?
Once you’re ready to step back from the hustle mentality, you can start tapping into your intuition. By listening to your intuition, you’ll actually go further faster than any amount of busy work could take you. Because you’ll be focused on the right opportunity at the right time. And you’ll be able to work longer, with more joy and fun.
Getting on the right wave at the right time, with ample energy to drop in and carry you the distance, can make all the difference in life and work. As Christina Lopes notes, this is the new energy of the workplace. It requires patience, wisdom, intuition—all things that are developed when we slow down and develop our conscious leadership.
Work happy. Live happy. BE happy.
Meredith
The way we work and build teams is rapidly changing. Leaders often feel unprepared to navigate the transition. As a conscious leadership coach, consultant and communicator, Meredith helps leaders and their teams create new ways of working and relating so they can prepare for the future by consciously co-creating it.
Contact her to develop your conscious leadership and transform your organization into the workplace of the future.
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