Unlearning our attitudes to work

I will start out by saying that I am completely a reformed workaholic. I ran my service based business for 13 years and for the last 5 years of that, as the company grew bigger, I fell into the habit of working longer. A normal day became 12 hours at the computer and I had the familiar feeling of a sore neck, sluggish body and tired eyes.

But, it was what I thought I had to do. From a very young age, I always wanted to create something great. Well, lots of great things. I want to serve people and leave the world a little happier. I always thought that if I worked longer and harder, I would get there faster.

This was where I was wrong. By working longer I actually stifled my creativity, I became slower because I was tired and thus, it took me longer to get the same amount of work done.

Once I sold my company and came out of that bubble and realised how deep I was in it (sometimes it’s really hard to see when you’re right in the thick of it), I vowed never to fall into that trap again.

I now travel the world with my family and I work a couple of hours every day, a full 6 hour day every Tuesday for coaching private clients and a full 4 hour day on a Friday for filming and creating content. I have never felt more alive and never been so productive.

The funny thing is, because I’m working so much less, and I do love to work, I miss it like crazy. As I’m going throughout my day wherever I am with the family, I get ideas and pop them into a note book. So then, by the time I sit at my computer, I jump in and am like a productivity ninja, getting everything done fast and succinctly.

It’s like that week before you go on holidays, you know how you get so much done? That’s what it’s like every day when you set aside focused static work. You’re not working for works sake and keeping busy, you are focused on doing the exact things that are going to develop your business towards where you want it to be.

Now, when I first started working this way, I actually felt guilty. I felt like I should be doing more. I was conditioned to think that unless I was struggling, I must be missing something. Having a better way of life involves unlearning a lot of the attitudes that we have ingrained in us. Question your beliefs and make sure they’re ones that are serving you and helping you to live your best life.