By: Kelly Smith; Photos by Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
In the world of blogging and small business, there is an awful lot of chatter about hustle. If you want to make it big, bring your dreams to fruition, become Internet famous – all you have to do is hustle. Hustle online, hustle behind the scenes, hustle while you sleep and, oh yeah, look refreshed, breezy, and effortless while doing it.
But what if all this hustle is slowing us down?
I don’t know about you, but some days I hustle so hard that I don’t actually accomplish anything at all. I just move from one platform to another in a haze of comment, like, say hello, brainstorm, check Instagram, post something, look at stats, etc. Round and round in circles – but, for what? What am I accomplishing anyway?
Maybe the answer is to slow down and focus. Maybe we need to clear our minds of mental clutter and noise, so that enjoyment is possible. Maybe we need to close all the extra windows, take a deep breath, and accomplish one thing at a time from start to finish. Maybe that is idealistic, but maybe it is the key to success. After all, what works for someone else might work for us.
- Erin of Design for Mankind writes about Slow Blogging and the benefits of doing less with more focus.
- Sarah from She Knows writes about Simple Ways to Clear Your Mental Clutter.
- Alison of The Alison Show says, Don’t Poison Your Well with negative noise.
- Michael Hyatt explains how to Unplug While You Are on Vacation.
And my advice is to simply to reprioritize, set a timer for individual tasks, head to a quiet, stress-free place, take a deep breath, and enjoy the space you are in. Even if it is just a couple hours a day.