Should You Power Down or Power Through?
We are all holding so much — not just our creative work and businesses. And if you aren’t, lucky you. Many of us are exhausted.
There’s a trend in the business world where “productivity addiction” has formed “a never stop, never give up or you will be A FAILURE” culture.
That needs to change.
I’ve noticed how the general culture in the business and marketing world is LOOK HOW BIG MY _____ (stats, followers, profile visits) are … driven by a more is more is more approach.
This approach leads to burnout if you aren’t careful. The idea that you shouldn’t rest, shouldn’t take breaks, shouldn’t be thoughtful and strive for excellence is absurd.
And toxic.
We’ve all been through a lot these last few years. My own capacity to handle everything has changed dramatically. One of my business besties — a psychotherapist who I met at the start of the pandemic — has told me her capacity has changed in all of this as well.
We are all holding so much — not just our creative work and businesses. And if you aren’t, lucky you. Many of us are exhausted.
And so the POWER THROUGH mindset is only making people feel shame, guilt and not enough.
Toxic productivity and destructive perfectionism is in the fabric of the Twitter culture. Finding anti-hustle folks is like trying to find someone without a strong opinion these days. It’s really challenging.
And yet … we must all work to change this dynamic.
Here’s the thing: As an anti-hustle, anti-capitalism, feminist coach, I reject this way of being as a business owner, as a creative and as a woman.
The result of this toxicity is there appears to be two ways of being through all this exhaustion …
… to keep up, show up and shine brighter
… or power down or power through.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to power through.
I think we all do. None of us wants to stop, want to admit we can’t keep going, none of us wants to stop doing the things that we think will bring us closer to new sales so we can, of course, pay the mortgage.
But I’m calling in another way.
Not a power down or a power through but a power to pause and choose mindful, steady progress that isn’t overnight success or rapid growth.
I am calling in slow business, slow connections, slow growth.
What if we Refuel our power consistently so we aren’t forced to do either/or? This is how I operate and one of the key features of my Brave Business Coaching framework.
Refueling your power is about boosting your capacity to keep going, to feel good and be consistent and feel balanced in the work you are doing in the world.
It’s not hustle.
It’s flow. It’s energy.
It’s inspired action.
We begin by taking tiny, bold steps we can take daily to boost your energy and capacity to do BRAVER work in the world. Work that hopefully will work toward helping ALL BEINGS flourish and thrive.
Not just a select privileged few.
If you are ready to explore this more, here’s some concrete ways to do that starting right now: 22 Ways to Boost Your Capacity and Do Braver Work in 2022
