Working smarter not harder
When I was a 4th grade teacher in the Bronx, I worked myself to the bone for very little money. It was meaningful, but it was also completely exhausting and financially unsustainable.
I worked around the clock living in NYC on a first year teacher’s salary while paying down $35,000 in student loans.
The idea of getting out of debt, making good money, and having a thriving career seemed completely unattainable at the time because I felt so underwater.
I had no more bandwidth and limited resources.
My whole life I had worked extremely hard to get ahead. I was a straight A student who always gave 110%.
That sounds great on paper, but it also has a seriously detrimental side effect. I mistakenly came to believe that the only way to succeed was to burn myself out — to overwork.
It’s like Maslow famously said, “"If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail."
In my case, “overworking” was my hammer. It was the only tool I knew.
It took me far too long in my career to learn one of the most vital lessons – that the hard work is already done.
We all dream of having more money, a fulfilling career, and the freedom to live life as we choose.
Whether it’s going for a promotion, asking for a pay raise, starting your own business, or switching jobs, there’s a tendency to use overworking and extreme effort to get ahead.
We believe that whatever is coming next will be hard. I often see people respond to this in one of two ways:
Deflate and shrink from the challenge. They stay where they are and avoid doing hard things and find a way to convince themselves that they are happy where they are.
Work even harder at it, diving into endless training sessions, filling out spreadsheets, chasing certifications, and planning excessively.
The catch is…whether you resign to staying where you are, or you overwork and over prepare in order to be ‘ready’ for what’s next, the result is often the same:
Deepening self doubt
“Analysis paralysis”
Convincing yourself that you’re not ready
Comparison
Feeling not enough
The truth is that you are probably underestimating how prepared you actually are.
Consider that the hard work is already behind you – that your entire life has led up to this exact moment in which you are already completely equipped to handle what’s next.
It’s about recognizing the full breadth of your life experience and the valuable lessons that have prepared you to achieve your goals.
This is incredible news! Let it sink in.
I’m not suggesting that everything between where you are now and your goal will be a cakewalk. I’m not saying you won’t need to learn some new skills to get where you want to go.
I’m talking about trusting your history. It’s an actual skill.
It requires you to reflect on and acknowledge all that you’ve accomplished, rather than downplay it or justify why it’s “not enough” or “you didn’t actually earn it.”
Your job now is to honor your history by believing the facts of your life rather than an inaccurate internal narrative about how you need to work harder.
In order to do this, you’ll need to get good at a few things:
Tuning out the noise around you. You’ll need to get good at blocking out the opinions of anyone who doesn’t get what you’re capable of – or people who haven’t achieved the goals that you’re trying to achieve.
Strengthening your inner voice. This means getting to know yourself more deeply and reconnecting with what you want. Nobody else is going to believe in your potential more than you. So make it your mission.
Finding the path of least resistance. Stop overthinking every decision. Sometimes we think that we should do something simply because it’s hard. Instead, take the next obvious step and see where it leads.
When you start to think in this way, amazing things start to happen.
Your mental approach starts to inform your actions. You take action on your goals with more ease and natural motivation.
You begin to notice that people respect and enjoy you more. You get more positive reactions and feedback from the people you know and work with.
You start to approach big decisions and challenges with confidence and trust yourself to figure things out.
Opportunities you never expected start coming your way.
This is how you climb the ladder, earn more money, and build the life you want.
For most people, shifting your mindset isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. It can be challenging to change old patterns of thinking and embrace new ones, and you’ll likely need support.
That’s where I come in.
In my program, The Independence Equation, we focus on what I call “Brain Training.” It’s all about reprogramming your mindset to recognize your worth and potential.
If you’re ready to finally make the leap and capitalize on all the hard work you’ve already done, reply to this email.
Let’s talk about how we can work together to help you achieve your career goals and create a life you love.
Thanks For Reading!
I am on a mission to help driven people find clarity in the fast lane – making great money doing work they love, on their own terms.
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